Tag Archives: neighborhood

Photographs: Urban/Street

Orange F250

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A very orange Ford F250 pickup truck

Orange F250. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A very orange Ford F250 pickup truck.

This photograph is another from the little “orange exercise” that I and a few of my photographer friends engaged in around Halloween. The objects was to… photograph orange things. It turns out that this was a trickier task than I imagined. Because it was Halloween time, a lot of the potential orange subjects seemed a bit obvious. (Not that this entirely kept me from photographing pumpkins…) The surprise to me was that once I started looking for orange… the exact boundaries between orange and various other colors started to become fuzzy. I’d look at something that seemed orange, only to realize that in a different context it might be regarded as yellow or red or brown. There are objective facts about color, but our perception of it is highly subjective!

Having said that, there is no question in my mind that this truck is orange! I used to occasionally see cars painted in colors like this, but today mostly we see some pretty drab colors — generic white, black, gray, silver and similar. Even blue and green are less common than they once were. So this very orange truck caught my attention while I was out walking in the neighborhood. One more thing: perhaps, like me, if you stare at the shape of this vehicle long enough it may start to look really strange…

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Chinatown Merchandise Racks

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Chinatown Merchandise Racks
Unused merchandize racks sit on the sidewalk

Chinatown Merchandise Racks. San Francisco, California. July 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Unused merchandize racks sit on the sidewalk

I photographed these well-worn and utilitarian merchandise racks on a walk down a Chinatown side street last summer. It almost appeared that they had been demoted from active use to side-street storage, and that perhaps they were just waiting to be dragged away, or possibly they were being kept around long enough that they could still be pressed into service if needed.

I like trying to read (or read into) the possible history of artifacts like these. For example, they give every indication of being “home-made” by folks who don’t follow construction “rules,” but who have probably built such things before. The colors are wild, between the fluorescent green and the yellow, red, and blue of graffiti. I love the angle on the lower front of the rack at the left — all I can figure is that it must have been designed to match the slope of the particular San Francisco street where it was once used.

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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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman Walking, Brick Building

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Woman Walking, Brick Building
Woman Walking, Brick Building

Woman Walking, Brick Building. New York City. August 16, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman carrying a cup walks past the front of a red and white brick building

I think I made this photograph west of Central Park, but no guarantees. (I could probably figure it out by reviewing the photographs before and after this one, but it doesn’t seem too important. Let me know if you disagree!)

This is representative of one way I shoot urban subjects. I’m pretty certain that what happened here first was that I saw the interesting colors and forms of the tall building, with its red bricks and pure white trim, steps, and neat black fence. I also saw the juxtaposition of the irregular and natural forms of the two trees (and a few other bits of greenery) with the rigid and angular forms of brick and trim. No doubt, at about that point I saw the woman walking up the street — so I framed the photograph and waited for her to enter the frame, timing a quick series of three shots as she passed in front of the building carrying her cup of coffee, an iconic signifier of the new urban resident.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Indian Restaurant

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Indian Restaurant
Indian Restaurant

Indian Restaurant. San Jose, California. December 27, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon winter light on the exterior of a neighborhood Indian restaurant.

This restaurant is located not far from where I live – close enough that I could photograph it on a walk from my home. (Though these walks can sometimes carry me out to about a four mile radius or so…) This is not one of those fancy, up-scale Indian restaurants, but rather a local, neighborhood place whose location and outer appearance might not encourage you to go inside and try the delicious food. Yes, I’ve eaten there.

At first I was just thinking about the angles and surfaces of the building, but also about this interesting late-afternoon winter light that slants in almost parallel to the ground in the vertical dimension, and almost flat across the front wall of the restaurant. As I moved in to try to find a composition I noticed the empty vase for the first time, and as I line things up to keep the very bright light on a hidden wall out of the frame, I saw the bright and somewhat orange light reflected from that wall onto the more distant area to the left where a door is open (even though the restaurant is closed) and a blue milk carton crate has been abandoned.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.