Tag Archives: new york

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man in Subway Car

February 1, 2016 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A man stands near the doorway between two cars of a historic New York subway car

This is another of my historic subway photographs from late December 2015 in New York City. During the holiday season, on one day the system trots out the old rolling stock and folks can ride the old trains over a section of the modern subway system under Manhattan. We got there early and caught the first run of the train heading uptown, then caught it again for the trip back.

The experience is remarkable. Some of these subway cars are very old, and while they still look like subway cars there are aspects of the experience that are quite different. They are very noisy! Sometimes the lights switch off for a moment, presumably as the train rolls over un-powered sections. The passageways between cars are entirely open — the ends of the cars bounce up and down relative to one another and the wind streams past. This photographs looks through that inter-car passage and toward the connected car, where a man stands in the aisle.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Market, Mott Street

January 30, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A family pauses on the sidewalk in front of a Chinatown market on Mott Street on Christmas Eve.

I have been a bit surprised to find a lot of photographs of families, often with a kid in a stroller, among my street photographs from this December 2015 visit to New York. The photographs range from an adult family posing for a selfie (yet to be shared here) to families on busy downtown streets to night photographs like this one — and strollers seem to be a repeating theme. I’m not sure what this means.

While trying to figure out where we would go for dinner after discovering that our first choice and its neighbors were way to busy, I took a few minutes to wander up to the end of this very narrow street. This corner market featured a wild and colorful assortment of produce in outdoor stalls along the sidewalk, made more intense by lighting under the awning. My first thought was to photograph this colorful subject, but then I watched to see who might wander by and populate the photograph. A family stopped, father looking at his wife and child and the woman casting a glance in my direction.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Woman Walking Past Scaffolding

January 29, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman walks past scaffolding in front of Manhattan shops

There are several things that I find interesting about this photograph. First, I don’t remember making it! I remember many other subjects from this evening — we had walked across the Williamsburg Bridge, stopped in a tavern, visited Stand Bookstore, and more. But I have no recollection of making this final photograph of the evening. Second, the scaffolding lining the sidewalk and, above where we cannot see it in this photograph, seems like a common feature in Manhattan. I walked through, past, and around scaffold-covered buildings frequent.

My subject here is yet another example of that modern species of human who walks (at least at the moment of my photograph) along city streets and elsewhere, absorbed in the world of that little handheld device and giving no indication of being connected to the surrounding world. OK, I like the light, too. The light from the shop spills out of the front windows and across the sidewalk, creating shadows that are muted and filled by light from the surrounding neighborhood.

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking in Rain

January 28, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three pedestrians share an umbrella on a rainy New York morning

My recollection is that we had gone to sort of the East Village area on this morning, first to find some pastry and coffee for breakfast at a place we’ve been to before, and then to wander about making some photographs in this urban area on a cool and wet morning. Breakfast and coffee taken care of, we started walking and watching the urban landscape and its human wildlife.

There is, of course, quite a lot to see, and much of it appears and disappears quickly. I rarely have a lot of time to think about a photograph, and quite often I have to move fast, composing on the fly. When this trio walked past I immediately noticed their color palette of basically black and red/pink and thought that there might be a photograph. We were already walking this direction so I quickly made a few exposures of this group of friends or relatives as they walked along, close together and sharing an umbrella on this drizzly morning.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: new york

Man in Subway Car

Market, Mott Street

Woman Walking Past Scaffolding

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