Tag Archives: metal

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bench and Cinder Block Wall

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Bench and Cinder Block Wall - A bench, chained to the sidewalk, in front of a cinder block wall with male/female symbols.
A bench, chained to the sidewalk, in front of a cinder block wall with male/female symbols.

Bench and Cinder Block Wall. San Jose, California. December 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bench, chained to the sidewalk, in front of a cinder block wall with male/female symbols.

This is one of “those” photographs – it probably completely baffles many who like my landscape and nature photography… and perhaps a few others as well. ;-)

I’m not quite sure why I wanted to photograph this little scene. The color palette, mostly fairly drab except for the pink circle, seemed a bit different. The almost random gender symbols (as much of them as you can see) on the wall behind the bench seem odd and surprising. (There was probably once a shop in this building that was connected to that sign, but it is no longer there.) If we want to get philosophical – and why not? – the juxtaposition of an unoccupied bench with those symbols could be read in a variety of ways, and the fact that the bench is cabled to the ground is also interesting. In any case, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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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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: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

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Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building
Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building. New York, New York. August 24, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

On the final morning of our August (2011) visit to New York City, we took the subway down toward the lower end of the island to meet our son – the plan being to walk though Soho and (I think) the West Village, ending up at a gallery in Chelsea. After taking care of the most pressing bit of initial business – coffee – we wandered on through Soho… and I think this photograph was made there.

New Yorkers undoubtedly know exactly is going on with this light, but for the rest of the world… the morning sun was passing through a relatively narrow gap between buildings to strike this brick wall and partially pick off this green emergency exit zigzagging down the front of this building. In a lot of ways, this isn’t totally different from shooting natural landscapes – go out early, look for interesting subjects, find good light, make photographs. It isn’t totally the same – duh! – either. Not only can you walk here from coffee, but we (my son and I) shot without tripods, and I stuck to a single 50mm prime to keep things simple.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site

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Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site
Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site

Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site. New York, New York, August 23, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A metal wall near the World Trade Center site reflects the colors of surrounding buildings and passers-by.

During our recent visit to New York City we spent some time at the World Trade Center site. This is the third time we have been there. The first was right around New Years 2000, when we did the typical tourist thing and went to the top of the WTC at night and looked over the city. It was an innocent time, wasn’t it?

The second visit was not until a year ago after our oldest son moved to Brooklyn and got a job working within a few blocks of the site. After nearly a decade of media coverage of the events of 9/11 and all of the associations connected with that event, walking up to the actual place was a powerful and sobering experience. At that time, there was nothing much to see other than what appeared as a giant empty space occupied by cranes.

This year things were different in many ways but the same in many others. The area is now a hotbed of activity, with impressive new buildings soaring skyward, construction workers and equipment everywhere. From the right vantage points, portions of the site are beginning to show signs of what the place will become when it is finished – we could even see an area where new trees are planted. As we walked a circle around the area though, reminders of what happened there are still to be found, both small and large. The memory of coming upon a nearby fire station with its poster filled with the photographs of scores who lost their lives on that date affects me even now as I write this.

This photograph was made as we walked along what I recall as the north side of the site, past the new tower that is rapidly becoming the tallest structure in lower Manhattan. A busy sidewalk travels through here, squeezed between the construction area and existing buildings. This metal wall was on one of those buildings, and it is colored by reflections of people passing by, buildings, and sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures

Detail, EMP Museum, Seattle

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Detail, EMP Museum, Seattle
Detail, EMP Museum, Seattle

Detail, EMP Museum. Seattle, Washington. July 30, 2006. © Copyright 2006 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Distorted and colorful reflections on the metal surface of the Frank Gehry-designed EMP Museum in Seattle, Washington.

I made this photograph, and a series of them of this subject, during a visit to Seattle back in 2006. After seeing the exhibits at the EMP Museum, I spent some time wandering around the Frank Gehry designed building and looking for photographs.

Seattle seems like a great place to photograph architecture – you are almost guaranteed soft light! Here I had a mostly cloudy sky with a few spots of blue sky, so the basic light was very nice. In addition, the building itself is, in places, one giant fun house mirror. In this shot the reflective panels are picking up their own coloration, some clouds and blue sky, and some extremely distorted reflections of nearby carnival rides – and all of that stuff is set off against the sky blue curving shapes projecting from the building at the upper right. Some of the colors reflected in the wall panels are so colorful as to almost be over-saturated, and with the strange distortions they create the effect seems almost hallucinogenic! Is there any color that cannot be found somewhere on that wall?

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)