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Deserted Street, Orvieto

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Deserted Street, Orvieto
“Deserted Street, Orvieto” — A nearly-empty back street in Orvieto, Italy.

I suppose I could title this, “Yet Another Italian Street,” right? I have shared quite a few of them! Like some of the other recent photographs, this one also comes from the hill town of Orvieto. I made the photograph on a back street away from the popular tourist areas of the town, and at a time of day when fewer visitors would be about.

For those of us who live in the United States, it is hard to imagine what it much be like to live in these towns. We’re used to wide streets, lined with areas to park, then curbs and sidewalks and often some kind of open area in front of buildings. But these old streets were constructed in a very different time, when the automobile was not king. The buildings open right onto the avenues, which are great for walking but barely wide enough for motor traffic.

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.

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

Deserted Street, Orvieto

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Deserted Street, Orvieto
“Deserted Street, Orvieto” — A narrow, deserted street in the Italian hill town of Orvieto.

It can be a challenge to photograph these narrow streets without people in a popular town such as Orvieto. One strategy is to photograph late in the day and even into the evening, but sometimes an even more promising approach is to go out very early. Most of the tourists aren’t out then, instead sleeping in before a leisurely breakfast in the morning or sitting in a restaurant in the evening. The difference is even greater in Orvieto, where many of the visitors only come for the day, heading back to their “home base” for the evening.

All of the streets here are narrow, but this is an even narrower side street. Unlike the familiar American grid street layout, there the narrow passageways curve and twist and take off in surprising directions. Several things in this photograph intrigue me. First, essentially everything you see is stone masonry, from the cobbled path to the walls and arches. Second, I suspect that these arches serve multiple purposes — both as passageways and to brace the facing buildings.

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.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Woman in Museum Doorway

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Woman in Museum Doorway
A woman stands in a doorway to an empty gallery, Uffizi Museum, Florence.

Woman in Museum Doorway. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A woman stands in a doorway to an empty gallery, Uffizi Museum, Florence.

Most of this museum in Florence, Italy consists of galleries filled with some of the culture’s greatest art. There is so much of it that it is truly overwhelming, and eventually it becomes Impossible to register all of it. But then something odd happened. We walked to this door and on the other side was simple an empty room with a spot of light glowing on the far wall. I stopped to photograph the light and quickly realized that the people passing in and out of the doorway were a more interesting subject — including this woman who pauses and twisted her body around to look backwards.

In much of landscape — thought not quite all of it — we often have time to think about what we are photographing and how to photograph it. We can move the tripod a bit to improve the composition, perhaps try more than one version and multiple variations of exposure and composition. One of the things that fascinates me about photographing urban subjects is that scenes happen so quickly, often assembling themselves spontaneously and then disappearing just as quickly — and the photographer has to work quickly and instinctively

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.

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

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Photographs: Croatia, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trogir Street, Early Morning

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Trogir Street, Early Morning
Trogir Street, Early Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell

Trogir Street, Early Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A (nearly-) empty early-morning street in Trogir, Croatia.

Trogir, Croatia is located not far from the city of Split. (It is not too far from the Split airport, as any visitor will note after watching and listening to planes on approach over the town.) It is a very old town and quite a striking place, with buildings and narrow streets constructed from local stone. Its history goes back over 2000 years, and these days it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a well-known location from the Game of Thrones franchise and, not doubt partly as a result, a very popular place with tourists. The latter can be an issue, especially in such a small town, and during the daytime it can be really crowded.

My friend and Croatian fellow photographer Franka Mlikota Gabler was visiting while we were there, and she suggested meeting before sunrise for some early morning — and crowd-free! — photography. Aside from people setting up restaurants and shops or making deliveries, or tourists heading out to catch early flights from the Split airport, the place was almost deserted. I photographed this narrow street while it was early enough that the blue hour light still suffused the narrow passageways.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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