Tag Archives: saint

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon

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Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon
Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

We walked a lot during our 2023 visit to Lisbon, Portugal. Hey, walking is what we do when we travel! It may limit the distance you can cover a bit, but we think that we see a lot more of the places we go to when we walk. Lisbon is an interesting walking city. It is easy to walk many places, though there are two things to think about. First, it is a big city, and some of the more far-flung attractions are far away. (There is decent transit however.) Second, there are a lot of hills! Some are steep enough that even going down them can be a test.

On this day our goal was the St. George Castle, on the top of one of the hills overlooking the city. From our lodgings we walked down to central Lisbon and then started up the climb on the other side. Soon, as we reached the base of the hill we were to ascend, we encountered lots of ways to avoid the climb — if you were willing to pay for a lift up the hill. We pondered for maybe five seconds and then decided to walk. Walking is harder, for sure, and it is slower. But the latter is actually a benefit. When walking we see lots of things that we would miss on a tram or a tug-tuk ride. I photographed this little souvenir shop along the walk toward the castle.

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: Architecture, Photographs: England, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Windows, Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great

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Windows, Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great
Afternoon light enters through windows at the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, London

Windows, Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light enters through windows at the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, London

This photograph comes from the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great (what a wonderful name!) in London, photographed on a visit there way back in 2013. As we often do when traveling in places like this, we came upon this subject essentially by accident. We were walking in the vicinity because we had come to look at something else, paused to eat lunch in a pub, then headed outside with no particular goal in mind, saw an interesting doorway down a street, and went in. “Discovering” things by accident seems to be a theme of my approach to travel.

There are a few other things connected to this photograph. First, it is (obvious from the date of the exposure) another of the lost-but-found photographs uncovered from my old raw files as I work my way through them as a pandemic project. Because of a project that some folks are working on, it is also one that features glass as a subject. Finally, the process of working through the old files has reminded me again that “making” a photograph is very much not an act of clicking shutter buttons. It begins with seeing, then to “capture,” but what happens between that and the existence of a final photograph can be a very long and convoluted process.

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

In Front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral

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In Front of St. Stephen's Cathedral
People walking at night in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

In Front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People walking at night in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

Two summers ago we took a long tour through a bunch of European cities, traveling on our own and spending at least four days at each stop. This gave us time (though there is never really enough of it) to wander and poke around these places. One of our stops was Vienna, where we had not been before. I knew things about Vienna, but I didn’t really get its culture until we got off the train, caught a taxi, and drove past the remarkable architecture of the place. We stayed not far from this location at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which gave me the opportunity to grab my camera and go out to photograph in the street at night.

This is, of course, a busy part of Vienna — full of shops, all kinds of obvious tourist attractions, restaurants and so on. While I sometimes can be a bit annoyed by dense crowed (though, at other times, energized by them), right now I’d give anything to share these streets with a few thousand other people on a summer evening.

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

Arch, Michaelerplatz

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Arch, Michaelerplatz
View towards Michaelerplatz through an archway, Vienna.

Arch, Michaelerplatz. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

View towards Michaelerplatz through an archway, Vienna.

We came to international travel late. When I was younger I could never think of a good reason to travel far away when all of the enticements of California were so near — San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Sierra, the Pacific coast, the redwoods, deserts, and more. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that it occurred to me that the rest of the world might be worth visiting, too. A key moment: a month traveling through Alaska on bicycles, during when we were often in sight of truly giant mountain ranged I realized that “maybe the Sierra aren’t the only worthy mountains.”

During the last decade or so our horizons have broadened. All of this is my way of leading to admitting that this summer 2018 visit was the first time we had been to Vienna. I had lots of reasons to know about Vienna before this, but it was all theoretical until we arrived and spent days wandering and looking… and beginning to understand what an important center this place has been.

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.