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Pipe Covered Wall, Fire Extinguisher Sign

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Pipe Covered Wall, Fire Extinguisher Sign - A very worn and peeling wall with pipes, conduit, a fire extinguisher sign, and shadows - The Embarcadero, San Francisco
A very worn and peeling wall with pipes, conduit, a fire extinguisher sign, and shadows – The Embarcadero, San Francisco

Pipe Covered Wall, Fire Extinguisher Sign. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A very worn and peeling wall with pipes, conduit, a fire extinguisher sign, and shadows – The Embarcadero, San Francisco.

This is a more or less random bit of wall in a small alley leading from the Embarcadero to some old buildings on one of the old piers along the east shoreline of San Francisco. (I need to get back up there soon. There was a recent fire in the area and now I’m wondering if it affected any of these little spots I photograph.)

I am a bit of a sucker – and who isn’t? – for old worn walls, especially when they are crisscrossed by pipes and conduit and when they hold various valves and meters of the sort that in more modern structures might be hidden from view. In this case, I made the photograph in relatively “harsh” light – it was still morning, but no longer the very early soft, warm light. In fact, it was that very light that created another element of this scene that attracted me, namely the very wide shadows from the very narrow pipes. I liked other small details too – the “FIRE EXT” sign, worn and now covered by conduit, with no fire extinguisher to be seen; what must be a much older “sign” about a third of the way in from the right, which now seems to be completely blank; that interesting interruption of the wall near its base but a chunk of steel covered with rivets.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

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Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building
Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building. New York, New York. August 24, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

On the final morning of our August (2011) visit to New York City, we took the subway down toward the lower end of the island to meet our son – the plan being to walk though Soho and (I think) the West Village, ending up at a gallery in Chelsea. After taking care of the most pressing bit of initial business – coffee – we wandered on through Soho… and I think this photograph was made there.

New Yorkers undoubtedly know exactly is going on with this light, but for the rest of the world… the morning sun was passing through a relatively narrow gap between buildings to strike this brick wall and partially pick off this green emergency exit zigzagging down the front of this building. In a lot of ways, this isn’t totally different from shooting natural landscapes – go out early, look for interesting subjects, find good light, make photographs. It isn’t totally the same – duh! – either. Not only can you walk here from coffee, but we (my son and I) shot without tripods, and I stuck to a single 50mm prime to keep things simple.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Burned Forest, Evening

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Burned Forest, Evening
Burned Forest, Evening

Burned Forest, Evening. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. August 20, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on an eastern Sierra Nevada forest recovering from a recent wildfire.

This spot is in Mono County along highway 395 not far from June Lake, and it is a spot that I’ve had my eyes on for some time. As a person who was brought up in the “Smokey the Bear” era, when wildfires were thought to be entirely a bad thing, it took me a while to come to terms with the knowledge that such fires are a natural and necessary element. I understood this logically before I understood it aesthetically, and I struggled for some time with the idea that places where fires have occurred can be seen as sites of rebirth rather than as destruction and desolation.

I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity and the right light to photograph this burn area for a couple of years now. I pass by fairly often, but it has always been at the wrong time of day or at a time when I could not afford to stop. However, as is often the, unexpected coincidences caused me to be here just before sunset as the light turned golden in mid-August. Ironically, part of the cause was… a forest fire in Yosemite! Up in the Tuolumne area, the afternoon air had turned smokey and the light had taken on the sort of brownish color that forest fire smoke can create. This light was not inspiring me, so I thought that I’d drive over the pass and head south a short distance on highway 395 to see if I could find more interesting lighting. As I traveled south from Lee Vining I happened to notice the turn-off for West Portal Road, which heads out in the general direction of Mono Craters. I took this road and spent some time poking around, eventually making a few exposures in the area called Aeolian Buttes, and then returned to the main highway a bit south of where I had originally left the road.

As it happened, this choice dropped me onto 395 at a place where I could see this burned area just a bit further down the road. The sun was not far from dropping behind the Sierra crest, so I figured this could be my chance to give it a try. I found a spot where the late afternoon light was warming the color of the summer-dried grasses and some white flowers grew among the burned trees, and I had perhaps 15 minutes to work before the sun dropped behind the peaks.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Talking on Cell Phone

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Man Talking on Cell Phone
Man Talking on Cell Phone

Man Talking on Cell Phone. San Francisco, California. July 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Man sitting on a bench in front of a San Francisco building and talking on his cell phone.

The first time I worked on this photograph, I made a decision to work it up as a black and white image. However, when I returned to it a month or so ago, I felt like it might be interesting as a color photograph as well.

There is nothing all that special about the location itself – it is on a small street in an area that might be thought of as along the edges of downtown San Francisco. It is not too far to typical large downtown buildings, but here it seems that many might residences and rental units, and many on this street are connected with the Academy of Arts College (or is it “university” now?) facilities that are spread all around the city. I’m intrigued by the interesting shapes and colors and textures of these San Francisco buildings, that often embody some strange combination of a great deal of order (carefully painted rectangular white window frames), utility (the fire escape being almost the most prominent thing on the front of the building), and little oddities (the benches on a slanting sidewalk and guy talking obliviously on his cell phone).

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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.