Tag Archives: door

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.

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, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stairs, Person Walking

July 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

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

On this mid-July morning I was walking through sections of downtown San Francisco, on my way from Market Street up through parts of Chinatown and heading toward North Beach. It was early enough that the bulk of the tourist crowd was still sleeping in or having breakfast, though people were out and about. My plan was to walk up the first block of the main tourist section of Chinatown to grab some storefront photographs, and then to head a bit west to Stockton Street or thereabouts, where things are oriented (much) less towards the tourist trade.

There is a place where there are essentially two layers of streets. Busy Stockton ducks into a tunnel and the street that is right above it ends on a short spur that is mostly parking. I walked to the middle of the sidewalk at the end of this little street, from which I could photograph straight up Stockton. Finishing that I looked for the stairs down to Stockton and happened to pick the one to my left. As I entered the stair well I looked for photographs since I like the angles and the lighting in some of these areas. One landing up I could look down to where the sidewalk coming up through the tunnel met up with the stairs and then emerged into the light beyond. I made an exposure or two of this “urban landscape,” and then as a person walked across the scene I had a moment to channel my “inner HCB” and photograph her blurred form.

Speaking of channeling HCB, there is also a BW version of this image that probably has more of the classic “street” look. At the moment, thinking that I’m in danger of trying to look old school if I go the other way and also enjoying the brown and tan and similar tones in the color version, I’m going with this one.

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

White Door and Wall

May 10, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

White door and stucco on a building in San Francisco, California.

As I photograph the various usual subjects that appear here, I always have a few background subjects that I’m always looking out for. One of my projects might be described as “urban minimalism,” featuring subjects from the urban environment that are very simple. This is probably about as minimalist as I can get with such images. (Though, now that I’ve written that, I’m starting to think of some even “more minimalist” possibilities. Funny.)

This one gets perilously close to the infamous “Polar Bear in Snowstorm” photo that people imagine from time to time. It is a white door in a white door frame against a white wall. Believe it or not, I had to go back and forth for a while to decide whether to print it in color or black and white – and, no, I’m not joking. Much of the image changes little when I switch between the two interpretations. However, there is a slight coloration to the “white” wall (that is almost certainly not displayed accurately on your monitor) and there is some real color on the metal security cover over the lock. But still… it is almost all shades of white in the end.

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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.

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

Metal Walled Building With Door, Tree and Lawn, Night

March 6, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of a metal walled building with a door, sidewalk, lawn, and tree – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This is a bit of a different sort of night photograph compared to the others I have posted in this recent series. (Most of those were shot at some distance from my subjects – generally old, historic buildings – and in very saturated and colorful light.) Near the end of my evening shoot at Mare Island in late February I was walking back from a dark and lonely corner of the place when I passed a more modern facility, an out-patient clinic of some sort. This facility is something of a stark contrast to the surrounding area. The building is relatively new and the walls are not the usual brick and/or corrugated metal, but instead are a more modern-looking sort of metal paneling. There is landscaping, including small patches of lawn and small trees. And the light is completely different. Elsewhere in the darker areas of Mare Island the lighting tends toward yellow, coming from sodium vapor lamps, though it also includes green and occasionally other hues. But here the light is fairly neutral and actually looks almost white. I wasn’t quite sure what to do! :-)

But then it seemed to me that it might be interesting to see what I could do with this modern (though not flawless) structure and its surrounding landscaping. Here a small door, partly blocked by some sort of signs, leads into a very small section of a building and is lit a bit mysteriously from above. Sidewalks lead away from the door and a small, forlorn patch of lawn sits near the corner of the building, with a single leafless tree supported by stakes. When I saw this spot and when I look at the photograph now I get this feeling that there should be some story behind all of this… but I have no idea what it might be.

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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.

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