Tag Archives: metal

Red and White Cars, Fence

Red and White Cars, Fence
Red and white cars parked behind a white-painted metal fence, Venice Beach

Red and White Cars, Fence. Venice, California. April 1, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red and white cars parked behind a white-painted metal fence, Venice, California

Just because I made the photograph on April Fools Day doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a joke. Or does it? (Probably not.)

We were in Venice, California for a) our daughter’s birthday and b) a visit to the G2 Gallery, a great gallery space that presents a lot of work that I/we can relate to — work by Jack Dykinga, among others, was there when we visited. Once we finished in the gallery it was time to look for coffee and food, so we wandered off down the street. As usual, I lagged behind making photographs of various bits and pieces of the urban landscape. This was an odd little place. It appears to have originally been a church, but is now some sort of office. The entire building is painted start white, including the metal fence across the front. Inside were a bunch of white cars (!), but with one bright red one. A photograph was called for…


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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Gate and Harbor

Gate and Harbor
Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Gate and Harbor. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Up early and on the train to San Francisco on a sunny spring morning, I got off at the SF Caltrain Station and began walking along the waterfront. This is familiar territory to me, since “train walks” are a somewhat regular event for me, especially during spring and summer. I get off the train and slowly wander in one or another direction on foot, taking time to look. Sometimes it turns into and out-and-back walk, and sometimes something like a loop. (The latter is what happened on this morning.)

I decided to hear toward the bay, past AT&T Park and then along the waterfront. I angled over toward the South Beach Harbor, mainly because of the luminous and intense light coming across the bay as the fog began to clear — so bright that it was almost impossible to look directly into it. As I passed the harbor this shadow fell across the walkway, so I stepped back and shot straight into its shadow, with the harbor and the bay behind.


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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Barred Window

Barred Window
Reflections and shaded interior beyond a barred window, San Francisco

Barred Window. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflections and shaded interior beyond a barred window, San Francisco

Walking along the waterfront near the South Beach Harbor I noticed a walkway going out to the end of a pier than I had not noticed before. This time a gate was open, so I walked out onto the pier and passed many small temporary (or so they seemed) businesses and shops that were set up behind the sliding metal doors, now open for the day. My goal was the end of the pier, where I figured I might be a good, clear view straight into the morning light coming across the bay or possibly back across the boats tied up in the harbor.

Passing one small metal-sided building, I noticed the odd combination of objects — a bird cage behind a sort of “human cage” of the barred windows. The right window provided a visual and subjective contrast with these objects, since it reflected the open blue sky and the upper portions of the masts of the nearby sailboats.


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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Brick Wall, Windows

Brick Wall, Windows
Windows, a metal chimney, and a brick wall in Manhattan

Brick Wall, Windows. New York City. December 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Windows, a metal chimney, and a brick wall in Manhattan

This is yet another photograph from the High Line Park in Manhattan, made on the same gray day as the photograph I shared yesterday. The soft, gray light fills in the shadows and reveals details that are not visible in midday sunshine light.

The geometries of old brick buildings with exterior detail of fire escapes, pipes and wires fascinate me, and the elevated perspective from this location allows straight-on photographs of the subject. Yet, while making these photographs it did occur to me that people living along this park must, from time to time, get a bit tired of thousands of folks wandering by outside their windows and some of them (us!) stopping to 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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.