Tag Archives: public

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Garden Gate

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Garden Gate
An entry gate to the Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.

Garden Gate. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An entry gate to the Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.

Some years back our youngest son and our daughter-in-law lived in the lovely and quirky city of Portland, Oregon. Since it is (just barely, if you have a lot of endurance!) a one-day drive from the San Francisco Bay Area we managed to get up there somewhat regularly, and we came to like the place a lot. Among other things, it is a city of gardens, including several that we visited more than once. This photograph of a stone walkway passing through a gate comes from the lovely Japanese Garden.

Having roots in a non-west-coast part of America (long ago, but they stick with you), I can understand how the character of towns along the Pacific coast is difficult for some to understand in other parts of the country. But Oregon is a wonderful place that is hard to characterize in any single way. There is a long tradition of a kind of counter-culture there, but there is also a large suburban population. Don’t believe the simplistic, politicized claims that the city is “under siege” or a hotbed of some kind of awfulness that requires federal intervention.

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

Red Shirts, Fountain

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Red Shirts, Fountain
Two brightly clad people face a fountain in Washington Square

Red Shirts, Fountain. New York City. July 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman, Sculpture Park, East River

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Woman, Sculpture Park, East River
A woman sits in a blue chair on a lawn at the Socrates Sculpture Park along the East River, New York

Woman, Sculpture Park, East River. New York City. October 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman sits in a blue chair on a lawn at the Socrates Sculpture Park along the East River, New York

On this lovely, clouded day of light rain and muted colors, we traveled to the Socrates Sculpture Park along the East River, across the water from Manhattan. Our daughter-in-law  Lia Lowenthal has a piece installed at the park that we wanted to get to see. I had not visited this place before, and it is quite an interesting site — partly because of its shoreline location, partly because it provides an interesting juxtaposition of urban and natural, partly because there is an active sculpture studio next door, and partly because of the works installed there.

After looking at the art I began to look at the environment with photography in mind. I saw this woman sitting on a piece of sculpture in the middle of this worn looking lawn, with the upper Manhattan skyline across the water, and everything in this soft, flat light — and I thought it made a photograph.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bridge, Olympic Sculpture Park

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Bridge, Olympic Sculpture Park
Bridge, Olympic Sculpture Park

Bridge, Olympic Sculpture Park. Seattle, Washington. January 1, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bridge crosses railroad tracks at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Washington.

Back in 2008 I travelled to Seattle on mostly family business. I arrived a bit early and ended up spending some time wandering around the Olympic Sculpture Park, a place I enjoy both for the art and for the architecture and other features of this public space.

The bridge across the railroad tracks had interested me previously, but I’ve found it a difficult subject to photograph – somewhat surprisingly, since it seems to me like such an obvious thing to photograph. So in this image I more or less obscured most of the bridge itself, leaving not much more than the white vertical supports along its exterior and its overall shape and mass. I thought that the relationships between the texture of the metal bridge and the concrete underneath was interesting, as were some of the relationships between various shapes and angles. As I have done in a few other recent photographs, I played around with “pure” color and black and white renditions of the image – in the end deciding to sort of split the difference, thinking that a somewhat de-saturated color image might be most in line with my memory of the place and the scene on that winter day.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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