Tag Archives: old

Photographs: England, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Wall, London

October 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A painted and weathered brick wall beneath a London overpass

I have only a general recollection of where I made this photograph. I think it was on the south side of the Thames, probably somewhere beyond the Millennium Bridge and in an area of older narrow streets where we walked both to kill some time before an appointment and to wander and see what we could see.

There is, obviously, nothing all that exotic about this wall. In fact, I’ve likely photographed similar subjects in the SF Bay Area. I think several things caused me to stop and shoot it. First, to be honest, I was in a shooting mode – in other words I was shooting quickly and shooting a lot of frames. But beyond that, I was intrigued by the lights, muted by the narrow street and the fact – again, if I recall correctly – that this was shot near the edge of an underpass of some sort. Bricks often intrigue me, but here the layers of paint applied to the bricks, which really shouldn’t be painted, probably covers something that we are not supposed to see. The larger underlying area of black paint contrasts with the Halloween orange that must have been added later. But now new stuff has already been added to the wall on top of the old cover-up job.

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: Germany

Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

September 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A ferry sails up the Neckar River past the Heidelberg altstadt, Germany

I grabbed this shot while walking across a bridge over the Neckar that crossed between the part of Heidelberg where we were staying and the Hauptstrasse area with all of its commotion and shops. In a case of very lucky timing, the boat emerged from beneath the bridge just as we happened to walk across. I think it is some sort of tourist cruise, judging by the activities that appeared to be taking place on board.

When I look at this photograph, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “postcard.” :-) The scene looks up the section of the river that passes by the old town section of Heidelberg, with its very narrow streets, shops and restaurants and the castle on the green hills above the town. The boat thoughtfully points right into the scene! We spent a total of a week or so here, in two segments separated by a week in Bavaria, and because of that and because we have relatives there with whom we stayed (thanks, Greg and Jan!) the town of Heidelberg began to feel like our home in Germany.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Antiquariat

August 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Doorway of a bookstore in Heidelberg, Germany

Once we got off the “main drag” (aka, the “hauptstrasse”) in Heidelberg, the streets became even narrower, the crowds diminished, the number of (mostly) young people riding bicycles increased, and there were more small shops that seemed quite unique. I think that this shop sells used or old books from the looks of it, but I’m afraid that I did not go inside to check – I don’t speak more than a few words of German, so a German bookstore was going to be more than a bit of a challenge!

Visually the store was still interesting, though. I’m fascinated by the interesting colors of paint on the walls and by the rather distressed quality of that paint on these old buildings, along with the odd and perhaps misaligned angles – you can see them clearly here if you take a close look at the door and its frame. There were a few small items sitting outside on the steps, but they hardly constituted a display that was guaranteed to grab the attention of passers-by. Inside you can see the inviting ambience of almost any old bookstore, with the warm glow of a lamp sitting on a desk or table.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Heidelberg Hauptstrasse

August 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Looking down the Haupstrasse of Heidelberg, Germany from the Heidelberger Schloss

The “Altstadt” (old town) of Heidelberg is packed together in all of the interesting ways that seem so very different from what we typically find in the USA, where many towns, especially in the west where I live, mostly evolved in the post-automobile era. Heidelberg is, to say the least, considerably older than that! Very narrow streets (what Americans might call “alleys”) twist and turn and the buildings are packed closely together and right up to the edge of the street. Where the “road” portion of the streets is (barely) wide enough to let a vehicle pass, the sidewalks have been reduced to little more than a foot or two wide.

I made this photograph from the hill above the town where the famous Heidelberg Castle sits. We had walked up there for the obligatory tour of the castle – and an impressive thing it is! – and afterwards we walked along the hillside beyond the castle to where there is a park and some clear overlooks of the town and the Neckar River. For this photograph I put a long lens on the camera and focused on the hauptstrasse (main street) that runs the length of the old town, here running from near the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) and on towards the newer portion of the street.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: old

Brick Wall, London

Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

Antiquariat

Heidelberg Hauptstrasse

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