Tag Archives: people

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

Red Shirts, Fountain

July 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two brightly clad people face a fountain in Washington Square

Manhattan’s Washington Square holds, along with many other places in this city, lots of opportunities for people-watching and for photography. On this visit we meandered through the park late on a Sunday morning as we walked to a destination further uptown. There was a lot going on: A pianist was set up on a walkway to give a recital, jazz combos played here and there, groups were doing aerobics, folks were playing in and around the fountain, people sitting on benches read the morning paper quietly, and much more.

When it comes to explaining what a photograph “means” or what it attempts to accomplish I would generally leave the determination to the viewer than offer too much explanation. I have my reasons! One is that, at least in most cases, I tend to think that a photograph that requires explanation may be a photograph that doesn’t speak strongly. Another is that I believe that multiple understandings of a photograph are possible, and that the photographer does not have a monopoly on the correct interpretations. But here I will give a few hints about what I was thinking when I made this. First, I was working quite quickly — there was definitely not enough time to pre-conceive this image. (That is not to say that pre-visualization was not possible, but that is a different thing.) I think the red shirts, which stand out from most of the other elements of the scene, initially caught my attention. The geometry of the scene also interested me — I confess that I think about composition quite a bit, even when shooting street. There is also something about the anonymity of these two people as they stand and look at a fountain while others are swimming in it or sitting on the steps that lead to the water. There’s more, but I’ll leave it at that.

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

Sunday Morning, Washington Square

July 21, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People sitting on a bench and reading on Sunday morning, Washington Square

On Sunday morning we walked uptown from our hotel, heading for a rendezvous with others. We could have taken a subway, but instead we decided to walk. Eventually we passed through part of the NYU campus and out into Washington Square. While it was morning, it was no longer particularly early by the time we got there, and park life was in full swing. There were many people everywhere, someone had a grand piano set up in a walkway for an outdoor recital, and several jazz groups were playing elsewhere in the park.

Around the edges, particularly near the northeast corner, things seemed a bit quieter, though there were still plenty of people. Here many of them were sitting quietly on benches, alone or in small groups. As we headed toward the park exit near this corner I passed this group of people quietly reading on one of the benches.

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

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

Caffe Roma

July 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A street scene next to Caffe Roma, Little Italy, Manhattan

On the final evening of our recent week in New York City we headed back to the hotel. It is typical near the end of a such a trip to have a sense of things winding down. But I found time to make one more circuit of the surrounding streets of Little Italy and the edge of Chinatown to do a bit of night street photography.

I moved fairly quickly, and often made quick photographs while on the move, especially when people were the subject and they were not standing still. However, in a few places the buildings and the overall environment caught my attention and I paused for a moment to frame an urban landscape and then to wait for passers-by to populate it. This wall was quite a sight, with its huge and brightly lit painted sign, the red color of the wall itself, the light spilling onto the sidewalk, and the large painting of the woman at the far right. At this moment three groups of people coalesced: the trio interacting at the right, the two in the center who are lit by one of their smartphones, and the two unrelated figures at the far left near the bicycles.

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

Gelato King

July 12, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late-night passers-by at the Gelato King stand, corner of Mulberry and Grand, NYC

Another gelato stand! It seems that this is becoming a theme here. Of course, given that we were staying in a hotel located essentially on the border between Manhattan’s Chinatown and Little Italy districts, these kinds of places were everywhere: Italian deli on the corner, Italian pastry across the street, gelato and cannoli never more than a few footsteps away. (The fact that we were staying in this particular area was more a function of a good price on a hotel than of a desire to be in the middle to the tourist attractions of Little Italy.)

This photograph, if nothing else, illustrates a few things that I look for when photographing urban areas at night, at least when working with subjects like this one. It has a central focus point, and one that seems to provide most of the interesting light in the scene — namely the little gelato stand, with its light (and that of the cannoli stand just around the corner) spilling out onto the sidewalk and providing much of the illumination in the scene. (Additional ambient illumination from other businesses provides a bit of light on the figures.) I made a series of photographs here in rapid succession as people walked through the scene. In some there is no one but the fellow in the stand, in others a group is queued up to buy gelato. In this one the people are almost uniformly spread across the scene, with various orientations to the central light. On both sides women in lighter colors walk toward it; red and yellow tones show up in the attire of several of the subjects.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: people

Red Shirts, Fountain

Sunday Morning, Washington Square

Caffe Roma

Gelato King

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