Tag Archives: cover

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

Woman Walking, Red Awnings

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Woman Walking, Red Awnings
Woman Walking, Red Awnings

Woman Walking, Red Awnings. San Francisco, California. March 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past red shop awnings and downtown building wall along a San Francisco Street.

This shot was made on a very shaded side street not too far from Union Square in San Francisco. The blurred figure is intentional – part of a series I’m working on – since this handheld shot was made at a slow shutter speed of 1/20 second using a 50mm lens on a full frame body. Part of the idea was to place the walker (or allow her to place herself!) in an interesting location relative to all of the other objects spread horizontally across the wide frame: the display windows with the red overhands, the green trash can, the tall black lamppost, and the two manhole covers in the street. The games for me on this type of image include finding the basic composition and then finding and timing the shot of the right passer-by.

This photograph is 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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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/20 second

keywords: street, urban, san francisco, california, usa, north america, travel, woman, walking, sidewalk, street, manhole, cover, light, pole, garbage, trash, waste, can, concrete, wall, pattern, red, awning, store, shop, window, person, downtown, road, geometry, pattern, stride, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

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Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall
Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall. San Francisco, California. March 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man with a cell phone walks along a San Francisco sidewalk past maroon wall.

For the first time, I went out and did street photography with my two sons in San Francisco during the first weekend in March. It was fun, though I’m not used to shooting street (or much else) with other people, and I think my work habits may have a tendency to drive others slightly crazy. (Sons, thanks for putting up with me! :-) When I shoot street and urban subjects I tend to wander about rather slowly, looking at everything, getting distracted while I stop to shoot something, and then heading off in an unpredictable direction when something else catches my attention!

We took BART to the downtown area of the City and wandered up toward Union Square along with the rest of the horde, finally heading out into some less traveled streets where there weren’t quite so many people. We photographed various back streets and then descended through the fringes of the Tenderloin to end up at the Civic Center.

One irony is that while I am fully digital these days – though I did go with the traditional approach and shoot with only a 50mm prime – both of my sons prefer to shoot film now! There is no explaining some things! :-)

When I shoot street I tend to approach it somewhat as a landscape photographer, first looking for interesting light, patterns, colors, and so forth. At that point I often square up a composition and then look for the right person or people to walk through the scene, and I try to time the exposure to put the figure in an interesting place in the composition. In this case I think it got quite lucky with the colors of the fellow’s clothing against the maroon wall!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/100 second

keywords: man, person, walking, cell, phone, talking, maroon, yellow, tan, arch, circle, patterns, window, reflection, fire, alarm, parking, meter, sidewalk, manhole, cover, design, gate, door, vent, address, hill, slope, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, downtown, city, stock

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light

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Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light
Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light

Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. February 27, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Industrial towers and brick building under the light of the full moon at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

On February 27, for the second time this month, I visited Mare Island Naval Shipyard to do night photography with The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. (Anyone looking for great resources on night photography should visit their web site. They also offer classes and workshops on night photography.) This was a “Mare Islands Alumni” event, attended by quite a few folks who have done night photography at Mare Island. One of the highlights came before the actual photography began as we met in the museum building and had a chance to view work by participating photographers – the work gets better every time and there was some wonderful night photography on display.

One attraction on this night was the full moon, which appears just above and to the right of the frame in this photograph made near the intersection of 8th and Nimitz Streets, in the heart of the old ship construction area. The was the first subject I photographed – it was something of a “do over,” since I had overlooked some obvious composition problems with the shot earlier this month and wanted to get it right this time. When I originally mentioned that, Tim Baskerville pointed out that I might have a hard time getting the same reflective puddles in the scene, but as luck would have it a good sized storm was just departing and it left great puddles everywhere!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
ISO 100, f/11, 353 seconds

keywords: 8th, avenue, street, nimitz, asphalt, puddle, reflection, water, twig, manhole, cover, steel, tower, rivets, bolt, brick, shop, building, window, arch, industrial, stop, sign, full, moon, light, sky, star, trail, cloud, minsy, the, nocturnes, mare, island, naval, shipyard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, north america, curb, sidewalk, night, photography

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Green Wall

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Green Wall
Green Wall

Green Wall. San Jose, California. January 1, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Green wall with green door and window in an urban industrial area of San Jose, California.

This is another urban landscape from my New Years Day walk and shoot. This photograph and the one that follows (a yellow building with a “For Lease” sign) are almost directly across the street from one another – a colorful bit of industrial neighborhood for sure! Despite the weathered and repainted character of this detail, the overall building is actually in decent shape. There is something mysterious about it though with the green color(s) and the boarded up windows and the door with no handle.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: green, corrugated, metal, wall, building, door, window, cover, hinge, scuff, mark, bolt, weathered, repainted, paint, urban, industrial, city, street, structure, stock, dent, crease, patch, damage