Tag Archives: pattern

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

Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum

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Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum

Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California.

I’ve been watching this structure since the time it was under construction, and I have frequently walked past it, thought about making photographs… and not quite been able to figure out what to do with the subject. The building is an intriguing and slightly confusing combination of old-style (not shown here) and rather modern architecture, and it is embedded in a visually busy location surrounded by tall buildings and an old Catholic church. I actually have some earlier photographs of this same portion of the building (though shot from a different angle) that I haven’t posted, as I’m still pondering how to handle them.

On this visit, during a long “photography walk” across a good portion of The City, I passed by here and was intrigued with the juxtaposition of stark angles and different colors and textures.

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

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, contemporary, jewish, museum, cube, blue, modern, art, culture, window, pattern, structure, architecture, building, tower, perspective, downtown, urban, new, design, shadow, texture, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall

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Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall

Man Walking Past Painted Brick Wall. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walking on the sidewalk past a painted brick wall in Chinatown, San Francisco, California.

I was part way through my long San Francisco photography walk when I noticed this interesting painted wall on a side-street in Chinatown. (For those who wonder how the heck I made a photograph in Chinatown that only included one figure – who is not a tourist! – I was there very early.) The pattern of rectangles and lines made me think of some sort of “pastel Mondrian,” if that makes any sense.

As I was shooting the wall, this man politely wandered through the scene – and he was even wearing the right color hat for the shot!

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, brick, wall, painted, orange, green, beige, red, white, vent, screen, window, metal, grate, cover, pattern, sidewalk, hill, parking, meter, man, walking, hat, keys, jacket, glasses, old, slacks, chinatown, urban, street, stock, worn, dilapidated, run down

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Summer Grasses, Morning

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Summer Grasses, Morning

Summer Grasses, Morning. Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dry summer grasses in morning light along the shore of Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

Yes, another in this series of morning photographs of summer grasses and similar flora. Again, this was photographed at Castillero Pond in the Calero Hills not far from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a few recent trips to the high, alpine terrain near the Sierra Nevada crest, I thought it would be fun to photograph a more local and familiar subject. Although the grasses and cattails were not necessarily what I had on my mind when I went to this location, they quickly become my focus as I explored the shore of this small pond.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, brown, golden, twig, stem, seed, dry, warm, bokeh, castillero, pond, shore, stock, blur, sharp, pattern

Photographs: Nature

Detail, Summer Grasses

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Detail, Summer Grasses

Detail, Summer Grasses. Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Close-up photograph of summer grasses growing at Castillero Pond, California.

A second photo in the sequence I made on this morning at Castillero Pond in the Calero Hills oak/grassland in northern California. (The terrain and plants are typical of vast areas of central California as well.) These large grasses were growing along the edge of the pond. Unlike most of the grasses, which by now have gone completely dry in California, there were still mostly green since they had the pond as a source of moisture.

I made what might strike some as an odd lens choice for this series. Virtually all of them were shot with a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm. The idea was to get a very narrow depth of field and then throw both foreground and background way out of focus. Sometimes people think that the only way to do this is by using lenses with very large aperture, but an equally (and in some cases more) effective method is to use a very long focal length. This can provide even nicer bokeh than the large aperture approach in many cases.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, macro, close-up, stem, twig, blade, green, brown, yellow, shadow, bokeh, dense, texture, curve, pattern, dry, stock