Tag Archives: san francisco

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Window, San Francisco

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Window, San Francisco
A window covered with security bars

Window, San Francisco. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A window covered with security bars.

If this were my window — on this particular street, in this particular position, in this particular city — I suppose that I would install a security system like this, too. (It isn’t exactly a “bad” area, but it is one where many thousands of people walk past daily, and the window is right along the sidewalk.)

But that’s not really why I made the photograph. I thought the gently suffused lighting was attractive, and I liked the combination of colors, shapes, and light and shadow. Aside from whatever intrinsic value or meaning this photograph may (or may not) have, it is another example of the fact that there are things to see everywhere, and that, in my view, photographing them is a useful way to “tune up” your ability to see things that not everyone might notice.

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

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Weathered and cracked numbers painted on the wall of an old San Francisco hotel

50. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Weathered and cracked numbers painted on the wall of an old San Francisco hotel.

Photographs like this one have, at least for me, several purposes or rationales. To some extent, walking into a regular city environment and looking for little visual odds and ends is an important exercise in visual awareness. It is so easy to walk through such places and not pay a lot of attention, and when you do so while searching for images you see things that you’d otherwise miss. It is also interesting, I think, to “excerpt” small things from their larger context. (This bit of signage, is small enough that you might barely notice it if you took in the whole building at once.) With this one there is also a bit of that odd characteristic of some photographs, where their age — or the age of the subject — becomes somewhat interesting on its own.

So, what is it? It is a bit of a hand-painted street number sign on a very old (and somewhat iconic) building on a street in San Francisco that I often walk on these street photography visits. What else is it? It is color and form, abstracted to some extent from its original context. But not entirely abstracted, since if you look closely you might notice the extremely weathered and cracked paint and you might wonder about the history of this little bit of a sign, especially in an era when one-of-a-kind hand-painted signage is increasingly replaced by industrial signage.

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.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Checking Phone

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Man Checking Phone
A man chiecks his phone while statnding in an angular urban landscape

Man Checking Phone. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man chiecks his phone while statnding in an angular urban landscape.

This is a little slice of urban life. I suspect that in another 100 years people will look at photographs from this era and find it odd that we area always looking down at little handheld devices. At least I hope that this is a passing obsession, and that we eventually start to look up again and interact with the world around us rather than just with the virtual world on those little screens.

The person is, of course, the central thing in this photography. But the surroundings are also, I think, rather interesting. The image has an almost cubist quality, being full of rectangular shapes of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Some of them are almost geometrically perfect, but others — like the plastic attached to the cyclone fence — are off-kilter. Even the foreground is composed for rectangles, though they are distorted by perspective effects.

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.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Happiness…

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Happiness...
Street scene in downtown San Francisco

Happiness…. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Street scene in downtown San Francisco.

There is a good chance that you don’t immediately see why this photograph is titled “Happiness…” But now that you’ve looked more closely, you have probably figured it out. Yes, the word “Happiness” appears in large letters on the wall of one of the buildings. On one hand, I suppose it is a nice word to have on your building. On the other hand… does painting a word on the side of the building bring happiness. Feel free to ponder.

Aside from that, this spot in downtown San Francisco has intrigued me for some time. It is an area that has been undergoing a lot of redevelopment, with the new transit center right behind my camera position. I have photographed this curving freeway ramp from the other side of this scene, looking back towards the camera position of this image. There’s something attractive about the curve as it cuts right through the angular forms of this downtown area. I’m also a sucker for reflected light, such as that falling on the closed roadway at the bottom of the frame. You might say that it brings me… happiness.

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.

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