Tag Archives: couple

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Couple, Street Lights, Park

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A Couple, Street Lights, Park
A couple walks past street lights in a Montmartre, Paris park

A Couple, Street Lights, Park. Paris, France. August 11, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A couple walks past street lights in a Montmartre, Paris park

Since our lodgings in Paris on our recent visit were in the Montmartre district, we frequently were able to go out on foot and explore the area. On the day we arrived we set out to “wander,” not really knowing that much about the area. (I often like to not know too much about a new place, preferring to discover it in person.) We began to figure out the maze of streets — a task never fully accomplished! — and discover interesting things in the area. In fact, we accidentally came upon things that turn out to be big deals — like the Sacred Heart church in its hilltop location.

Because we were often busy visiting other areas in the daytime, we probably saw more of Montmartre in the evenings than during the daytime, especially when we went out to look for a place to eat after returning to our hotel. I made this photograph on one of the evening walks as we walked through a small square and encountered another couple out for an evening walk.

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

Flag Makers Building

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Flag Makers Building
The Flag Makers building behind a couple sitting on a bench at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Flag Makers Building. San Francisco, California. May 6, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Flag Makers building behind a couple sitting on a bench at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Today (Saturday, May 14, 2016, as I write this) marks the re-opening of the newly renovated and expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or SFMOMA. As members we got an early look about a week ago, and we spent the better part of a day exploring the place. We like it! A lot. There are quite a few things I could write about — the architecture, the expanded space inside, the collections, the photographs — but all I’ll write for now is that I agree with one architecture critic who pointed out that where the old museum felt walled off from San Francisco the new version connects directly with the surrounding neighborhood, with many windows and open balconies providing plenty of opportunities to see and interact the urban San Francisco landscape. You could have a bit of fun thinking carefully about all of the lines and angles in this scene and what might explain them…

These photographs of SFMOMA are also some of the first I’ve made using a new camera from Fujifilm, the X-Pro2, about which I’ll likely have a lot more to say in the future. It is a rangefinder-style interchangeable lens mirrorless body with a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder system that mostly succeeds in providing a sort of best of both worlds design. I like it for this kind of photography because the camera not only produced excellent image quality (with its 24MP sensor and fine Fujifilm lenses), but it is also small and fairly unobtrusive.

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

Couple on Bench

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Couple on Bench
A couple sitting on a bench outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Couple on Bench. San Francisco, California. May 6. 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A couple sitting on a bench outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

A couple of years ago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) closed for work on a major expansion and remodeling project. We have been members for some time, and I recall squeezing in one last visit before the long closure — viewing favorite works and making photographs inside the place. The big news is that the remodel is virtually finished now, and the museum officially reopens very soon, on May 14. But an opening like this doesn’t take place all at once. There is a sort of run-up to the actual event that brings people into the new facility over a period of time. As members, it was our turn (along with thousands of others) to get a preview this week.

I may have more to say about the museum in the future, but for now I’ll just say that I like it a lot — both the work exhibited (not that we saw all of it in one day!) and the building itself. There are a number of wonderful touches — many visual connections to the surrounding city (where the previous facility felt more walled off from San Francisco), lots of light, a brilliant system of stairways and spaces along the eastern side, and more. Oddly, almost none of that is in this first photograph I made at the new SFMOMA, which depicts an almost deserted new entrance and seems to show more of the surrounding city environment than the museum itself. More to come eventually…

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

Staggering Couple

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Staggering Couple
A couple staggers past a closed business along a San Francisco sidewalk.

Staggering Couple. San Francisco, California. September 5, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A couple staggers past a closed business along a San Francisco sidewalk.

To me, this photograph has a sort of strange and somewhat perverse quality — like a scene from some bizarre circus or suggesting a madhouse or a dream. It is, admittedly, something of a construction — a construction by means of limiting what is shown of the surroundings and by means of a shutter speed slow enough to blur details and create a fantastical quality. It didn’t hurt that the postures of the couple are somewhat awkward and strange.

As is so often the case for me when photographing in places like this, my attention first went to the architecture and the wild colors and patterns painted on the closed shutters of this shop. That would be somewhat interesting, but hard to make work as a photograph on its own, especially when shooting handheld. And then this couple appeared, walking (sort of) along the sidewalk, hanging onto each other. Set against this incongruous background, they become something quite different from what they actually were.

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.