Tag Archives: downtown

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Nassau Crosses Ann Street!

Image Leave a comment
Nassau Crosses Ann Street!
The corner of Nassau and Ann Streets, Manhattan. (Charles Ives fans may get the reference.)

Nassau Crosses Ann Stree! © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The corner of Nassau and Ann Streets, Manhattan. (Charles Ives fans may get the reference.)

Anne Street

Quaint name Ann street.
Width of same, ten feet.
Barnum’s mob Ann street,
Far from ob-solete.

Narrow, yes, Ann street,
But business, both feet.
(Nassau crosses Ann Street)
Sun just hits Ann street,
Then it quits–some greet!
Rather short, Ann Street.

– Maurice Morris

Fans of the work of American composer Charles Ives may “get” this. Not long ago I finally worked out the location of theManhattan street that gives the song its name, found it, and looked for the parenthetical cross street. Located on the fringes of the financial district it still has connections to this rather old poetic description. (Those who are inclined to find and listen to the song should look for some wonderful musical puns in Ives’ treatment.)

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sidewalk and Brick Building

Image Leave a comment
Sidewalk and Brick Building
The front of a brick building on a steep San Francisco street

Sidewalk and Brick Building. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The front of a brick building on a steep San Francisco street.

The tilt of the sidewalk may just give away the location, at least if you happen to already know that I frequently photograph urban subjects while walking around San Francisco. As is often the case, I now don’t recall precisely where I photographed this little vignette, though there is a very good chance that it was in or not far from the Chinatown district of The City.

Without knowing exactly why — though I have a few ideas — I’m always attracted to little architectural scenes like this one. My best guess is that it is some combination of color, composition, texture, and light. Most of the color in this scene is not very intense, but the red pole and the greenish winter moss caught my attention. The scene is filled with rectangles, from the smaller size of tile and bricks to the larger shapes formed by the windows, doors, and sections of wall.

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

Purple, Green, Blue, And Red

Image Leave a comment
Purple, Green, Blue, And Red
Objects along the sidewalk, San Francisco

Purple, Green, Blue, And Red. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Objects along the sidewalk, San Francisco.

Given its title, it should be obvious that this photograph is, at least in part, about the colors I found in this little downtown San Francisco scene. The specific location probably isn’t too important, though it is a central city area that is not one of great wealth and privilege, but which is perhaps under some pressure from the developmental forces currently bringing radical changes to the qualities that made this city famous.

Sometimes I just make photographs without analyzing too much, and you could look at a photograph like this in much the same way. But sometimes I do ask myself questions, such as “Why would I want to photograph something like this?” The answer is too complex for a two-paragraph web post — and I’m not sure that I know the complete answer — but I do know that I’m looking for order relationships among things that might not be objectively related. (Here those elements include the conjunctions of color and objects.) I’m also, I think, trying to see things for “what else they might be.”

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

Gated Community

Image Leave a comment
Gated Community
Doorways with metal security gates in a San Francisco neighborhood

Gated Community. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Doorways with metal security gates in a San Francisco neighborhood.

The title of the photograph is, obviously I hope, an ironic joke. This community relies on gates, but it is hardly the sort of place the comes to mind when we think of a “gated community,” an exclusive sort of place where “regular people” are perhaps not welcome. Here there are gates, too, but on individual doorways of residences and businesses, reflecting the reality of life in areas of inner cities.

The gates intrigue me — what lies behind them, and what is it like to live behind them? But the shapes and patterns produced by the gates, with their vertical texture, the colorful vertical row of painted tiles, and the larger wall surface that has clearly been painted over many times, most likely to cover up graffiti.

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.