Tag Archives: eu

Amsterdam Bike Lane

Amsterdam Bike Lane
Cyclists on a bike lane on a cloudy day in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Bike Lane. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cyclists on a bike lane on a cloudy day in Amsterdam

This photograph is partly about bicycles and Amsterdam, partly about that interesting and dark sky, partly about Amsterdam architecture and buildings that lean, and partly about that guy in the foreground. This summer was our first visit to Amsterdam. We stayed just outside of the central city and walked a few blocks to get to the well-known areas each day. For many years I was a very active cyclist in the US, but this is an entirely different scene. Almost no lycra, dropped handlebars road bikes, few mountain bikes… and lots of people in street clothes riding very utilitarian bikes… and parking them everywhere. Somehow the intersecting types of traffic — foot, transit, canal, bicycle, car — seem to coexist here, though it can be quite confusing at times for a first-time visitor.

This day’s light was remarkable. There was thin sunlight, but there were also some lovely dark clouds in the sky. If memory serves, we were in light rain later that evening as we ate dinner outside. We ended up talking to a couple who live in Amsterdam about many things. I confessed that I had initially been mildly disappointed to find the cloudy weather when we arrived, expecting it to be sunny. They more or less laughed and pointed out that this was the more typical sort of conditions. (They claimed that I would not see blue sky. That turned out to be wrong… but only by a little bit!)


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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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Interior, Austrian Postal Savings Bank

Interior, Austrian Postal Savings Bank
Main interior space of the historic, modernist architecture Austrian Postal Savings Bank

Interior, Austrian Postal Savings Bank. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Main interior space of the historic, modernist architecture Austrian Postal Savings Bank

Today I’m breaking up the stream of Eastern Sierra autumn color photographs and returning to the even larger stream of photographs from our travels this past summer. This time we’re back in Vienna, where we spent four nights back in August. It was our first visit and, as seems to be the case with first visits to such places, the experience was a combination of being fascinated/impressed by the city along with beginning to get a sense of its character. Four days is, of course, too little time to really understand a place, but during four days our relationship to such a place changes quite a bit.

We got a recommendation from someone to locate and visit the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse), and we’re glad we went. The place does not seem at all to be on the lists of “things you must see in Vienna,” but if you are interested in architecture and history it probably should be. I won’t try to recount my limited understanding of the history here (there are great resources online, and you can start with Wikipedia) but the modernist building is remarkable, both in its overall effect and in its details. This photograph shows the main room, now mostly vacant, which is a remarkable modern, bright, and airy space, lit from about via a huge skylight.


See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Wiener Würstl

Patrons standing around a “wiener würstl” stand at night in Vienna

Wiener Würstl. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patrons standing around a “wiener würstl” stand at night in Vienna

I made this photograph on a late-August evening in Vienna. We had just returned from dinner, perhaps a bit early, and I realized that I had just enough time to head out and do some night street photography in the crowded nearby streets… which were absolutely filled with pedestrians. There was a lot to see and photograph — a nearby cathedral, shops and cafes, pedicabs, people passing by. As I neared the completion of my looping walk I passed a couple of the ubiquitous “würstl” stands, which seem to collect people in their circle of light.

This photograph is part of a genre that I’ve been pursuing for the past few years — handheld night street photography. It was just a few years ago that I realized that small contemporary digital cameras are now good enough in very low light that I can photograph street scenes using only available light, especially if I seek out sources of light such as this. I’ve been doing night photography for more than fifteen years, and I’m part of a collective of San Francisco Bay Area night photographs known as Studio Nocturne. As it turns out, we’re in the middle of our “fall season” right now, with several events coming up right away.

For more than 15 years we have exhibited every fall as part of the San Francisco ArtSpan Open Studio Event. This year our “open studio” is at ARCH Supplies in San Francisco. Our opening preview and artist reception is on Friday, October 26 at 6:30-9:00PM. Our exhibit and sale continues on Saturday and Sunday, October 27 & 28, from 11:00AM-6:00PM.

Studio Nocturne 2018 ArtSpan Open Studio October 26-28
Studio Nocturne 2018 ArtSpan Open Studio October 26-28

We’re also doing a San Francisco ArtSpan Open Studio “hub show” mini-exhibit at Farley’s Coffee in San Francisco all month, with a public reception this Friday, October 19 at 6:30PM-8:30PM.

Studio Nocturne 2018 Hub Show at Farley's Coffee
Studio Nocturne 2018 Hub Show at Farley’s Coffee

Why don’t you join us at one or both of these events? We look forward to seeing you!


See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Boulders and Forest

Boulders and Forest
Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

Boulders and Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

After weeks of urban travel, enjoying big cities from London to Paris, I was looking forward to the final week of this summer’s long trip to Europe, as we were going to spend it with family at a large vacation home in the countryside not far from Paris. Among other things, I had heard/read that we would be very close to the town of Fontainebleau and the Fontainebleau Forest. In fact, as we drove there we passed through this forest.

A few days into our stay we all decided that it was time for a hike there. I was hoping for a chance to do at least a little bit of landscape photography in this unfamiliar location, even though I would be doing it with my travel photography equipment and not using a tripod. The section of forest we visited was just outside the village of Barbizon, so it was not exactly a wilderness location — there was a small cafe not far away, and lots of people were out hiking and riding bicycles. The forest itself is lovely, though completely different from the great mountain conifer forests of “my” Sierra Nevada. By comparison, this French forest was nearly flat, with few hills more than a few hundred feet high. The trees are a mix of deciduous and conifers, spaced widely to allow plenty of light. The area is known for these large boulders.


See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 |
Email


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