Tag Archives: sign

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Quantity. Symbol. Written

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Quantity. Symbol. Written
A sign on a preschool wall.

Quantity. Symbol. Written. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sign on a preschool wall.

This photograph comes from some weeks ago, when a group of us were engaged in a little project to photograph orange things — a task related to the colors of the autumn season, but which I took to allow inclusion of distinctly non-seasonal subjects. I photographed it will on one of my pandemic-era local walks, on which I step out the front door carrying a camera and, if the spirit moves me, may photograph right in the neighborhood.

It is tempting to say no more about the subject and just let the viewer owner. However, I found this little bit of graphic and text content on the exterior of a pre-school. Taken out of that context — and that’s how I initially viewed it — the temptation was to try to find my own meaning in the odd mixture of letters, numbers and symbols.

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

960 Loading Dock

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960 Loading Dock
Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

960 Loading Dock. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

As life trends slowly back towards a more normal world, I was recently able to join my Studio Nocturne friends (a group of San Francisco Bay Area night photographers) for the resumption of our annual fall “open studio” events in conjunction with the ArtSpan San Francisco Open Studios. The group and its ancestor, The Nocturnes, has shown night photography during this event for a couple of decades. Things were more or less suspended last year, for reasons I hardly need to explain, but this year we were able to offer a very successful open studio event in North Beach, followed by a “pop-up” event in Dogpatch.

So, for the first time in a couple of years, I spent the better part of several full days in San Francisco, showing art, working with my colleagues, talking to visitors about our work. This return to something feeling a bit like the old normal was wonderful. It was also great to once again feel like the life of this city was returning — masked and socially-distanced, yes, but still. The photograph includes the “view” from my location at the pop-up event. As an aside, its composition reminds me of the ubiquitous “chyron” displays on television…

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: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Look. No Train Horn

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Look. No Train Horn
Sign near a light rail crossing in an old industrial area.

Look. No Train Horn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sign near a light rail crossing in an old industrial area.

These signs are along one of the routes I take on my (nearly) daily urban walks. Sometimes the walks stick to tree-lined residential streets, but some of the routes take me into older areas that are a bit rougher around the edges, many of which feature old businesses and shops. There are still rail lines through some of these areas, though they are rarely used — and some have been closed off or even converted to non-rail uses. Here the local light rail transit system follows the route of the old tracks and crosses near an intersection where I found these signs.

Until a few months ago I frequently encountered the light rail trains at crossings like this one. But this is a Valley Transit Authority (VTA) route, and that is the entity that was the victim of a mass shooting earlier this year that tragically took the lives of a number of employees who work on the light rail system. The system remains shut down and there is so far no word on when it will reopen.

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 | 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: Urban/Street

Oh See!

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Oh See!
An old business sign in San Jose, California.

Oh See!. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old business sign in San Jose, California.

This is not the first time I have shared a photograph of this sign. In fact, in the past I shared a color version of essentially the same photograph, one in a series that I quickly “snapped” while on a long urban walk. The sign is almost iconic in this part of the world.

You could regard this photograph in any of several ways. On one level, it is a sort of record shot that captures a specific instance of a certain rapidly-fading sort of commercial sign, a one-of-a-kind bit of commercial graphics that seems to be fading from this increasingly urbanized area. I think it is also an example of seeing beyond the literal nature of the thing. When I look at it, what I find most interesting is the relationships between the painted letters and the shadow versions created by the sun shining on the old neon lamps.

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 | 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.