Tag Archives: photography

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shop Windows, Night

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Shop Windows, Night
Lights left on for the night in a shop at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Shop Windows, Night. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lights left on for the night in a shop at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Returning to this photograph a bit more than eight years after I made it, I no longer recall the specifics of the scene — the nature of the work done in this shop, its exact location, why the lights were still on late at night. I can say that I photographed it at a place where I have photographed a lot over the past 15+ year. During those years I have watched the location change from an abandoned ship yard (which is still its predominant quality) to a place where some of the old buildings have been reclaimed by new tenants. (One impressive old abandoned building is now… a distillery!)

I’m often intrigued by what we can and cannot see when we look through the windows of places like this. I know that there must be a small world in this room, where people work together daily on some kind of productive activity, where they share the language of their professions, and were many of the things I see through the window have meaning that I cannot understand.

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.

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

Balloons

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Balloons
Night photography in San Francisco

Balloons. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography in San Francisco.

On a summer evening back in 2015 a group of photographers met up on San Francisco for night of street photography. Actually, we began in the very late afternoon, paused for a group dinner before sunset, and then emerged from dinner before dark and began wandering through areas around the Chinatown district, looking for subjects and light.

I love to photograph the urban landscape at night, using handheld cameras and working quickly in street photography style. The particular location on this evening was a group decision, but any place with narrow streets, lots of shops open at night, and light spilling onto the sidewalks works for me. I photographed these balloons in a shop window, using a longer shutter speed and playing with motion blur.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man

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Walking Man
A man walks up a gentle slope in front of old buildings, Vienna

Walking Man. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks up a gentle slope in front of old buildings, Vienna

Two summers ago we spent seven weeks “on the road” traveling though parts of Europe. We travel on our own — except when we meet up with family members — and tend to sort of wander in whatever places we visit. On this occasion we were in Vienna and, if I recall correctly, the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse), a remarkable bit of early twentieth-century architecture. While I do have photographs of that location, I also make photographs of… things like this.

In cities I usually carry a small rangefinder-style camera with a small prime lens attached, and I often have it ready at my side as I walk. That was almost certainly the case here. I am pretty certain that I initially had been photographing the blocky architecture of this street when I saw this man about to walk into the frame.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Closing Time

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Closing Time
A woman places boards over the windows of a business at night.

Closing Time. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman places boards over the windows of a business at night.

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these night photography shoots in San Francisco. A few years ago a group of us would get together once per year or so in the late afternoon, photograph in early evening light, typically go somewhere for dinner, and then head back out to photograph at night. We frequently ended up in Chinatown, perhaps because the lights and narrower streets are conducive to photography after dark.

This photograph comes from one of those excursions back in 2015. Since around that time — perhaps a few years earlier — it occurred to me that since I live close to San Francisco and regularly visit New York that I could do a little project around photographing in Chinatown districts of both cities. They are both fascinating places, both draw tourists (though in different ways), and both have a non-tourist life that is even more fascinating. (I see this photograph a bit differently in the wake of the pandemic.)

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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