Tag Archives: people

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street, Photographs: Utah

Walking Man, Mirrored Wall

Leave a comment
Walking Man, Mirrored Wall
A walking man and other people are reflected in a mirrored wall, London

Walking Man, Mirrored Wall. London, England. August 5, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A walking man and other people are reflected in a mirrored wall, London

Here we have (yet another!) photograph of someone using a smart phone in the urban world, though here there are, I think, a few other elements that got my attention. I’m sure that I was paying attention to the continuous stream of people moving along this sidewalk, and I like to think that some sense of their motion comes through in the photograph. The mirrored wall that contains most of the subjects not only let me capture a “double” of the primary subject, but it also let me bring him forward from the reflected background of all the other people who are only visible in the mirrored image. You might also notice some interesting things related to color.

And there are some surprises. I read somewhere that one of the differences between painting and photography is that while the painter personally puts everything on the canvas (at least mostly) and therefore can know it fully, the photographer cannot possibly know every element of the scene. In fact it is common to only realize that the photograph contains unintentional elements after the fact. One of those is present here — look at the head of the man in his reflected image.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man On The Phone

Leave a comment
Man On The Phone
A man walks along a London street while conversing on the telephone

Man On The Phone. London, England. August 5, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks along a London street while conversing on the telephone

Recently I’ve been realizing that the image of people using cell phones is quite probably going to one of defining images of this period in time. Being part of it, I’m not sure we are quite conscious of how ubiquitous it is nor of how profoundly it has changed the activities of people and how they act in the urban environment. For example, a few years ago I joked that it used to be that you could tell tourists in the big city by how they wandered around gazing upwards — but that now you can identify them by looking for people walking around while staring straight down and screens.

So this photograph is partly a reference to and inspired by this idea about the phone and its ever-present visually defining role in the current era. Of course it is also about the fellow himself, who has, at least to me, a fascinating appearance. It is also about the surrounding urban landscape with its colors and angles and so forth.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Taking a Break

Leave a comment
Taking a Break
Restaurant staff taking a break in a Florence alley

Taking a Break. Florence, Italy. August 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Restaurant staff taking a break in a Florence alley

The restaurant, just out of sight to the right of the edge of the frame, was nearly across the street from where we stayed for a couple of days in Florence, Italy, along a narrow street roughly between the Duomo and the Uffizi. A friend of ours who had been there before us mentioned it, and we thought about eating there — it looked interesting, but it also looked a bit like something we could see back home. But it continued to intrigue me, and I looked at it every time we walked past.

We were out for a walk on our last evening in Florence, and I was making a lot of night street photographs. The night utterly transforms the scenes — people behave differently, and the varied colors of light paint the walls of buildings. As we returned to the hotel we walked toward the restaurant and I saw a group of employees taking a break in the alley… and quickly photographed them before they returned to work.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Urban/Street

Kodak Moment

Leave a comment
Kodak Moment
A Florence, Italy souvenir store still retains the venerable name of Kodak.

Kodak Moment. Florence, Italy. August 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Florence, Italy souvenir store still retains the venerable name of Kodak.

Mostly there is nothing particularly noteworthy or unusual about this little souvenir store in Florence, along the edge of the square where the Duomo is found. It appears to be much like the many other similar shops, there to cater to the many tourists who pass through. I passed by on the last morning of our long overseas trip — we were out for a few final hours of wandering around before beginning the ordeal of the flight back home.

The attraction of the shop is, of course, the anachronistic (or nostalgic, depending on your age) name of the shop: “Kodak Film,” declared twice on the two signs. There was a day when Kodak film was a mainstay in places like this, but those days are long gone. I didn’t go inside to check, but I doubt that there is much or even any Kodak film for sale inside these days. But as I type this I recall the sensations of purchasing those boxes and even of tearing the wrapper off of an old spool of 120 or perhaps opening a film can. I also note that the people taking a picture in front of the store are using… smart phones!

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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