Tag Archives: shop

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Gelateria, Night

September 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A gelateria worker checks his phone while waiting for customers in the evening, Florence

These little places are everywhere in central Florence — and it other European cities we visited this summer. Compared to most US streets, the overall impression in most such places is that there is far less overt advertising and fewer big, bright shops with garish lighting. Against that background, the small shops, open to the sidewalk and narrow street, can look quite inviting.

The fact that they sell gelato doesn’t hurt either! Several times we got the gelato “itch” and went out looking. It might have been easier if there had been fewer choices! Often the shops are crowded with people queueing up in front, but the worker in this shop seems to be having a quiet moment to check his phone.

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

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Urban/Street

Kodak Moment

September 4, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Florence, Italy souvenir store still retains the venerable name of Kodak.

Mostly there is nothing particularly noteworthy or unusual about this little souvenir store in Florence, along the edge of the square where the Duomo is found. It appears to be much like the many other similar shops, there to cater to the many tourists who pass through. I passed by on the last morning of our long overseas trip — we were out for a few final hours of wandering around before beginning the ordeal of the flight back home.

The attraction of the shop is, of course, the anachronistic (or nostalgic, depending on your age) name of the shop: “Kodak Film,” declared twice on the two signs. There was a day when Kodak film was a mainstay in places like this, but those days are long gone. I didn’t go inside to check, but I doubt that there is much or even any Kodak film for sale inside these days. But as I type this I recall the sensations of purchasing those boxes and even of tearing the wrapper off of an old spool of 120 or perhaps opening a film can. I also note that the people taking a picture in front of the store are using… smart phones!

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Green Shop, Night

September 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The lights of a small market at night along a London street

When traveling I’m fascinated by the relationships between familiar things and the different ways they exist in other places. This is true within the US — for example, corner stores tend to be rather different things here in Silicon Valley than they are in, say New York City. But it is even more so when traveling overseas, as I saw on our recent five-week travels that took us from New York to London, Paris, Heidelberg, and several places in Italy. The little store, open into the night, is everywhere. But what you might find there is different, except that all provide a bit of a beacon to passersby in the night.

I made a series of exposures of this brightly lit store, set between other closed and darkened businesses. All of the other images included quite a few people, in some of them essentially crowds were passing by. I chose to share this one because it is almost unpopulated, with the exception of a clerk visible inside the store and a man approaching at the edge of the frame. The light of the store spill out onto and beyond the sidewalk and spreads beyond the confines of the store itself.

Photographs: Italy

Caffe’ La Curva #1

August 22, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunday morning visitors outside Caffe’ La Curva, Panzano

On this lazy Sunday morning in the Chianti region of Italy we had gotten up, made coffee, and sat around for a couple of hours before we remembered that we really needed to do some shopping… and that many things would be closed here today. We did some quick research and found that there was a market in this little town a half hour from our location and that it would be open only for another hour and a half. It was suddenly time to go!

Before we arrived we began to see cars parked everywhere along the road and parking wasn’t easy to find — the result, no doubt, of this being the only market open in the area on this morning. We found parking and walked up the small square, which was jam-packed with shoppers and others. The road continued on into the town, where there was just barely enough room for its two lanes to fit between buildings as it curved past and over the high point on the ridge. Across the street I saw this small caffe’, aptly named for the narrow curve, and I waited to photograph people coming and going.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: shop

Gelateria, Night

Kodak Moment

Green Shop, Night

Caffe’ La Curva #1

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.