“Stone Wall and Pedestrians” — Parisiens walk and run past a tall stone wall.
The photograph is from somewhere in Paris. We were on a walk and I was photographing as we moved, not paying too much attention to identifying locations. (That’s a characteristic of how I work when photographing the urban environment — I am so focused on it as a visual experience that I often forget to record locations or the names of places and so on.)
If a photograph can be about something, this one might be in some ways about the relationships between people and the infrastructure of the the urban environment. . To my eye, the people here look very small and transitory by comparison to the scale of the building and the angular forms of most of the scene.
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
“Three Parisiens” — Three people walk along a street in Le Marais, Paris.
There is a story about this wall that I’ll share in the second paragraph. The photograph comes from the Le Marais district of Paris, where we were out for a walk in early December. It uses one of the classic approaches to street photography, namely finding an interesting street landscape and waiting for people to walk into the frame and populate it. This can lead to a lot of photos of the sides of people, but here it helps that the person in the lead has glanced in my direction.
About that story… This wall is the location of one of my favorite photographs that I have made in Paris. It features three (likely related) women in front of this wall… back when it was covered by some fascinating street art. (You can find the photo by searching for “je suis bleu” on my website.) This reinforces how transitory street subjects can be. Not only do people come and go, forming visual relationships that may last only an instant, but the street landscape itself changes over the seasons.
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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