Tag Archives: juxtaposition

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hudson Yards Towers

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Hudson Yards Towers
A cluster of tall urban towers at the Hudson Yards complex, Manhattan.

Hudson Yards Towers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A cluster of tall urban towers at the Hudson Yards complex, Manhattan.

There is a phenomenal range of photographic subjects in New York City: the natural scenes in Central Park, street life, and architecture old and new. For reasons relating to the season, our location in Manhattan, and more I ended up making quite a few “natural landscape” images in Central Park. But we did spend time elsewhere, too, including on a long walk that took us through the Hudson Yards development. My feelings about the place are complicated, for reasons I won’t go into here, but it does present some interesting architectural forms, including these buildings with reflecting glass surfaces.

I went with black and white in this rendition since I was more interested in the shapes and lines than in presenting of the supposed reality of the place. (The underlying image is full of blue tones and has much less contrast.) I’ve long been fascinated by how malleable monochrome images are in post — we can push and pull them in all sorts of ways that would be far too extreme in most cases with color.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: New York City

Mural, Caution Tape

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Mural, Caution Tape
Caution tape and a few cones witha giant street mural on the side of a brick building, Manhattan.

Mural, Caution Tape. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Caution tape and a few cones witha giant street mural on the side of a brick building, Manhattan.

I’m not sure how others see and react to murals like this one in Manhattan, but I respond in several different ways. Sometimes I just see them as what they are — essentially large paintings (or equivalents of painting) displayed outdoors — and I think of them as, essentially, not part of their surroundings but as things that stand alone. At other times I do see them in the context of their surroundings, and when I do the result can be carrying. This one feels more like the latter case to me.

The mural, by Emmanuel Jarus, is near the UN Building in midtown Manhattan. I think it is supposed to produce a sort of uplifting response in viewers, and I’m certainly fine with that. But I saw it more as an element in a complex scene of shapes and colors that includes the intrusion of the sunlit balconies at the right and the odd color and context juxtaposition with the “emergency colors” of the pylons in front of the two benches.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Calder and Lunch, A Juxtaposition

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Calder and Lunch, A Juxtaposition
A surprising juxtaposition between the “Calder: Hypermobility” exhibit and a nearby restaurant at the Whitney Museum, New York

Calder and Lunch, A Juxtaposition. New York City. July 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A surprising juxtaposition between the “Calder: Hypermobility” exhibit and a nearby restaurant at the Whitney Museum, New York

During an early July visit to New York City we found time to wander over to the new Whitney Museum to view several exhibits, including a special exhibit of Alexander Calder’s mobile and similar pieces. Not only did it include a large number of his pieces, all assembled in one room, but the museum arranged to put many of the pieces in motion, as they were intended to be experienced. Some of the mobiles depend upon shifting air currents, but several of the other pieces are actually motorized. The exhibit was fascinating in many ways — the setting-in-motion was part of it, but also the presentation of so many of these pieces one space was unusual.

Something else was unusual about the exhibit, and I found it a bit jarring. The Calder exhibit was in a large space on the top gallery floor. Many of the Calder pieces are enhanced by lighting that reveals the changing shapes of their shadows as they move, and monochromatic background walls help isolate the objects so that their forms are more clearly visible. But one wall turned out to hold a huge opening to an adjacent eating area, with bustling waiters, loudly conversing guests, the clanking of dishes and silver way, and big windows open to the brilliant glare of Manhattan. The juxtaposition was so odd and jarring that I just had to make a photograph.

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street, Tongue in Cheek

Now Open

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San Francisco Photograph - An abandoned toilet stands next to a Chase Bank "Now Open" sign in the Chinatown district of San Francisco.
An abandoned toilet stands next to a Chase Bank “Now Open” sign in the Chinatown district of San Francisco.

Now Open. San Francisco, California. July 15 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned toilet stands next to a Chase Bank “Now Open” sign in the Chinatown district of San Francisco.

Sometimes the world just hands you things that you couldn’t come up with on your own if you tried.

The opportunities for bad puns are so tempting here, but I’ll struggle to resist, and instead simply offer a few words about the location and the, uh, scene. On this summer day I was wandering around San Francisco to do street photography, and walked up Grant Street. Grant is such a tourist place that I often instead head off to some nearby streets that are a bit less geared to the tourist trade, so I picked up a cross street and wandered up toward Stockton Street. At one point as I walked past a busy area of markets and other small businesses I happened to notice this odd (and perhaps unfortunate, if you are the bank) juxtaposition of sidewalk “decorations.”

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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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