Tag Archives: parking

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

Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign

July 28, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of a street scene in San Francisco containing slanting sidewalk, brick and other buildings, and a hotel sign.

The geometric forms of this scene caught my attention as I walked up a street where many art students seem to hang out. The image is obviously full of all sorts of tall rectangles of varying sizes and colors, ranging from the small windows to the white column of the far building in the center to the bulky and dark form of the brick building on the right side of the frame. A couple of little elements also intrigued me: the juxtaposition of the parking meter and surrounding shadows and fire valves on the wall, and the parallel and slightly diagonal lines of the curb and the streetcar wires overhead.

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.

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

Parking Restricted 24 Hours A Day

June 23, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photograph of a building wall with crack and black windows, sidewalk, and no parking sign.

This is another of those photographs that probably seems intended to perplex and baffle those who like my landscape and nature photography. (If it helps, think of it as an urban landscape.) The photograph was made not far from my home on a midday walk with my camera and a single prime lens. I shot the series from which this comes at what is usually regarded as the worst time of day for photography – close to the noon hour about a week or so before the summer solstice. And I did this on purpose! I think that any light can be good light if it is the light you want to photograph. So the game on this day was to go out and see what I could do with very harsh and bright light.

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

Shadows on Parking Lot Wall

June 22, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Shadows from light fall across a parking lot wall.

A photograph made on a walk with a body and a 50mm lens and not much else – a walk from my home. This wall has often intrigued me, as have these small lamps up near the roof line. On this day I was out in the “terrible light” time of the day – midday, when shadows are almost as close to vertical as they get around here. Not only was I attracted to the interesting slight diagonals of the long shadows, but also to the colors of weathered green paint, deep blue sky, and the messy textures of the parking lot.

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

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

March 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A man with a cell phone walks along a San Francisco sidewalk past maroon wall.

For the first time, I went out and did street photography with my two sons in San Francisco during the first weekend in March. It was fun, though I’m not used to shooting street (or much else) with other people, and I think my work habits may have a tendency to drive others slightly crazy. (Sons, thanks for putting up with me! :-) When I shoot street and urban subjects I tend to wander about rather slowly, looking at everything, getting distracted while I stop to shoot something, and then heading off in an unpredictable direction when something else catches my attention!

We took BART to the downtown area of the City and wandered up toward Union Square along with the rest of the horde, finally heading out into some less traveled streets where there weren’t quite so many people. We photographed various back streets and then descended through the fringes of the Tenderloin to end up at the Civic Center.

One irony is that while I am fully digital these days – though I did go with the traditional approach and shoot with only a 50mm prime – both of my sons prefer to shoot film now! There is no explaining some things! :-)

When I shoot street I tend to approach it somewhat as a landscape photographer, first looking for interesting light, patterns, colors, and so forth. At that point I often square up a composition and then look for the right person or people to walk through the scene, and I try to time the exposure to put the figure in an interesting place in the composition. In this case I think it got quite lucky with the colors of the fellow’s clothing against the maroon wall!

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/100 second

keywords: man, person, walking, cell, phone, talking, maroon, yellow, tan, arch, circle, patterns, window, reflection, fire, alarm, parking, meter, sidewalk, manhole, cover, design, gate, door, vent, address, hill, slope, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, downtown, city, stock

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: parking

Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign

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Parking Restricted 24 Hours A Day

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Shadows on Parking Lot Wall

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Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

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