Tag Archives: interior

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects

The Cloisters

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The Cloisters
The Cloisters

The Cloisters. New York City. December 30, 2013. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Large stone room at the Cloisters museum, Tryon Park, New York City

The Cloisters is a facility that is a (remote) part of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, located way uptown at Fort Tryon along the Hudson River not too far from the George Washington Bridge. It was constructed as a sort of showplace for various elements from early European architecture and art, and it feels far removed from much of the rest of the New York experience, at least to this Californian. We had visited, or tried to visit, on a previous trip to New York, going all the way up there only to find that we had picked the one day each week when it was closed! So getting back there and going inside was on our agenda during our late 2013 visit.

The weather and light affect my response to such places, and this was a gray winter day. We took the subway up from lower Manhattan, and when we got off at Fort Tryon it was very cold, very gray, and quite windy as we walked to the Cloisters. Once inside, the light coming in from courtyards and windows was soft and diffused, and I thought the light in this room was especially beautiful. Some light was coming in from outside through the small window at the right, but out of the frame to the left there is a large open courtyard that was also spilling light in from that direction.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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: England, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great

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Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great
Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great

Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Main interior space of the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, London, England

Photographing this old church and surrounding facilities might serve as an example of what can happen if you don’t follow the crowds to the usual places when visiting a famous city such as London. Or, more accurately, it might be about what can happen if you do follow the crowds to those (deservedly famous and popular) places and then just wander off a bit aimlessly to see what else you might find.

We had initially been, if memory serves, sort of in the area of Trafalgar Square. At some point we ended up walking some blocks away from here to an area that we much less busy, since it was a real work area and this was a weekend. We were hungry, so we looked around for a pub and had some lunch. Leaving the pub we looked up the street and saw some interesting looking older buildings, so we just headed over that direction to see what we might find, and soon we saw the grounds of and entrance to the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew. At least on this day, this was not exactly a place swarming with tourists. In fact, there were hardly any. We decided to pay the small fee and spend a bit of time wandering around inside this very old church that is, in many places, filled with wonderful light. I made several photographs inside that I like, and in each one of them this light is a central feature. On a slight technical note, this is one of those photographs I made on this trip with the little Fujifilm X-E1 camera, here using the 14mm prime lens and shot handheld.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Germany, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Heiliggeistkirsche, Heidelberg

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Heiliggeistkirsche, Heidelberg
Heiliggeistkirsche, Heidelberg

Heiliggeistkirsche, Heidelberg. Heidelberg, Germany. July 12, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interior view of the historic Heiliggeistkirsche in Heidelberg, Germany

From near or far, this “Church of the Holy Ghost” visually dominates the old section of Heidelberg, Germany. On the ground, it a city of small and narrow streets and many small shops, its size sets it apart, as does the somewhat larger amount of open space that surrounds it. From a distance, the mass of the main building and the height of the church tower draw attention. The church has a long history, having been rebuilt several times and having served both Catholic and Protestant worshippers… some at the same time. (Apparently, at one point the church was partitioned so that both could use it at the same time.)

We stopped in a quite a few churches during out July 2013 trip – and who wouldn’t, given that they are often very impressive architecturally and historically. Like many of the large churches, this one seems to create a space filled with air and light, though it is less decorated that some of the others in which the walls are almost covered by various scenes. There is a lot of plain white wall in this one! We decided to visit the tower for the panoramic view it provides, and I stopped along the climb in this rear balcony area to make a photograph looking toward the brighter main section of the church.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Automobile Graveyard

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Desert Automobile Graveyard
Desert Automobile Graveyard

Desert Automobile Graveyard. Death Valley National Park, California. March 4, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of old automobiles abandoned and left to decay in a gully at an old desert mining site

I have passed this old mining site quite a few times, looked up at it, and kept going. On this morning I had a bit of extra time so I decided to pause and poke around a bit. Certain obvious signs of the presence of an old mine are clear from nearby, but a bit more exploration revealed a more extensive than expected site – as is often the case. Although an old gravel road headed into the area, I decided to first walk up the road, partly to avoid nasty surprises while driving and partly so that I would see a bit more – which is typically what happens when I’m on foot rather than inside my vehicle.

The gravel road twisted up a small gully and soon reached an area that revealed views of quite a bit more mining evidence than I had suspected. I’m certain that if I had continued to explore that I would have found even more, but I’ll save that for another visit. I often have this feeling that these sites should be much older than they really are, and I’m still somewhat surprised to find that some of them were electrified. The surprise at this location was the number of not-really-that-old vehicles that had been abandoned. They are decades old, but I’m guessing that they might date to roughly the WWII era or even a bit later which, in the grand historic scheme, isn’t all that long ago. Several of these vehicles had been abandoned, somewhat oddly, in the bottom of a wash that must flood at least occasionally, considering the amount of gravel that swamped their undersides. The back of this one was open, so I positioned my tripod just outside the car and shot through it toward the other abandoned vehicles. (If you find and explore such places, please be extremely careful to leave things as they are. The effects of our individual disruptions are cumulative and accelerate the destruction and eventual disappearance of these sites.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.