Tag Archives: family

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

Pausing At The Foto Automatica

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Pausing At The Foto Automatica
“Pausing At The Foto Automatica” — A group of people pause at the Foto Automatic, Florence, Italy.

This photograph of people pausing at the Foto Automatica in Florence took me back to a previous visit to this city. On that earlier trip we were barely there, stopping only briefly between time in Chianti and our flight home. We stayed in a hotel a few steps from this old-school photo booth, and I was surprised at its popularity. Even in an age of hand-held selfie cameras there seems to be something special about crowding into this little old-school booth.

I photographed it on that first visit, and I photographed it again when we spent a longer time in Florence, this time long enough to explore the place more extensively. We did not stay in the same hotel, but we walked past one day — and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Foto Automatica was still there, in its odd little corner along the narrow street. As I watched a (family?) group paused to make pictures.

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: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Family

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A Family
A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

A Family. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

As scheduled, it is back to more street photography today. This photograph comes from our late-August visit to Manhattan, which provided us with opportunities to simply go out on walks and observe/absorb the Manhattan vibe. That is, of course, a complex thing, being composed of lots of people, lots of motion, the urban canyons, occasional bits of quiet and stillness, and a lot of things that happen quickly and are gone. The latter, of course, is part of the appeal of street photography.

I recommend urban and street photography to all photographers, including those of you who like think of yourselves and landscape or nature photographers. As a general thing, I think it is good for you and for your photography to step outside your primary genre and to be aware of good photographic work done with subjects quite different than your own. On a very practical level, shooting street forces you to see, think, and react really quickly. Quite often subjects coalesce and disappear in seconds or even fractions of seconds. You don’t have much time to carefully consider, so you work on the basis of instinct. And that is a useful skill to develop, even if you usually work at a more sedate pace. Street also reminds us of how we make photographs of things that we don’t have time to fully evaluate or understand. For example, while I call this photograph “A Family,” I can’t know that it is a family group. And while I might make be tempted to make other assumptions about this trio… I have no way at all of knowing whether I’m right or wrong. It is better, I think, to just ask questions.

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: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Market, Mott Street

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Market, Mott Street
A family pauses on the sidewalk in front of a Chinatown market on Mott Street on Christmas Eve.

Market, Mott Street. New York City. December 24, 2015.© Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A family pauses on the sidewalk in front of a Chinatown market on Mott Street on Christmas Eve.

I have been a bit surprised to find a lot of photographs of families, often with a kid in a stroller, among my street photographs from this December 2015 visit to New York. The photographs range from an adult family posing for a selfie (yet to be shared here) to families on busy downtown streets to night photographs like this one — and strollers seem to be a repeating theme. I’m not sure what this means.

While trying to figure out where we would go for dinner after discovering that our first choice and its neighbors were way to busy, I took a few minutes to wander up to the end of this very narrow street. This corner market featured a wild and colorful assortment of produce in outdoor stalls along the sidewalk, made more intense by lighting under the awning. My first thought was to photograph this colorful subject, but then I watched to see who might wander by and populate the photograph. A family stopped, father looking at his wife and child and the woman casting a glance in my direction.

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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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Black and White Photography

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Black and White Photography
A museum employee photographs a family.

Black and White Photography. New York City. December 27, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Whitney Museum employee photographs a family.

During our December 2015 visit to New York I had my first opportunity to visit the new Whitney Museum in Chelsea, at the south end of the High Line Park. I hadn’t been to the old Whitney, so I was especially interested in the new museum — not only would I see work that I hadn’t looked at before, but I would have a chance to visit a brand new piece of architecture. In fact, I thought the building was fascinating, especially outdoor terraces on each of the floors that I visited. (I started at the top and got through the collections on the 6th, 7th, and 8th floors.) The highest levels thrust out into space, providing dizzying and spectacular New York views, and the visual appearance looking up from the lower terraces is quite something, too.

I like photographing at and around museums. Often the architecture itself is interesting, but even more, the people at museums are fascinating subjects. Perhaps it is just because there are often so many of them packed so tightly together. Maybe it is something about a change in appearance and demeanor among people who are looking at and thinking about art. I spent a lot of time out on those terraces making quick photographs, and when I saw this family lining up against the wall of the museum, asking a museum employee (who was quite cooperative) to take the camera and record their antics, I quickly clicked of a sequence of photographs.

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 | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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