Tag Archives: jacket

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Descending Peter Macchiarini Steps

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Man Descending Peter Macchiarini Steps
Man Descending Peter Macchiarini Steps

Man Descending Peter Macchiarini Steps. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man descends the Peter Macchiarini steps past worn and dilapidated buildings in downtown San Francisco.

I photographed this rather bleak scene on a side street in San Francisco last summer. I first walked up this street to photograph the “Peter Macchiarini Steps” that ascend steeply here in place of a normal sidewalk. Then I saw the opposing shapes of the large square ductwork and the smaller round pipes against the weathered and dilapidated exterior of the buildings. Finally, I found that the occasional person descending the steps might add a point of interest, so I waited…

When I look at a photograph like this one I see layers of different things – but maybe that’s just me! :-) At one level it is just a slightly gritty little street scene, presented in a pretty unvarnished manner. (I did some work to straighten angles and so forth in post – I generally don’t get to use tilt/shift lenses when I shoot street!) Then I see several interesting-to-me geometries in the scene. I mentioned above the opposing bends of the pipes and ducts and their relative positions on the wall. I also see a collection of rectangular shapes throughout the frame: the lighter area of wall behind the figure, the doors in the lower center, the small window above the doors, the three upper windows, and the sections of wall between them. Then there are a bunch of horizontal components: the large lighter band across the upper center, the very small patterns of the siding, the sequence of upper story windows against siding, the lower edge of the siding. And within these separate layers of order there are things that don’t quite fit. The man of course, wearing black and in motion with one foot suspended in mid-step, but also the trash can in front of him – also black, the bits of conduit running in odd directions, the small section of pipe in front of the door, and the concrete sidewalk steps.

Of course, you are free to see a picture of some guy walking down the steps…

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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: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Backpackers Near Milestone Basin

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Backpackers, Near MIlestone Basin
Backpackers, Near MIlestone Basin

Backpackers, Near Milestone Basin. Sierra Nevada, California. August, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved

Two backpackers descend through sub-alpine meadows toward the peaks of the Great Western Divide near Milestsone Basin, Sequoia National Park.

My two friends, Caroline and Owen, head through a lovely sub-alpine meadow toward the peaks of the Great Western Divide and the upper Kern River drainage of the Sierra Nevada in early August. (When doing backpacking photography it is always good to be accompanied by friends with colorful gear! My clothing color scheme is not conducive to photography, consisting mostly of colors that match the rocks, grasses, and dirt…)

This is a spectacular and less-visited area of the Sierra, being very high and at least two days from any trailhead – and those trailheads lead over very high Sierra crest passes. We hit it at perhaps the peak of its seasonal beauty – despite the clouds of mosquitoes, everything was tremendously green. Even in the late morning hour – not typically the time for photography – the scene was quite something. Our trail here passed through a succession of small, intimate meadows surrounded by rolling hills and filled with scattered glacial rocks, occasionally passing by small lakes and tarns — perhaps my favorite kind of Sierra terrain!

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: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Descending Sidewalk Steps

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Man Descending Sidewalk Steps
Man Descending Sidewalk Steps

Man Descending Sidewalk Steps. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man descends sidewalk steps past dilapidated buildings with exterior duct work in San Francisco, California.

On a day when my wife was rehearsing in SF and my son needed to do some packing in his apartment… I took this as an excuse to take the (very) early train to the City and wander around shooting on the street until mid-afternoon. A started shooting near the Caltrain depot at about7:00 a.m., wandered up the Embarcadero, heading into the North Beach area, backtracking though the less-touristy part of Chinatown, and finally descending (in more ways than one) to the shoreline at Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 (ugh) before wandering back up near the ferry building to catch BART to meet up with them.

I made this photograph in an area that seems to me to be sort of on the fringes of Chinatown. The first thing that caught my attention as I passed by on a cross street was the crazy bunch of ducts and other stuff attached to the outside of this building. I wandered up the other side of the street to shoot this straight on, and was doing so when this man helpfully wandered through the frame – which was just what I was hoping for.

On another note, last week I saw some impressive photographs by a person who will remain nameless. The images were largely urban/street work, and included some really interesting photographs of people. But as I looked at the work it occurred to me that part of what was catching my attention was that everyone had seemingly been given the same formulaic treatment in post, likely consisting mostly of a Gaussian blur overlay and some strong vignetting. As an experiment – and partly to confirm my suspicions – I took this image through the same process and with about 10 minutes of work had achieve “the look” of and edgy, saturated, and dark-looking image. But I was left in a bit of a bind. On one hand, it seems cheap to apply a formula in this way, especially when it is so straightforward. On the other hand, it does have a certain appeal…

The version I settled on here eschews that bit of work in post and is more of a “straight” photograph of the scene.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/500 second

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall

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Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall

Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walking on the sidewalk past a painted brick wall in Chinatown, San Francisco, California.

I was part way through my long San Francisco photography walk when I noticed this interesting painted wall on a side-street in Chinatown. (For those who wonder how the heck I made a photograph in Chinatown that only included one figure – who is not a tourist! – I was there very early.) The pattern of rectangles and lines made me think of some sort of “pastel Mondrian,” if that makes any sense.

As I was shooting the wall, this man politely wandered through the scene – and he was even wearing the right color hat for the shot!

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

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