Tag Archives: open

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Los Banos Donuts

March 8, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Los Banos Donuts shop at night

I can’t be certain, but there is a very good chance that this place was there back when I made my first trip to Yosemite decades ago as a child. I recall my Dad driving us over Pacheco Pass and down through a green hills into the Central Valley. (Yes, this was before the San Luis Dam was constructed, though I think it was already approved or planned. Yes, I’ve been in California that long!) I know we passed through Los Banos, stopping in the mid-town park. I don’t know if we stopped for donuts on that trip, but I have stopped here a few times since then.

Each time I’ve passed through this town for the past few years, typically before dawn or well after sunset, I’ve noticed the place and made a mental note to stop and photograph it in the dark, its big red DONUTS sign and glowing interior lights calling to us in the darkness. But since I was usually in a hurry to get somewhere — a destination to the east or else back home — I never stopped. Until this season. I finally pulled over and stopped briefly in a parking lot across the street and made a few exposures. I thought the pickup truck was an appropriate touch. (And, no, I did not stop for donuts. This time.)

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Great Offer

February 22, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pedestrians on a sidewalk in lower Manhattan

A few days ago I wrote a bit about what I “see” in some of my street photography, and I mentioned that sometimes I’m watching for spontaneous and ephemeral coincidences, often involving people who inadvertently assemble themselves into interesting arrangements. To my eye there is some form of balance in the geometry of these scenes, and often at least some implied action — here it is that of persons strolling across the field of view of the camera as they traverse the sidewalk in front of this bank. You might find some other formal aspects of the photograph that are interesting if you spend a bit of time with it. If you do, you might be seeing at least somewhat the way I do. (You might also discover things that I’m yet to be aware of!)

In trying to recall the circumstances of the photograph, I believe that I was first attracted by the simple and even monumental forms of the facade of the bank building, along with the simple geometries of the sidewalk and street. As I often do, I noticed that people were about to enter the scene, so I stopped and tried to make a few exposures as they assembled themselves while moving through.

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

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

At The Door

January 8, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Patricia Emerson Mitchell opens the door to a snowy Lower Manhattan street scene

We frequently visit New York at about this time of year. Our sons and their wives live in the area and we can often open up about a week of travel time. It is a fine time to visit — there is a lot of holiday stuff to see, if that is your interest, and it seems like the subways are a bit less crowded during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Plus, by comparison to our mid-summer visits, the potentially cold weather actually seems attractive… and a welcome change from “California winter,” with its 50-60 degree temperatures. But the timing of these visits often has us there just a bit too early for snow.

This year was different. Shortly after we arrived the weather turned cold — extremely cold by our California standards — with daytime temperatures barely (and not always) making it into the lower 20 degree range. We persisted, however, and did a lot of walking all over Manhattan, always carrying cameras and making photographs. For most of the week we saw weather forecasts predicting a chance of snow on the last two days of the visit, but those forecasts gradually reverted to merely “cloudy.” So we were pleasantly surprised when we opened the hotel blinds on our final morning and saw snow falling! We headed out, mainly to find breakfast and coffee, and enjoyed the transformed landscape. As you look at this photograph, try to also imagine that moment when you move between the snowy, cold, and windy street and the warm, inviting space of a restaurant, coffee shop, or the home of friends/family.

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant, Spring Evening

May 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Restaurant with windows open on a spring evening, San Francisco

On foot in the twilight, I’m always intrigued by the worlds inside restaurants and bars, separated from the outside world on the street but visible through windows. I suppose there is a bit of a voyeuristic appeal in this, but I’m also fascinated by the light and by the little vignettes, sometimes almost like separate photographs, that are framed by the windows.

This time I was out with a small group of night and street photographers, and we had just wrapped up some photography of a somewhat iconic view of the San Francisco waterfront. I decided to wander back into areas more conducive to my kind of street photography, so I walked past and briefly photographed a number of places like this one, a small bar (I think) in an old (or at least old-looking) wooden structure attached to the side of a much larger building, and with its windows open to the pleasant air of a spring evening.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: open

Los Banos Donuts

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Great Offer

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At The Door

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Restaurant, Spring Evening

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