Tag Archives: england

Photographs: United Kingdom

London Sunset

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London Sunset
London Sunset

London Sunset. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset over London, England

We had walked across to the south side of the Thames River earlier on this afternoon – I think it was the day that we visited the Tate Museum, which is located near the south end of the Millennium Bridge. We had been in this area earlier on the trip when we saw “A Midsummer Nights Dream” at the Old Globe Theater, and I had wanted to come back in the evening and try to time it so that I could be along the river during the golden hour and perhaps into the early evening. Sure enough, when we were ready to start out walk back across the bridge to where we would catch the Underground back to our hotel the light was just starting to get interesting. In this case, “interesting” included not only the normal golden hour light show but also the somewhat thick and humid atmosphere found here.

My main thoughts were to photograph the skyline to the north and south of the bridge, and to continue shooting as the evening lights began to come on. But when I saw this sun in the hazy sky I put on a long lens that did what I would do in the Sierra Nevada back home – I made a sunset photograph! However, the landscape in this image is distinctly British and distinctly London, with the most obvious feature being the BT Tower at the left.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: United Kingdom, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Walls and Cobblestones

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Brick Walls and Cobblestones
Brick Walls and Cobblestones

Brick Walls and Cobblestones. London, England. July 16, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty cobbled London street runs beneath an underpass and next to brick buildings and walls.

Although it is the wrong city, this might be an example of me channeling my “inner Atget.” I’m not 100% positive where I made this photograph, though I could probably figure it out precisely if I thought it was important, but I think it may have been in the area near the south bank of the Thames between the Southwark and Millennium Bridges where I did a lot of wandering on a couple of occasions.

Either because I waited until they all moved out of the frame or because I somehow managed to find a deserted spot, there are obviously no people in this image, so it works as a sort of urban landscape but also street photography. As in at least one other photograph I made in this area, I’m shooting from inside a darkened tunnel or underpass and towards a sunlit area beyond, and again the reflected light shines on the smooth cobbles of the street. To my eye, the curve of the wall and sidewalk in the dark tunnel and the light coming from the right side of the frame suggest some space and structure to the right of the image that cannot be seen.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: People, Photographs: United Kingdom, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Street Market

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London Street Market
London Street Market

London Street Market. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A London street market near closing time.

This is another photograph made in the narrow streets along the south side of the Thames river roughly in the area of the Millennium and Southwark Bridges, where we found ourselves with some time to kill late one afternoon. As we walked around with no firm plan in mind we came to a location where a street market was just closing, and the many vendors were making their final sales of the day and starting to close up shop.

Visually this was an absolutely compelling place to photograph, though I’m not at all sure I was able to do it justice – and I would go back given the chance. The many stalls selling almost anything you can imagine created their own interest; the place was packed with people shopping or just walking through on their way to some other place. And being under a bridge and in places in old buildings with lots of glass above, the light was truly wonderful. I spent perhaps a half hour walking through the area, shooting like crazy, and I especially liked the spots like this one where I could position myself in shadow and shoot directly toward the late afternoon light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.

Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Night, Photographs: United Kingdom

River Thames Reflections, Night

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River Thames Reflections, Night
River Thames Reflections, Night

River Thames Reflections, Night. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Nighttime lights from the Southwark Bridge reflect on the surface of London’s River Thames.

As we walked back across the Millennium Bridge toward the north bank of the River Thames in the evening light, I saw many colorful lights on bridges, boats, and buildings that were reflected in the surface of the river and which stood out against the somewhat hazy blue hour atmosphere. This bridge provides a great location for photographing the reflections since it is, obviously, right above the water and because it is easy to align reflections with various other elements by moving back and forth across the bridge. In this photograph most of the interesting reflections are coming from the Southwark Bridge, with the white lights on the Tower Bridge just visible further along the river.

On a technical note, I relied on a very different sort of photographic gear on this trip. Since our plan was to keep our luggage down to carry-on size – for a three-week trip to three countries – we decided to take some radical steps to downsize the amount of camera equipment we would carry. I normally shoot a full frame DSLR and typically carry a very large tripod and multiple (sometimes many!) large lenses. My normal load of camera gear alone, at least for car-based shooting, would exceed the carry-limits that we would deal with on our international flights – and would also weigh me down more than I wanted during a trip that would include a lot of walking. So for this trip I left my Big Gear at home and instead carried a Fujifilm X-E!, a small cropped sensor mirrorless camera, and only three lenses: a 14mm prime, a 35mm prime, and a 55-200mm zoom. All of this fit in a small messenger bag with room left over for my (small) laptop and lots of other necessities. I bring this up because this photograph was shot handheld with this camera, using the 35mm prime – in a situation and of a subject where I would normally assume that a tripod was necessary. (I’ll be writing more about the experience with this alternate gear soon at my blog.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.