Tag Archives: soho

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Photograph, New York

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The Photograph, New York
A woman poses for a photograph as friends look on, Manhattan

The Photograph, New York. = © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman poses for a photograph as friends look on, Manhattan

For today’s photographer we are back to Manhattan, with a photograph from our recent end-of-December week in New York. I always go into street photographer mode (with essence of travel photographer sprinkled in, as well) when we visit there — which we get to do relatively frequently since two sons live in Brooklyn. The street wandering on this trip was a bit more of a challenge than usual, as we were there during a rather extreme bout of very cold weather that taxed this coastal Californian’s ability to stay warm. Our routine often became one of walking and photographing until we were too cold to continue, stopping in a warm place for coffee or food, and then heading out again.

I think I made this photograph in Soho, as we walked north from near the southern tip of Manhattan. I’m pretty certain that the lighting on these group first caught my attention. (This was the trip on which I finally realized that the light in Manhattan is as interesting as that almost anywhere else, including a lot of places that are otherwise not at all like New York City.) The arrangement of the members of the group also caught my attention — the one woman (the subject of the photograph they are making) standing apart and with her back to me and being hit by the light just a bit, the fellow with the camera trained on her, a woman seated next to him looking on closely, and the woman apart on the left and in darker clothes, who is smoking and doesn’t seem all that involved. The light shines obliquely across the scene from the left, catching both the people and the scene in front of the building.

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: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

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Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building
Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building

Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building. New York, New York. August 24, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

On the final morning of our August (2011) visit to New York City, we took the subway down toward the lower end of the island to meet our son – the plan being to walk though Soho and (I think) the West Village, ending up at a gallery in Chelsea. After taking care of the most pressing bit of initial business – coffee – we wandered on through Soho… and I think this photograph was made there.

New Yorkers undoubtedly know exactly is going on with this light, but for the rest of the world… the morning sun was passing through a relatively narrow gap between buildings to strike this brick wall and partially pick off this green emergency exit zigzagging down the front of this building. In a lot of ways, this isn’t totally different from shooting natural landscapes – go out early, look for interesting subjects, find good light, make photographs. It isn’t totally the same – duh! – either. Not only can you walk here from coffee, but we (my son and I) shot without tripods, and I stuck to a single 50mm prime to keep things simple.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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