Tag Archives: doors

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

696

Image Leave a comment
696
Rollup doors on building 696, San Jose.

696. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rollup doors on building 696, San Jose.

This photograph is a bit of a study in “accidental geometry” that I encountered while on a walk earlier this fall. The two roll-up doors are almost but not quite perfect mirror images, but the surrounding walls are almost opposites, light and dark, and the whole thing is set off by horizontal areas at the top and bottom. There is one little asymmetrical element in the numbers next to the right door — but even there you can find a certain interesting formal pattern if you look for it.

This probably doesn’t seem like my usual subject, but I can assure you it is the sort of thing I see quite often — more often, in fact, than autumn aspens, rugged seashores, deserts, and alpine mountains. It is the terrain of my regular pandemic walks in a circle that extends across a several mile radius from our home. In one direction I often end up passing through light industrial areas, including some that might seem just a bit sketchy. In fact, as I made this photograph I was standing within feet of the temporary pandemic homes of trailer-dwellers parked on the street.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man, Florence

Image Leave a comment
Walking Man, Florence
A man walks past businesses in Florence

Walking Man, Florence. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks past businesses in Florence.

Several years ago we concluded a long European trip by visiting Italy, where we spent a week in the hills of Tuscany with members of our extended family. The trip, in total, was about bit longer than a month, and we had about a week and a half in Italy.

Most of our time in Tuscany was in the rural area near where we stayed — that region of fields and vineyards and orchards and small towns and villages. However, at the end of that part of our visit we decided to spend a few days in Florence before flying home. It was our first visit there, and we loved the place. (Yes, it is busy and full of tourists, but if you go out at the right times… less so.) I made this photograph on one of our first walks as we headed toward the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Red Doors

Image Leave a comment
Red Doors
Red doors, reflective panes, San Francisco

Red Doors. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red doors, reflective panes, San Francisco.

Here is another photograph from my search for color last week in San Francisco. OK, my main purpose in taking the train up there wan’t literally to search for color — it was to do street photography in this rich urban environment. But the way I see “street” often includes color as an important element. (Sometimes I employ a little mental checklist to keep me focused and flexible when looking for subjects, and the word “color” is one of the points on the list.)

As is often the case, I don’t recall precisely where I found this pair of red doors. (It was quite possibly in the vicinity of San Francisco’s Chinatown district.) Oddly, I do have a rather specific memory of seeing the doors and making the photograph though, a process that included an answer to the question, “How do I avoid putting my own reflection in those windows!?”

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Doorway, Windows, Stairs

Leave a comment

Doorway, Windows, Stairs
A San Francisco doorway with an interior stairway, night

Doorway, Windows, Stairs. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A San Francisco doorway with an interior stairway, night

For me street photography is not just about people — though I photograph that subject, too. It is also about what I might call “street landscape,” and I’m as intrigued by this landscape as I am by any other. Even when my subjects are the people in the urban world, I’m virtually always considering them at least partly in the context of where they are. I’m no less away of this landscape background in the urban world than I am when photographing birds in flight against the background of their landscape. And sometimes here, as in the natural world, I like to photograph that landscape without its “wildlife.”

The urban world especially fascinates me at night, and simple things can take on a new appearance. This was almost a “grab shot” as I walked back toward my car from where I had spent an hour photographing with friends along the San Francisco waterfront. If such things appeal to you, there might be a lot to find and consider in this image. Or not. You decide.

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.