Tag Archives: red

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis

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Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis
Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris.

This church figured briefly in the text accompanying a recently-posted photograph of a historic Paris fire alarm station. The story is that I wasn’t sure what building this is. It caught my attention, for obvious reasons, while walking in Le Marais, so I made a photograph — but I neglected to note the precise location or even the identity of the place. (I often prefer to not do too much research about a location in order to retain some of the fun of “discovering” it.) I finally figured it out by spotting its reflection in the fire alarm photo!

The remarkable church was constructed in the 1600s, which explains the detailed architecture. Today the colors of certain features are quite striking — those red doors and the sun design around the clock, for example.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Clearing Storm, Evening

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Clearing Storm, Evening
Summer thunder storm clouds clear at sunset above the Sierra Nevada crest, Yosemite National Park.

Clearing Storm, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Summer thunder storm clouds clear at sunset above the Sierra Nevada crest, Yosemite National Park.

Photographic prospects seem to be distributed across a sort of bell curve. Most of the time the opportunities are fine and interesting, and it is possible to make decent photographs from what you find. Occasionally I find myself at one of the sharp ends of the curve. When at the end where nothing much seems to be happening, I remind myself that I’m storing up karma for those moments when the opposite happens. And if you are out there enough, these unbelievable moments will happen from time to time — and they are enough to keep you coming back.

This was a truly memorable evening that provided an embarrassment of visual riches. Soon after this trip, I came up with a series of four photographs in landscape orientation that traced the astonishing evolution of the light from late afternoon through dusk. Four seemed like plenty at the time, so I left the rest behind — some of which would normally have been keepers. This is one of those, made when I briefly shifted the camera to portrait orientation.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fire Alarm Station

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Fire Alarm Station
A historic fire alarm, Paris.

Fire Alarm Station. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A historic fire alarm, Le Marais, Paris.

This is a photograph that began as a simple, spur-of-the-moment thing and ultimately led me down a rabbit hole of information about the history of fire alarms. I saw this thing while walking in Le Marais. It looked interesting, and the shiny red paint caught my eye, so I photographed the upper part of it with the alcove and barred windows in the background. Later I finally looked into it and learned a LOT about fire alarm systems. The earliest apparently were created about 200 years ago — and before that alarms were delivered by… sending a runner. In the 1800s telegraph technology was eventually used, and near the end of the century early telephone technology made its appearance. Paris was late to the game, with their first alarms in the late 1800s. This one dates to the early 1900s, and people reporting fires would break a glass window and then speak to the department via telephone. Whew.

One other interesting thing came from this photograph. Recently I was working on a photograph of a Paris church, and I did not recognize it. I knew I made it on a day when we walked in and around Le Marais as other nearby areas, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then, as I worked on this fire alarm photograph I realized that the building is reflected in the window at the right! Since I could easily find the location of the fire alarm (it is the only one in this area), I went to it on a digital map and there was the church! (More about that location later when I share its 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman and Doorways, Le Marais

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Woman and Doorways, Le Marais
A women walks past the weatehred front of an old building with two doors, Le Marais.

Woman and Doorways, Le Marais. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A women walks past the weathered front of an old building with two doors, Le Marais.

During the past two years, as the pandemic ebbed and flowed, travel has been more difficult than it was a few years earlier. Even when it has been possible — and we travelled during this period — our activities have been affected and limited by the need to take precautions. One outlet for me has been “virtual travel” via the process of revisiting photographs from trips we made in the “before times.” This photograph comes from an archive of photographs from a visit to Europe back in 2016.

The location is in Le Marais, Paris, an older and historic area of narrow streets and interesting weathering and decay… and a wonderful place to make photographs. I made this photograph on a very productive day when we spent a few hours wandering here. The photograph employs one of my “tricks of the trade” for street, namely finding an interesting urban landscape and then waiting for someone to populate the space. I appreciated the color relationships between the woman’s attire and other elements of the scene, among other things.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.