Tag Archives: city

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Chrysler Building and Street Lamp

August 20, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Black and white photograph of the Chrysler Building and a lamp post in New York City.

Yes, we are in New York City. Needless to say, this is a “target rich environment” for street, urban, and architectural photography. This familiar building is the first post from this trip. It is a black and white photograph for a couple of reasons. First, this turns out to be one of those photograph where I like both the color and black and white interpretations. Second, and more practical, I am working from an uncalibrated monitor and can’t be certain what the colors will look like. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to post the BW images first!

The Chrysler Building is an easily recognized Manhattan landmark… especially if you saw “Ghostbusters.” We were out for a “first morning in New York walk” on our first full day here, and the area around this nearby building seemed like a decent objective.

(On a practical note: As with the color calibration issue, I’m not in my usual workflow environment while on the road, so don’t be surprised if some things don’t look exactly like they normally do.)

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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Breakwater, San Francisco Bay

August 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Anchored ship and ship yard cranes of the port of Oakland beyond a breakwater, San Francisco Bay.

I made this photograph on one of my summertime San Francisco visits on which I head up there on the train very early in the morning, and then I walk wherever my nose leads me, making photographs. On this visit I left the train station and ended up crossing a bridge to the inlet behind AT&T park, sometimes called “McCovey Cove.” From along the far side of this inlet I could see across the San Francisco Bay to the towering cranes at the port of Oakland. They were backed by a fog bank that completely obscured the city of Oakland and all but the very tops of the East Bay Hills.

This morning light coming across the Bay can be very special. As it often shines through the moisture laden air over the water and sometimes through clearing fog, it can take on a luminous glow and can even be almost too bright to look at. This was that sort of morning, so I let the sky exposure go as close to white as I could and still retain some sense of the thick air. The dark object at the left is a concrete breakwater outside the entrance to South Beach Harbor.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stairs, Person Walking

July 29, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A person walks past the bottom of a stairway along Stockton Street, San Francisco.

When I posted a color version of this photograph a week or so ago I mentioned that there was also a black and white version – and that I was up in the air about which I prefer. I’m still not certain, though I’m leaning more towards this monochrome version. While there are some aspects of the subtle colorations in the other version that I am hesitant to give up, I think that the angles and forms and masses of dark and light may be more the focus in this version.

Since I told the story on the original post I’ll keep it short here. I was in the Stockton Street area of Chinatown in the morning and had crossed the “bridge” at the termination of a dead end alley that sits above Stockton. There were two stairways down to the street level where Stockton emerges from a short tunnel. As I went down the stairs I thought that the angles and the light in the stairwell looked interesting as forms and was working out a composition or two when the figure walked through the frame and I reacted quickly to make a photo that is quite a bit different from what I was thinking of when I started.

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