Tag Archives: france

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Empty Lot, Paris

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Empty Lot, Paris
An empty lot with graffiti and street art, Paris

Empty Lot, Paris. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty lot with graffiti and street art, Paris

I’m pretty certain that I made this photograph on the evening of our arrival in Paris in the summer of 2016. We came from London the train, arrived in the afternoon, checked into a hotel, and headed out to explore. We were staying in Montemartre, which is a fine place to wander, with narrow streets, hills, and plenty of places to eat and drink.

A bit later, at dusk, we were walking through a residential area when we passed this empty and apparently abandoned lot. It appeared that it had been commandeered by graffiti artists, who produced everything from text to images. My sense was that this produced a sort of urban landscape, and as different as this look from, say, the Sierra Nevada, it photographed it in a similar way in the fading light.

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: France

The Louvre

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The Louvre
Courtyard and people, the Louvre

The Louvre. Paris, France. August 11, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Courtyard and people, the Louvre

We spent about a week exploring Paris during the summer of 2016. Mostly we wandered, with a few specific goals in mind, and many opportunities for (sometimes random) discoveries. But there were a few things that we knew we had to visit, and the The Louvre was, of course, on that list. The museum is gigantic, with collections that are so extensive that a single day visit — which is what we had — only affords an opportunity to visit a small portion of the museum. We managed mostly one floor of one wing.

The grounds within and around the Louvre are constructed on a monumental scale. While many parts of Paris feature narrow and twisting streets, here there are vast open courtyards and buildings that extend over great distances. This photograph was made from one of the upper levels of the museum, and it looks back toward the central open area, across which groups of people walk.

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.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant Windows, Benches

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Restaurant Windows, Benches
Two benches outside the windows of a San Francisco restaurant

Restaurant Windows, Benches. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two benches outside the windows of a San Francisco restaurant

At the end of April I spent a couple of hours shooting through the golden hour and on into the evening in San Francisco, mostly exploring along The Embarcadero on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. Our group first wandered out on a pedestrian pier, where we hung up through sunset and into early twilight as the light faded from the sky and city lights came on.

Soon I left the group — I had a long drive back home — and wandered along the Embarcadero as I headed back to my car. Photographing into restaurant and club windows intrigues me. There is often a striking contrast between the interior world of people having dinner or drinks and the exterior world of very quite urban landscapes. Here a couple of unoccupied benches sit beneath windows, with more colorful lighting and a number of patrons inside.

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Eiffel Tower, Clouds

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Eiffel Tower, Clouds
Thin clouds in bright summer sky above the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower, Clouds. Paris, France. August 12, 2016. © Copyright 201 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin clouds in bright summer sky above the Eiffel Tower

It was Paris, so I had to photograph the Eiffel Tower. It is expected of me. It is an iconic site and it is impressive in person. But I found it to be a difficult photographic subject. It is easy to photograph it, but I found it tricky to find a way to not just make a picture of the Eiffel Tower. (On the other hand, I did almost exactly that on one evening late in our visit when we had a view from an upper story towards to tower as it got dark and the lights on the tower were illuminated.)

In any case, I decided to try some relatively tightly cropped photographs of the structure, some of which were much tighter than this one. But I got lucky, and some thin, fluffy clouds floated over in the midday light, producing a soft and glowing quality in the sky, and this seemed to contrast nicely with the start, strong, and dark form of the tower.

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+ | LinkedIn | Email

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