mom | G Dan Mitchell Photography

A Family — A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

As scheduled, it is back to more street photography today. This photograph comes from our late-August visit to Manhattan, which provided us with opportunities to simply go out on walks and observe/absorb the Manhattan vibe. That is, of course, a complex thing, being composed of lots of people, lots of motion, the urban canyons, occasional bits of quiet and stillness, and a lot of things that happen quickly and are gone. The latter, of course, is part of the appeal of street photography.

I recommend urban and street photography to all photographers, including those of you who like think of yourselves and landscape or nature photographers. As a general thing, I think it is good for you and for your photography to step outside your primary genre and to be aware of good photographic work done with subjects quite different than your own. On a very practical level, shooting street forces you to see, think, and react really quickly. Quite often subjects coalesce and disappear in seconds or even fractions of seconds. You don’t have much time to carefully consider, so you work on the basis of instinct. And that is a useful skill to develop, even if you usually work at a more sedate pace. Street also reminds us of how we make photographs of things that we don’t have time to fully evaluate or understand. For example, while I call this photograph “A Family,” I can’t know that it is a family group. And while I might make be tempted to make other assumptions about this trio… I have no way at all of knowing whether I’m right or wrong. It is better, I think, to just ask questions.

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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Girls Rule — Mom and daughter in pink at the San Jose Women’s March

I have posted a collection of photographs on my gallery site from events during the weekend of the 2017 Women’s March, including “Bridge Together Golden Gate” on Friday, January 20 and the San Jose Women’s March on Saturday, January 21. The nationwide — and even international — events of the Women’s Walk were, as far as I can tell, unprecedented.

My photographs that document the event will be shared in a separate gallery that I posted earlier this weekend. Among the many remarkable things I saw at the Women’s March, was a kind of torch passing between generations, from an older generation from the era of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement to their daughters and even to granddaughters. I saw groups where all three generations were represented. I photographed this mother and daughter (or so I assume) as the crowd was gathering more than an hour before a march of 25,000 people began.

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