Tag Archives: figure

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

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon

Image Leave a comment
Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon
Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

We walked a lot during our 2023 visit to Lisbon, Portugal. Hey, walking is what we do when we travel! It may limit the distance you can cover a bit, but we think that we see a lot more of the places we go to when we walk. Lisbon is an interesting walking city. It is easy to walk many places, though there are two things to think about. First, it is a big city, and some of the more far-flung attractions are far away. (There is decent transit however.) Second, there are a lot of hills! Some are steep enough that even going down them can be a test.

On this day our goal was the St. George Castle, on the top of one of the hills overlooking the city. From our lodgings we walked down to central Lisbon and then started up the climb on the other side. Soon, as we reached the base of the hill we were to ascend, we encountered lots of ways to avoid the climb — if you were willing to pay for a lift up the hill. We pondered for maybe five seconds and then decided to walk. Walking is harder, for sure, and it is slower. But the latter is actually a benefit. When walking we see lots of things that we would miss on a tram or a tug-tuk ride. I photographed this little souvenir shop along the walk toward the castle.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Narrow Street and Steps, Porto

Image Leave a comment
Narrow Street and Steps, Porto
A woman stands below steps ascending a narrow street in Porto, Portugal

Narrow Street and Steps, Porto. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A woman stands below steps ascending a narrow street in Porto, Portugal

On our first walk in Porto we headed straight for the historic Ribeira district. This neighborhood rises steeply from the banks of the Duoro River and is filled with extremely narrow and twisty streets on the impressively inclined hillside. Yes, it is a popular tourist destination, but with good reason. In places the streets are so narrow that I was reminded of wandering Utah slot canyons, with soft light filtering down from above.

Later on our visit we branched out a bit more — though to be honest we barely scratched the surface of the place during our stay. We love to walk when we visit cities, and there were plenty of opportunities for that in Porto. On this day we took a long and semi-random looping walk that took us past busy downtown areas, to hilltop views of the Duoro, and through more neighborhoods — like this one where we stopped to photograph the steep and narrow walkways near the end of the day.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

Woman in Museum Doorway

Image Leave a comment
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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

Woman Crossing The Square

Image Leave a comment
Woman Crossing The Square
A woman crosses a square early in the morning, Trogir, Croaita.

Woman Crossing The Square. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A woman crosses a square early in the morning, Trogir, Croaita.

This past August I had the double good fortune to be able to photograph in Trogir, Croatia and to spend a morning photographing there with my friend Franka Gabler, who was brought up there. This town was all new to me in most ways, but it was familiar to her. We started photographing around sunrise and spent a few hours wandering narrow streets and visiting the waterfront… until we finally stopped for coffee and to sit out a brief rain shower.

The stone construction is typical of Trogir and other places we visited in Croatia. (It is not secret that the architecture and colors of European regions often reflects that the occupants had available for construction — and here it was stone.) The two of us paused near this entrance to this small square, hoping to have just the right figure move through the scene. Things often happen quickly in street photography, and I had just a brief moment to squeeze off three exposures as this woman walked through the square.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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