Tag Archives: intersection

Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Woman, Intersection

Image November 3, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman walks past the intersection of two narrow streets in Le Marais, Paris

This photograph has many of the features that I often look for in street photography. There is a figure, and the figure is in motion, quickly transiting the scene and providing only a very brief interval to make a photograph. In this case there is only one figure, and by some miracle other people aren’t “cluttering” the composition. The buildings are tall and the streets are narrow, so all of the light is reflected down from above, bouncing back and forth between the buildings to produce a soft effect. (The closest thing to this may be the canyon light of America’s Southwest.) There are interesting little architectural touches that may not be obvious until you spend a bit of time with the image — the lamp at upper left, a bit of graffiti on a wall, etc.

I made the photograph in the Le Marais section of Paris, where older buildings and their narrow streets are preserved — they were not knocked down during earlier modernization projects in the city. It is also an area that is (largely) devoid of big commercial signs like those found on bigger and busier streets. There are signs, but they are often quiet and unobtrusive.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Crossing Lexington

February 13, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man crosses Lexington on a winter afternoon in New York City

I made this photograph on one of the coldest in a string of very cold winter days in New York City between Christmas and New Year’s Day. On such days we still were out walking around Manhattan quite a bit, but we also sought out shelter and warmer activities. On this day the plan was to visit an exhibit at the Guggenheim. We took the subway up there and arrived late enough that we had to join a line waiting, we presumed, for folks in the already-crowded building to leave so that we could enter. After fifteen or twenty minutes in the line, standing in freezing wind, we realized that the line was not moving at all, and we bailed out for a nearby restaurant where we could warm up.

After lunch we ended up on Lexington, where there was plenty to see and photograph. Many of my photographs on this afternoon took advantage of winter sunlight obliquely slanting across buildings and windows and reflecting onto the sidewalk and street. However, the light for this photograph was different — a sort of soft glow filtering down from the strip of sky above the street. This is a busy place, but during a momentary break in the pedestrian and vehicle traffic this solitary man slowly crossed the street in front of me.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Soda Candy Luncheonette

January 5, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Street scene in winter light on the Upper East Side, Manhattan

Today’s photo takes us back to the urban world again, and away from the world of winter migratory birds that I have shared more recently. The photograph is from our weeklong visit to New York City between Christmas and (almost) New Year’s Day. It was a cold week! As we usually do, we went out and wandered Manhattan quite a bit — hard to do street photography without going into the street! Daytime highs made it (barely, and not always) into the low 20 degree range, but we fought back by layering up and by stopping frequently for refreshments in warm places. Not that the latter is a bad thing!

I made this photograph on one of those cold days. We had queued up to get into the Guggenheim, but the line wasn’t moving at all. Standing there in the bitter cold and strong wind, the thought of finding a place with warm soup suddenly occurred to us, and we left the line and found food. Feeling warmer now, we headed back out onto Lexington and walked south. When I first spotted this place, somewhat interesting in its own right though not quite unique as a structure, the words on the sign caught my attention: “Soda Candy Luncheonette.” Then I noticed the nice light coming up Lexington and the interesting arrangements of pedestrians as they walked past.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Intersection, Montmartre, Dusk

October 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A deserted Montmartre intersection in the evening “blue hour,” Paris

This past August we stayed in Montemartre during our weeklong visit to Paris. We went to many places in Paris, often on foot, but we obviously ended up spending quite of bit of time in Montmartre near our hotel — going out on walks, looking for restaurants, returning from other adventures. This area is more hilly that other parts of Paris, so here the narrow and twisting streets also wind up and down hills in many places.

I’m not certain at the moment where we were headed on this evening, though there is a pretty good chance that it involved food! It might have been on our first night in Paris, when we didn’t yet know our way around the local area and we went out for what amounted to a random walk. I made the photograph during that brief interval between night and day, the “blue hour,” when all areas in shadow are lit by the blue wash of light from the sky. At the moment I made this photograph the light was dimming, just enough that the brightest street lights were beginning to create pools of warmer light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: intersection

Walking Woman, Intersection

Crossing Lexington

Soda Candy Luncheonette

Intersection, Montmartre, Dusk

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.