Tag Archives: corner

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

People At The Corner

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People At The Corner
People stand on a Manhattan corner, waiting for the light to change

People At The Corner. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People stand on a Manhattan corner, waiting for the light to change

I work in various ways when photographing in urban settings. Sometimes I’m somewhat slow and careful, perhaps waiting for people to populate a scene or when treating the urban environment as a sort of landscape. Other times I work more quickly and spontaneously, photographing quickly and intuitively as instants occur and quickly are gone. This photograph came from the latter approach, and my recollection is that I made a series of perhaps three photographs in quick succession, perhaps not even looking through the viewfinder.

There are, obviously, people in the photograph. But something else here links to something I was told by someone who lives and works there. In Manhattan you constantly see these scaffolds set up over sidewalks. I had assumed that it was simply the case that there is work going on all the time. My source tells me it isn’t always quite that simple — sometimes the scaffolding is left up well beyond when is needed… because it is cheaper to leave it there than to take it down and find a place to store it! I enjoy looking a bit more closely at the individuals in this photograph and not just at the group as a whole. The people have a variety of demeanors and poses, some are interacting with others, and they vary in the extent to which they are engaged in the scene verses walking through it without paying much attention.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Friendly Pizza

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Friendly Pizza
A bright red pizza shop on a cold winter day in Manhattan

Friendly Pizza. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bright red pizza shop on a cold winter day in Manhattan

This was one among a string of very cold days in New York City between Christmas and New Years Day. The light was “gray” (though, objectively speaking, “blue” might be a more accurate description) as a result of this weather and of being in the urban canyons of Manhattan. The streets of Manhattan are often very busy and there is a lot to see, but in many areas the actual appearance of the streets is pretty much all business. Aside from those exceptions — some parks and stores, for example — much of the street/sidewalk scene is more about practical than aesthetics. On a cold day this seemed especially true, except that on such a day the contrast with a shop like this one, with its bright red and yellow colors and bright lights, was perhaps stronger than usual.

I sometimes struggle a bit to explain what I “see” when making my street photographs — I know what I’m after but it isn’t easy to put into words. However, I think this photograph does include some of the elements. I see the street as a kind of urban landscape, where the size and color and relatives shapes of things matters. I’m also intrigued by shops, especially when something makes them stand out. (Here it is the color and the corner location.) Perhaps even more important, I’m always on the look out for fleeting human tableaux that form and are gone — here with the fellow striding purposefully toward the shop entrance, the slow-moving man with the wheeled suitcase, and the woman in the winter coat.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre

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Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre
Evening on a street corner in Montmartre, Paris

Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening on a street corner in Montmartre, Paris

In the summer of 2016, on our first evening in Paris, we went out wandering in Montmartre. We more or less had no idea where we were going, but eventually our random walk took us to a popular destination with a view over Paris, and then it was time to eat. As Paris novices it took us, believe it or not, a while to figure out where to eat. Yeah, I know. In Paris?

After eating in one of the numerous cafes in Montmartre we walked some more, mostly just wandering up and down the narrow streets to see what we could see. It was a long summer twilight and I was able to photograph on into the evening. In places there were lots of people, but on other streets there seemed to be almost no one, and here and there we found surprising and even odd little bits of street art and similar things. I want to think that this image on the wall might have been street art, but it could also have been some kind of shrine.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

21 Choices

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21 Choices
A Pasadena street corner on a winter afternoon

21 Choices. Pasadena, California. January 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Pasadena street corner on a winter afternoon

To some extent, although I’ll write a bit about it, this is one of those photographs that you’ll need to sort out for yourself. It may seem like a snapshot, or it may seem like something else, or it might seem like both.

Just after New Years Day we went to Southern California for a few days, driving down the Coast Highway (before the winter storms closed it) and then visiting areas at the northern and southern ends of the Los Angeles Basin. We stayed in Pasadena, a place I hadn’t visited for a while and one that I don’t know all that well, aside from the typical Californian’s knowledge of a place that comes from driving past on freeways. Because we had some unscheduled time we ended up wandering in downtown Pasadena a bit, and I had time to begin to get a bit of a feeling for the place, at least as it is in mid-winter light of the sort in this photograph.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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