Tag Archives: painted

Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Driveway, Arrows, Yellow Line

4 Comments
Driveway, Arrows, Yellow Line - White arrows and a yellow line painted on a parking lot driveway, Seattle, Washington
White arrows and a yellow line painted on a parking lot driveway, Seattle, Washington

Driveway, Arrows, Yellow Line. Seattle, Washington. May 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

White arrows and a yellow line painted on a parking lot driveway, Seattle, Washington.

Another in the series of photographs of urban forms, shot in Seattle in early May. The story, and this isn’t the first time that I’ve mentioned it, is that I had a free hour during a visit to Seattle. I found out that there was a “Seattle Photo Walk” going on in the Fremont District, which I think I may have passed through before but where I had never photographed – so I met up with the group and spent an hour wandering around in the Fremont area.

I made quite a few photographs during that short time, and near the end of my hour I crossed back into Fremont by walking across a bridge, and this bridge turned out to figure in several photographs, either as a subject or as a vantage point. In this photograph it is merely the vantage point, as I shot into this driveway leading to an underground parking area while walking across the bridge. The opposing arrows were an obvious interest, but I also was intrigued by the single yellow line cutting through the scene and the overall concrete grayness of this spot.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

“Feel Better”

Leave a comment
"Feel Better" - A barber "pole" with the words "Feel Better" and a hand painted laundry sign on the exterior wall of a dilapidated building, San Jose, California.
A barber "pole" with the words "Feel Better" and a hand painted laundry sign on the exterior wall of a dilapidated building, San Jose, California.

“Feel Better”. San Jose, California. December 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A barber “pole” with the words “Feel Better” and a hand painted laundry sign on the exterior wall of a dilapidated building, San Jose, California.

Another photograph made while wandering about in my neighborhood. These signs are on the side of a very old and very dilapidated little wood-sided building that houses a barber shop and a cleaners. The building is leaning so badly and on such uneven ground that it is a wonder that it is still standing and that the city still allows people to occupy it. Yet, it seems like the two businesses inside, which give the appearance of having been there a long time, continue to hang on.

The crazily tilting, off-kilter walls along the side of the building first caught my attention, so I went around to the side to make some photographs of this wall. Once I got closer I was intrigued by the barber “pole” (or the cheapest imaginable imitation of the real thing, nailed to the wall) with its odd label, “FEEL BETTER” near the bottom. The hand-painted sign for the cleaners was also interesting. Today it seems like most business signs have been extruded at the same business sign factory, and they often share a uniform slickness and lack of individual character. Not true of this sign! I looks like perhaps the owner painted it himself or herself, and that this person had just enough painting skill to pull it off, but not so much as to be overly slick, to put it mildly. The oddly spaces hand-lettering and the “personalized” paintings of suits hanging on hangars are not the sort of thing you usually see in this area, but they do have a certain charm.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Walls and Building Near High Line Park

Leave a comment
Brick Walls and Building Near High Line Park
Brick Walls and Building Near High Line Park

Brick Walls and Building Near High Line Park. New York, New York. August 14,2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brick walls and a building under construction above the High Line Elevated Park, New York City.

Another bit of architecture photographed from the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea on a summer evening in August. The most interesting features of this evening included the “mackerel sky” clouds to the west, which are reflected in the windows of the upper building, and the warm light of early evening. The juxtapositions of angles and textures (especially the bricks and the glass windows) got my attention as we walked along the High Line. I cannot identify the building, but it appears to be under construction.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brightly Painted Wall, Mission District

Leave a comment
Brightly Painted Wall, Mission District
Brightly Painted Wall, Mission District

Brightly Painted Wall, Mission District. San Francisco, California. February 20, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a brightly painted red, yellow, blue, and white wall in San Francisco’s Mission District.

One sub-category of my photography focuses on businesses and shops and so forth that are not cookie-cutter chains. I love the way that these businesses seem to collect their own character over time, and I also like the wild and diverse ways that small business owners present themselves. I spotted this wild conjunction of brightly painted colors as I walked along 24th street in the Mission District of San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon. In this version of the photograph (yes, there is another) I framed a small section of the building wall closely to try to fill the frame with these colors.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/25 second

keywords: the, mission, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, city, texture, pattern, stripe, line, red, yellow, white, red, vertical, bright, painted, paint, district, 24th, wall, wood, city, stock, color, primary, reflection