Tag Archives: ivy

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

It’s Time To Dance!

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It's Time To Dance
Graffiti, street art, and a potted ivy plant, Le Marais

It’s Time To Dance! Le Marais, Paris, France. August 10, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Graffiti, street art, and a potted ivy plant, Le Marais

We wandered into Le Marais, a section of Paris that still retains the old, narrow, and sometimes twisting streets from before the improvements that brought wide boulevards and a logical (or so they tell me) street layout. It is also a sort of “artsy” area, with lots of little shops, the occasional museum, interesting people, and lots of street art. All in all, it felt like a street photographer’s paradise to me. (I made my favorite photograph of the entire five-week trip — and perhaps one of my favorites of all time — here in Le Marais, probably only feet from where I made this one.)

The street art, which includes but is certainly not limited to graffiti, is ubiquitous. Some seems light-hearted, some has a darker edge. Some is political, and the meaning of some of it was opaque to me. The combination of the French language — which I don’t speak and only some of which I can figure out — and English, some of which seems just a bit odd or “off,” gave a lot of it a kind of perplexing quality. For example, the words written around the edge of the black planter down near the sidewalk, which enthusiastically announce “It’s Time to Dance!” I saw these large female dancing figures elsewhere, another visual theme whose precise significance eluded me.

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: Unclassified

Ivy #1

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Ivy #1
Ivy #1

Ivy #1 (After Huntington Witherill). August 7, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ivy leaves, after Huntington Witherill.

With apologies to and inspired by Huntington Witherill, whose beautiful Photo Synthesis exhibit I saw this past weekend at the Center for Photographic Arts in Carmel, this image is the result of something I played around with yesterday.

I was not previously familiar with Witherill’s photography, neither his “classic” and very beautiful black and white work, nor the more experimental digital work of the Photo Synthesis series. It is all very compelling and tremendously varied work. The exhibit features the digital “manipulations” of flower and other plant subjects. I was fortunate to be able to attend his lecture at the opening of the show, and quite a few things struck me – more than I have time to describe here. As (yet another) photographer with a background in music, I relate to his description of a working process for the Photo Synthesis images that is, in some ways, like jazz improvisation – so I took that route with this image, which I’ll simply describe as an experiment for now. It was also fascinating to watch his animations of the sequence of steps that his source images underwent as they progressed to become the final images. I also like the way he embraces the concept of what I think of as “photographic art” without getting too hung up about whether the result is a photograph or something else. I also was intrigued by (hoping I say this in a way that makes sense and doesn’t accidentally sound offensive) the fact that he is so close to some sort of “edge” with these images that some are incredibly beautiful while a few push a boundary that I’m not quite ready to cross.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea

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Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea
Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a wall in Chelsea along 10th Avenue near High Line Park, New York featuring ivy, bricks, and a face.

I was on the move when I grabbed this shot, so I can’t say with precision where I made it. I think it was along 10th Avenue roughly in the same area as the Standard Hotel along the High Line Park – I sort of recall looking up to see some people coming out of the hotel at about the time I made this photograph.

The face first caught my attention. I think that it is a somewhat worn poster or similar attached to the surface of the wall near this junction between two buildings, hence the division between brick and not-brick. The rich textures of worn concrete with some graffiti painted on it, the two colors of brick wall, the staring face with the intense eyes, and the incongruous growth of lush green ivy were a surprise on this very urban bit of sidewalk.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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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