Tag Archives: sfmoma

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

Patio, Reflections

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Patio, Reflections
Reflections in the window of an outdoor patio area at SFMOMA

Patio, Reflections. San Francisco, California. May 6, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflections in the window of an outdoor patio area at SFMOMA

This is (yet another!) photograph from our pre-opening visit to the newly updated and expanded SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). The museum has been closed for something like two years while major construction was ongoing, and many have been waiting with a sense of expectation for the reopening, which took place in mid-May of this year.

It was a beautifully gray and wet day in San Francisco, with soft and gentle light. Several times I went outside onto the various patios and balconies that open from the museum to the surrounding urban San Francisco landscape, and the artificial structure produced by the expanses of reflecting glass became a subject. The extend and amplify open and lighted spaces, and make them seem to appear where big and solid building structures actually exist.

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: Events, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

At the Gallery

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At the Gallery
Visitors at the new SFMOMA museum in San Francisco

At the Gallery. San Francisco, California. May 6, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors at the new SFMOMA museum in San Francisco

The newly expanded and refurbished SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) reopened recently, and we had an opportunity to spend a day there during the week before the public opening. The new building is a success in our minds — full of interesting and sometimes surprising interior spaces, with new portals connecting it visually to the surrounding city, and beautiful galleries to display the work. (There are a few oddities — the space on the ground floor seems sort of sprawling and disorganized, but I digress…)

I always like photographing in museums, especially those with more modern architecture. The light and the angles of walls and entry ways are often fascinating, and people behave in ways that are much different from what I might see in other venues. I usually photograph quickly in these places, partly because I don’t want to intrude on the experience of other visitors and partly because scenes and juxtapositions often assemble themselves and then disappear so quickly.

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

Tower

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Tower
Tall building in shadow, San Francisco

Tower. San Francisco, California. May 6, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tall building in shadow, San Francisco

I have a series of photographs, a series that contains only a few images, that I call “imaginary landscapes” — photographs that do not attempt to be objectively real depictions (not that photographs can truly succeed at such a thing) but instead go for what I might term a subjective reality. This photograph is perhaps the urban equivalent to those. An “urban imaginary landscape” perhaps?

The source image came from a recent visit to San Francisco, when I was in a location where I could look directly toward the outer shells of a number of very tall buildings. Because the weather was overcast, the light was muted and it made its way into shadowed areas that might otherwise be very dark. This produced a source image that allowed me a great deal of leeway for interpretation in post.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Through the Scrim

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Through the Scrim
Benches and a balcony, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Through the Scrim. San Francisco, California. May 6, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Benches and a balcony, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

There is a small thread in my photograph of the interior spaces of buildings that looks through gauzy, diffused curtains, blinds, and scrims toward the world outside. For example, I have several in his line that I made at the Getty Museum in Southern California, and some things photographed in museums in New York that go in a similar direction. I made this photograph at the new SFMOMA museum in San Francisco during a members’ preview before the official opening last week.

I love the newly expanded and remodeled museum. One writer commented on the way that the new facility opens to the City. (The former building, as good as it was, was mostly closed off from San Francisco, with few places where the interior space opened to views of the surrounding area.) Now the new “back side” of the museum opens straight out over and into the urban environment, and there is quite a bit to see there — and the design creates a stronger link to this city. In this photograph, which was initially “about” the lines of the buildings in the upper part of the frame, the shapes and tones of the two foreground benches are beginning to interest me more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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