Tag Archives: people

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Scene, Child, Window Reflection

May 29, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A child appears to yell at a reflective window in front of a London street scene

This is one of those “either you get it or you don’t get it” photographs. We were in London for a bit more than a week, as part of a five-week period on the road through places including New York, London, Paris, Germany, and Italy. I know that not every “landscape photographer” feels the same way, but I love photographing the streets and people when I’m in places like this. In some ways it is a sort of counter to what I more typically do — I can work handheld rather than with a tripod, I tend to carry minimal equipment, and photographing “the street” often compels me to work quickly and instinctively.

We were out walking somewhere in London — I’ve forgotten the exact context — and we ended up on this busy street full of pedestrians. There is a lot to think about and to see in this photograph, at least in my view. The sky blue color figures prominently in many places within the frame. The carefree girl walking toward her reflection is the center of the scene for me, but behind we also see a couple and an older woman walking away.

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tourists, Evening, San Francisco Bay

May 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tourists pause in the evening at the end of a pier on San Francisco Bay

I was in San Francisco to meet up with a group of fellow (mostly) street photographers, first for dinner along the fringe of Chinatown and then out to make photographs afterwards. We finished dinner and headed out before sunset, beginning by photographing in the long shadows cast by early evening light in the downtown canyons. Since many in the group wanted to photograph the waterfront we headed that direction. I was geared up more for night street photography — typically done handheld rather than with the tripod I might choose to use for architectural or urban landscape photography — but I hung in with the group anyway.

At the waterfront, after wandering in and around some buildings, the group was of a collective mind to head out on one of the pedestrian piers that juts out into the Bay. Again, this was a bit different from what I had in mind, but there is no denying the attractions of being out over the surface of the Bay as the evening comes on and things quiet down. I photographed some fishermen, a few passing boats, bridges, and back towards the urban waterfront buildings.Eventually, as it became quite a bit darker, I took a moment to photograph a small group of what I assume must have been friends, sitting out near the end of the pier and conversing in the fading light.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France

Courtyard, The Louvre

May 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A mask and the feet of a statue overlook the main courtyard at the Louvre, Paris

This photograph intends to combine views of the grand and the intimate scale of the Louvre, Paris. We spent about a week there in the summer of 2016 — one stop on a five-week trip that took us to New York City, London, Paris, Heidelberg, and areas of Italy including Chianti, Florence, Siena, and Bologna. (For those who wonder, no, this was not an organized tour. We were mostly on our own, though we met up with family members at various points.)

In Paris we spent a lot of time just wandering (and eating, but that’s another story), but we also made a point of visiting a few iconic locations. We had a day at the Louvre, which anyone who has been there knows is not remotely enough time to “see the place.” We managed on wing of one floor of one building, plus some shorter visits to a few other areas. I made this photograph when we stopped for a bite to eat and sat outside above the courtyard. This spot allowed me to photograph very close to a few of the statues that line the ledge along the upper floors facing the inner courtyard.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Cafe, Montmartre

May 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening scene at a cafe in Montmartre, Paris

This photograph was made on a warm summer evening last summer in Paris, on the day that we arrived by train from London. I’m almost embarrassed to say that this was our first ever visit to Paris — it is a long story — but I’m also very happy that we did get there, spending a beautiful week in the city. As first-time Paris visitors, we had little idea what we were doing, an issue perhaps compounded by the fact that I generally don’t like to do too much research about a place before arriving. Oh, and we don’t speak French. All of that aside, we made it from the train station to our hotel, and set out on foot in the early evening to try to get our bearings.

We had virtually no idea where we were going. We understood that we were in Montmartre, which we had selected at least in part because our son and daughter-in-law had stayed in the area recently. I won’t recount the entire story of our random wanderings through areas that we began to understand a bit better by the end of our visit, though in another post I may share the tale of our “discovery” of a rather well-known place. In any case, we were hungry, and it didn’t take us too long — though longer that it took on the following evenings — to figure out that finding a place is not a problem in Paris. In fact, we ate at this place…

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: people

Street Scene, Child, Window Reflection

Courtyard, The Louvre

Cafe, Montmartre

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