Tag Archives: historic

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shop Windows, Night

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Shop Windows, Night
Lights left on for the night in a shop at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Shop Windows, Night. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lights left on for the night in a shop at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Returning to this photograph a bit more than eight years after I made it, I no longer recall the specifics of the scene — the nature of the work done in this shop, its exact location, why the lights were still on late at night. I can say that I photographed it at a place where I have photographed a lot over the past 15+ year. During those years I have watched the location change from an abandoned ship yard (which is still its predominant quality) to a place where some of the old buildings have been reclaimed by new tenants. (One impressive old abandoned building is now… a distillery!)

I’m often intrigued by what we can and cannot see when we look through the windows of places like this. I know that there must be a small world in this room, where people work together daily on some kind of productive activity, where they share the language of their professions, and were many of the things I see through the window have meaning that I cannot understand.

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

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze

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Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze
Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy.

One thing you can count on during tourist season in any popular city area like this one is that you’ll find lots of folks trying to sell you stuff, including street vendors of all sorts. The “art” objects for sale range from incredibly cheap trinkets (think of the tiny Eiffel Towers sold by the Paris entrepreneurs), though various kinds of post cards and similar, all the way to hand produced caricatures and others kinds of artistic efforts. (We’re not much for buying such stuff, preferring to make our own memories. Though we do give in on occasion.)

These two fellows were set up in a busy area in the shadow of the Duomo, the gigantic church in the center of the old part of Florence. If I recall, it was still morning, and the crowds were just starting to build, with lines growing at the entrances to this historical feature.

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

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

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

NO FOTO, NO FILM

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NO FOTO, NO FILM
People passing along a narrow street in Siena, Italy

NO FOTO, NO FILM. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People passing along a narrow street in Siena, Italy.

This photograph comes from our brief, one-day visit to Siena, Italy in 2016, made during a week-and-a-half stay in Tuscany, mostly in the hills between Siena and Florence. We were in Siena only long enough for a single foray into this fascinating city, and I would certainly like to return.

There are several ways to “see” this photograph, I think. It started with the little “pizzicheria” shop across the narrow street, and its catchy little “NO FOTO NO FILM” sign, likely posted to let tourists known that the owners don’t want folks going inside to make photographs. It is also a record of the sorts of crowds you will find here on a summer, tourist season day — many of the narrow streets are absolutely filled with visitors. Finally, if you look a bit closer you might find a few other interesting features — some of the individuals in the scene, some interactions among them, and some shapes and forms that their figures create. I’ll leave it to viewers to have fun with those things.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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

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

Street Light, Siena

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Streetlight, Siena
A wall-mounted streetlight bearring the colors of a Siena contrada.

Street Light, Siena. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A wall-mounted streetlight bearring the colors of a Siena contrada.

A few years back during a weeks-long trip through portions of Europe, we stayed in Tuscany for about a week and a half. We drove down from Germany (where Patty’s brother lives), stopped briefly in Bologna, continued on to Florence, and then to a place in this hills between there and Siena where we stayed for about a week. (We concluded this visit with a few days in Florence before flying home.) One one of those days in the hills we drove to Siena and spent a good part of the day there.

Our visit to Siena was too short… but at least we had time to do a brief exploration and realize that it would be worth a return trip. The old section of the city is a wonderful maze of narrow, twisting streets that eventually lead to the famous central square. The city is divided into 22 districts, each of which is identified by an animal and, as I understand it, a color scheme. The colors appear everywhere, but I thought they were especially notable on the novel street lights like this one.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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