Tag Archives: city

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site

September 5, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A metal wall near the World Trade Center site reflects the colors of surrounding buildings and passers-by.

During our recent visit to New York City we spent some time at the World Trade Center site. This is the third time we have been there. The first was right around New Years 2000, when we did the typical tourist thing and went to the top of the WTC at night and looked over the city. It was an innocent time, wasn’t it?

The second visit was not until a year ago after our oldest son moved to Brooklyn and got a job working within a few blocks of the site. After nearly a decade of media coverage of the events of 9/11 and all of the associations connected with that event, walking up to the actual place was a powerful and sobering experience. At that time, there was nothing much to see other than what appeared as a giant empty space occupied by cranes.

This year things were different in many ways but the same in many others. The area is now a hotbed of activity, with impressive new buildings soaring skyward, construction workers and equipment everywhere. From the right vantage points, portions of the site are beginning to show signs of what the place will become when it is finished – we could even see an area where new trees are planted. As we walked a circle around the area though, reminders of what happened there are still to be found, both small and large. The memory of coming upon a nearby fire station with its poster filled with the photographs of scores who lost their lives on that date affects me even now as I write this.

This photograph was made as we walked along what I recall as the north side of the site, past the new tower that is rapidly becoming the tallest structure in lower Manhattan. A busy sidewalk travels through here, squeezed between the construction area and existing buildings. This metal wall was on one of those buildings, and it is colored by reflections of people passing by, buildings, and sky.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

“Shaftway” Loading Dock Doors, Chelsea

August 31, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Loading dock doors of a brick industrial building in Chelsea, New York City.

I made this photograph on my last morning in New York City in late August, when we visited a side street with many galleries in Chelsea. This is in an area, as I understand it, that has been shifting from more or less industrial to galleries and other more “trendy” endeavors now that the High Line park has, along with other developments, made the area more attractive.

As we walked out of (or was it into?) a doorway across the street, the “SHAFTWAY” sign on the green door caught my attention. As I look at the photograph more now I see a number of other things in it that intrigue me that I wasn’t fully aware of when I made the exposure.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Sitting on Landing, Brick Wall

August 28, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

On a warm New York City evening, a man sits on the landing of a metal stairway on the exterior of a brick building.

We decided that we would visit the High Line Park in Chelsea early in our recent visit to New York City. Recalling some wonderful evening and sunset light at the park during last year’s visit, we had something like that in mind again on this visit… but that is not quite how it turned out. Although it had been sunny earlier, when we arrived at this location late in the day we could see very dark clouds building over on the New Jersey shoreline and beyond. Even though it was at least an hour and a half before sunset the light was dimming quickly, and we began to see large flashes of lightning in the sky to the west.

While the anticipated warm evening light would have been nice – and was when we returned a few days later – the softer light of these overcast conditions provided some advantages, too. Shooting toward the setting sun, as I would have been doing in this shot, can be tough on the High Line – but this soft light allowed me to more easily handle what would have otherwise been a real exposure challenge at this time of day. Just as we approached this building, the man emerged from the curtained doorway and provided a focal point to the photograph of this wall.

He is looking back over his shoulder for a very good reason. A few minutes after making this exposure – or perhaps sooner! – the lightning began to flash and the thunder began to boom directly overhead. We decided that the elevated park was no place to be in an electrical storm, and we quickly found a way back down to street level as sprinkles started. By the time had headed a block to the east, looking for a place to eat, the wind began to howl and the skies let loose a tremendous downpour, forcing us to choose a restaurant on the basis of proximity rather than reputation!

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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

High Line Park, Evening

August 21, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening along the High Line Park as thunderstorm weather approaches, New York City.

This was a fun photograph to make and a bit of a challenge. I decided to shoot with just a 50mm prime as we walked the Highline Park in New York City, trying to keep things simple and shooting quickly and handheld. Our plan was to be there a bit more than an hour before sunset so that we could see and photograph the evening light. That didn’t quite work out…

About the time we started walking at the south end of the Highline we noticed a big electrical storm developing over the water in New Jersey. While the giant storm to our west spoiled our chances of sunset light, it created other interesting opportunities as the sky darkened. In fact, it becomes so dark an hour or so before sunset that hand held shooting was becoming difficulty, even at ISO 800, f/2 or f2.8 and as low as 1/15 second! But because there was still some light, as streetlights and other lighting came on there was still enough illumination to register the unlighted or less lighted areas – it was almost like doing night photography without the need for the tripod or the super long exposures!

This shot was handheld, probably at the lower end of the range of my ability to shoot this way, but there was enough light to still make the sky and buildings visible, yet give the appearance that the scene was largely artificially lit.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.