Tag Archives: empty

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

Woman, Empty Venice Street

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Woman, Empty Venice Street
A woman walks along a narrow and deserted Venice street in the early morning.

Woman, Empty Venice Street. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A woman walks along a narrow and deserted Venice street in the early morning.

The whole concept of “travel” is complex and, I think, fraught with trade-offs and contradictions. The world is a huge place, far too big to fully experience and see all of it in a lifetime. Do we go to many places and experience each of them less fully? Or do we got to fewer places and try for a deeper experience with those? I don’t have the answer — just the question. Our visit to Venice on this trip relates to that question as, even though we had been to Italy before, we had not ever been to this remarkable — and now tourist-filled and other wise endangered — city. Part of us did not want to go there, given the issues with modern Venice, but another part of us thought, “Venice! How could you NOT go there at least once!” So we went.

The place is just as crowded as you have heard and possibly seen for yourself. But it is also just as remarkable as you have heard. Arriving there for the first time (a story I’ll share in more detail later) was one of the most remarkable moments of our trip. But those crowds! Fortunately, we stayed in a place that was outside the main tourist zone — yet close enough to get to places we wanted to visit quickly. On this morning I went out early, when almost no other tourists were out. It was possible to photograph empty streets or, as in this case, individuals passing through this remarkable place.

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: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Empty Lot, Paris #2

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Empty Lot, Paris #2
An empty lot with graffiti in Paris, a 2022 rendition.

Empty Lot, Paris #2. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

An empty lot with graffiti in Paris, a 2022 rendition.

Almost any time I open up an old photograph for some reason other than pure curiosity — and sometimes for that reason, too — I reconsider it and make some minor adjustments that seem like improvements. That might seem odd in today’s world of digital post-processing and inkjet printing. Back in the film era, every print was a unique rendition, the result of physical acts in the darkroom during the printing process. It was literally impossible to do what is the norm today — to make every print exactly the same as the others. All of this is a long way of saying that I don’t see why an early version of a photograph should be the final say on it.

Recently I re-opened this photograph, made a few years back on an evening walk around the Montmartre area in Paris. It was surprising to find this empty lot in a crowded area and to note that it appears to have been empty for some time. There’s a lot going on in the scene, but that blue portrait catches my attention.

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

Photographs: Pandemia, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bench and Wall

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Bench and Wall
Postcard from Pandemia: bench and wall.

Bench and Wall. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Postcard from Pandemia: bench and wall.

From the “Postcards from Pandemia” series, another photograph made on one of my neighborhood walk circuits. This route takes me past a location that I knew very well when I was much younger, and when I visit now it evokes thoughts about time — how some things have changed a lot while others have changed not at all.

In normal times I probably have not been able to approach this bench at this time of day without raising suspicions and concerns, especially when carrying a camera and making photographs. But the entire area was empty since the shelter-in-place orders had closed it down.

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.

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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.

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

Night Street, Florence

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Night Street, Florence
An empty, curving street at night, Florence, Italy

Night Street, Florence. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty, curving street at night, Florence, Italy

Three years ago we visited Florence, Italy near the end of more than a month of European travel. We were in Italy for almost the last two weeks of our trip, with most of the time spent with extended family in the hills of the Chianti region. From there we went to Florence for a few days of sightseeing, eating, museum visiting, and photography before we caught our flight back home.

In the summer, central Florence is a pretty busy place, filled with tourists during most of the daytime hours. I like photographing people, but it can be overwhelming. However, there were two times of the day when I could walk and photograph in relatively crowd-free conditions: early in the morning and late enough in the evening that the crowds had thinned. By the time I walked past this street, in a place where there would have been a good number of people earlier in the day, it was essentially deserted.

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.