Tag Archives: manhattan

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Life, Manhattan

September 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A woman sits in the sun on a stone bench against the wall of an urban building and beneath the shadows of lights and a security camera

I often wonder at the urban environment and how some places seem completely disconnected from the natural world that is how home. (No, I’m not an anti-urban or anti-city person, and I really love visiting New York. But still…) The almost entirely constructed environment is, in many ways, a marvel. The noise, the people, the constant motion can all be energizing. But eventually, at least for me, I reach my limit and I need a quiet time out to recover. And from time to time I need to completely escape from places like this.

I was just below Central Park one morning, where I had gone with a plan in mind of walking the perimeter of the park and photographing. (I almost completed this goal before the day ended, but ran out of time just a bit short of where I had started, when I realized that I was to meet up with some other people.) Before starting up the east side of the park I first went south a bit looking for breakfast and coffee, and I found this small courtyard near when I ate. I saw several things here that drew me to make a photograph — the solitary figure on the bench looking out of the frame, how small the position of her body and her position within the frame makes here appear, the cold and lifeless nature of the space in which she sits, the slightly ominous lights and their shadows above, and the even more ominous small security camera at upper right, probably watching and recording everything… including me as I made my photograph.

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Photographs: New York City

Manhattan Bridge

September 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Brooklyn end of the Manhattan Bridge above the East River and the old Domino Sugar plant

I photographed this from the water taxi — not always an easy trick, and often resulting in a lot of skewed horizons! For those who wonder, it is possible to make sharp, handheld photographs from the deck of a bouncing water taxi… if your are careful, do lots of safety shots, have good light, and keep the ISO up. The real tricks are to put yourself in the right places on the boat, where you’ll have a good view of your subject and won’t be blocked by others, and then to be able to very quickly spot and respond to momentary juxtapositions of elements.

I knew I wanted to photograph the Manhattan Bridge as we went underneath it, so I had already found myself a place from which to get a good line of sight. The initial idea was to show the mass of this bridge as it stretches out over the water, but I quickly saw that the iconic (and abandoned) Domino Sugar plant was making an appearance beyond the bridge, so I watched for this conjunction of the two features.

Photographs: New York City

Two Women, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Lower Manhattan

September 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two women overlook the East River and Lower Manhattan from the promenade of the Brooklyn Bridge Park

This little spot is very near the water taxi dock in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn and it is in the Brooklyn Bridge Park along the waterfront, so it seems like a popular place to stop, lean against the railings, and take in the view across the water toward Lower Manhattan. While waiting for our water taxi to show up, I spent a little time watching and photographing people here.

Something about this photograph seems classic to me and I think that is why I chose to go with a black and white rendition. The view of Manhattan is almost always interesting, but I also loved the light on this afternoon — it was very intense, centered just out of the frame to the left, and the atmosphere was somewhat soft, with a few small, puffy clouds floating around.

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall, Man Walking

September 7, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man walks on a painted sidewalk in Manhattan, New York City

I made this little “grab shot” along a narrow and curving street in New York City’s Chinatown district, probably as we were waiting for others to arrive for dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. Given the way my photographic eye works, I first noticed the pattern from the metal door and brick walls, with lines converging as the sidewalk traveled further down the street. I picked this spot because of some of the things that interrupted that pattern — the spilled paint on the sidewalk, the doors, and the utility pole.

Then I waited and watched. In almost all cases it will be little more than a moment or two before someone interesting wanders into this urban landscape and humanizes it in one way or another. I got lucky here, as this fellows attire fit with the colors of the existing scene, and I was able to photograph him just as he passed and walked across the paint-spill section of the sidewalk, with his face invisible to the camera.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: manhattan

Urban Life, Manhattan

Manhattan Bridge

Two Women, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Lower Manhattan

Wall, Man Walking

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.