Tag Archives: london

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Paint and Handrail, Tower Bridge

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Blue Paint and Handrail, Tower Bridge
Blue Paint and Handrail, Tower Bridge

Blue Paint and Handrail, Tower Bridge. London, England. July 3, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shiny blue and black paint on a wall and a handrail on the Tower Bridge, London

I made this photograph in quite the jet-lagged state – though I had recovered a bit from my initial bout that left me unable to do anything but sleep for an hour or two right after we arrived at our hotel in Kensington. I had a laugh-worthy plan to minimize jet lag – and like most such plans it failed miserably. I figured I would just move my wake up time an hour earlier every day as the trip to approached, and I was actually getting up very early in the morning right before we left. (I can report that it is very quiet and peaceful at 2:00 a.m… ;-) What I failed to consider was that I was also reducing the length of every day by one full hour for the better part of a week before travel… and almost entirely by losing sleep. Obviously, I had a big sleep deficit going by the time we left. On top of that, I was basically completely unable to sleep on the flight over – which is odd, since I can usually sleep on planes.

We arrived in London, took the underground to Kensington, got a bit lost, finally found our hotel, checked in… and I was so jet-lagged that I was incapable of doing anything at all useful. I slept for an hour or two and managed to achieve a state of modest consciousness. If nothing else, I was so tired at this point that I had little problem sleeping that night. So we got on the underground and took the train to the station by the Tower Bridge and walked across it. I was so out of it that I didn’t realize until a few days later than I had completely switched north and south directions! Somewhere I probably have some photographs of the whole bridge, but being the sort of photographer I am, I spent a bit of my time pointing that camera at odd things like this pattern of shiny blue paint, stone, and a black railing.

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: England

London Sunset

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London Sunset
London Sunset

London Sunset. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset over London, England

We had walked across to the south side of the Thames River earlier on this afternoon – I think it was the day that we visited the Tate Museum, which is located near the south end of the Millennium Bridge. We had been in this area earlier on the trip when we saw “A Midsummer Nights Dream” at the Old Globe Theater, and I had wanted to come back in the evening and try to time it so that I could be along the river during the golden hour and perhaps into the early evening. Sure enough, when we were ready to start out walk back across the bridge to where we would catch the Underground back to our hotel the light was just starting to get interesting. In this case, “interesting” included not only the normal golden hour light show but also the somewhat thick and humid atmosphere found here.

My main thoughts were to photograph the skyline to the north and south of the bridge, and to continue shooting as the evening lights began to come on. But when I saw this sun in the hazy sky I put on a long lens that did what I would do in the Sierra Nevada back home – I made a sunset photograph! However, the landscape in this image is distinctly British and distinctly London, with the most obvious feature being the BT Tower at the left.

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: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Walls and Cobblestones

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Brick Walls and Cobblestones
Brick Walls and Cobblestones

Brick Walls and Cobblestones. London, England. July 16, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty cobbled London street runs beneath an underpass and next to brick buildings and walls.

Although it is the wrong city, this might be an example of me channeling my “inner Atget.” I’m not 100% positive where I made this photograph, though I could probably figure it out precisely if I thought it was important, but I think it may have been in the area near the south bank of the Thames between the Southwark and Millennium Bridges where I did a lot of wandering on a couple of occasions.

Either because I waited until they all moved out of the frame or because I somehow managed to find a deserted spot, there are obviously no people in this image, so it works as a sort of urban landscape but also street photography. As in at least one other photograph I made in this area, I’m shooting from inside a darkened tunnel or underpass and towards a sunlit area beyond, and again the reflected light shines on the smooth cobbles of the street. To my eye, the curve of the wall and sidewalk in the dark tunnel and the light coming from the right side of the frame suggest some space and structure to the right of the image that cannot be seen.

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: England, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Street Market

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London Street Market
London Street Market

London Street Market. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A London street market near closing time.

This is another photograph made in the narrow streets along the south side of the Thames river roughly in the area of the Millennium and Southwark Bridges, where we found ourselves with some time to kill late one afternoon. As we walked around with no firm plan in mind we came to a location where a street market was just closing, and the many vendors were making their final sales of the day and starting to close up shop.

Visually this was an absolutely compelling place to photograph, though I’m not at all sure I was able to do it justice – and I would go back given the chance. The many stalls selling almost anything you can imagine created their own interest; the place was packed with people shopping or just walking through on their way to some other place. And being under a bridge and in places in old buildings with lots of glass above, the light was truly wonderful. I spent perhaps a half hour walking through the area, shooting like crazy, and I especially liked the spots like this one where I could position myself in shadow and shoot directly toward the late afternoon light.

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.