Tag Archives: man

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting Man

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Waiting Man
A man stands at the curb with his head bowed, San Francisco.

Waiting Man. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man stands at the curb with his head bowed, San Francisco.

This photograph comes from a day spent doing street photography while walking through San Francisco… just a few short months before our world changed in early 2020 and such activities become difficult, if not impossible. I still photograph “street” a bit in the areas not far from where I live, but I haven’t been back to shoot this way in San Francisco since the “before times” — though I’m starting to imagine being able to do so once again. I did just a bit of this kind of photography when I spent a few days up there during our Open Studio event at a gallery in North Beach, though I’m still distracted by streets full of masked people.

I know that some people wonder why this “nature photographer” wanders off to photograph urban environments, and some are even perplexed by the photographs. There are lots of reasons for a landscape photographer to also be a street photographer. In some ways the genres are complementary, and doing one actually has the potential to improve the other. If nothing else, photographing street can remove the “I don’t have anything to photograph!” excuse, since there’s potentially something right outside your front door. In addition, for photographers who are often more comfortable photographing things than people, this work can be a way to stretch your boundaries.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue and Billboard

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Blue and Billboard
A billboard portrait loomes over urban reisdences.

Blue and Billboard. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A billboard portrait loomes over urban reisdences.

Photographs like this one are sometimes a bit difficult to “sell” (in the sense of “persuasion”) to folks who mostly think of me as a “landscape photographer.” There’s a whole lot I could write about this, and I’ll share a little bit of that below, but one reason that I’ve photographed some subjects like this recently is that they are available to me! I carry a camera while out walking, and every so often something catches my eye and I pause to photograph.

In a sense you could think of these photographs as an extension of my landscape photography into the “urban landscape” that I live in. While the subjects seem completely different, there are connections that you might imagine if you think about it a bit. There is also a practical aspect to this kind of photography — it is available to me simply by walking out my front door, unlike the more familiar landscapes that require more travel and logistical preparation. In addition, there are benefits to keeping my seeing skills tuned up by trying to find things to photograph no matter where I am. Beyond that, there are a few things to ponder about regarding the juxtaposition of elements found here.

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

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

560 Blue

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560 Blue
“560 Blue” — A man walks past a blue San Francisco building in morning sunlight.

Let me start by pointing out that this is not the first time I have shared this photograph. An earlier interpretation of it exists using a different aspect ratio. I came across it again recently as I scanned through my old raw files, and I decided to take another look at it. This time I altered the aspect ratio, retaining the original 3:2, though I more typically work with 4:3. This allowed me to include the decorative rectangles at the upper right and left. In addition, as I thought more about the role of the blue color in this photograph I decided to simply remove a few elements that were dissonant with that.

The scene is a San Francisco street, and I made the photograph on one of my day trips up to “The City” by train, something that was a regular photographic event for me prior to the pandemic. I was walking up into the main downtown area from the train station, pausing along the way to photograph interesting subjects in the full morning sun across the wide street. I had already made a couple of photograph of this very blue building when I saw the man walking into the scene.

G Dan Mitchell is a California

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man

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Walking Man
A man walks up a gentle slope in front of old buildings, Vienna

Walking Man. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks up a gentle slope in front of old buildings, Vienna

Two summers ago we spent seven weeks “on the road” traveling though parts of Europe. We travel on our own — except when we meet up with family members — and tend to sort of wander in whatever places we visit. On this occasion we were in Vienna and, if I recall correctly, the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse), a remarkable bit of early twentieth-century architecture. While I do have photographs of that location, I also make photographs of… things like this.

In cities I usually carry a small rangefinder-style camera with a small prime lens attached, and I often have it ready at my side as I walk. That was almost certainly the case here. I am pretty certain that I initially had been photographing the blocky architecture of this street when I saw this man about to walk into the frame.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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