Tag Archives: state

Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021

Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021
Breakfast on the window sill, Manhattan, December 2021.

Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Breakfast on the window sill, Manhattan, December 2021.

On one level this is a photograph of a half-eaten breakfast roll on the paper bag it was packed in, sitting on the window sill of a Manhattan hotel room on a cloudy winter morning. We can look at it as a little still life, I suppose, though perhaps a less appealing one than the traditional images of fruit and such. But there’s a story behind it.

For us a typical Manhattan breakfast might be coffee and pastry picked up somewhere on the street or, if we had the time and inclination, a “real breakfast” with eggs and more in a restaurant somewhere. (We follow a “two-and-a-half-meals-per-day plan when traveling, where the half meal could be morning or midday and is usually espresso plus something small.) But this visit was during the start of the Manhattan holiday omicron surge — what a strange description! — and those crowded little restaurants and shops were not so appealing. Fortunately, the Mille-Feuille Bakery was on the ground level of our hotel, so we’d head down there, pick something up, and return to our room… where the morning ritual was to start the covid rapid test, then sip coffee and eat pastry while the 15 minutes passed.


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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Masked Man With Dog

Masked Man With Dog
A man in a protective mask with his dog outside Zabar’s Market, Mahnattan.

Masked Man With Dog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man in a protective mask with his dog outside Zabar’s Market, Mahnattan.

New Yorkers may laugh at me for pointing this out (one already did!) but apparently “Zabars” is kind of a “thing” here. The market was located a few blocks north of where we were staying during roughly the last week of 2021, and our walks on the largely deserted streets in the area frequently took us past it. From the outside, at least to a non-New Yorker who doesn’t know what it is, the market doesn’t look like anything special — but since my visit I have heard, from more than one source, that it is “something special.”

We never went inside. Hey, there’s a pandemic. We avoided going inside much of anything besides our hotel and the places where our “kids” live plus a few outside dining spots. (For my California friends — eating al fresco in Manhattan during December is a, uh, “special” experience!) Several things about this photograph seemed to suggest the times we are in, including the masked fellow with his dog. If you had come across him in this spot two years ago, you might have and questions. Now? Just another guy on the sidewalk! The emergency orange pylons seemed appropriate here, too.


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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Masked Women

Masked Women
Two masked women in conversation during the December 2021 Omicron surge, Manhattan

Masked Women. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two masked women in conversation during the December 2021 Omicron surge, Manhattan

Back in mid-December the pandemic surged again with the arrival of the omicron variant in the United States. Just when we (at least those of use who are triple-vaccinated) thought things were beginning to ease up, case numbers skyrocketed. We had made plans for a holiday visit to New York City, and as we watched the evolving news stories we wondered whether or not to go. In the end, while the “right” answer remained unclear, we decided to take extra precautions and continue with our plans… and embarked on a weeklong visit just before Christmas.

We love New York. We like the crowds and the energy, dropping into restaurants, visiting museums, walking through the parks, and all the rest of the Manhattan experience. It helps that two of our “kids” and their spouses live there. (They were our main reason for the trip.) Beginning with the carefully masked airline travel, much of this trip was unlike any New York visit we’ve made in the past. By the time we arrived, the city was in the grip of the omicron surge. The streets (at least by Manhattan standards) were nearly empty. The few restaurant meals we indulged in were at cold outdoor tables. Almost everyone was masked. These two women are perhaps emblematic of the experience — outdoors on a cold winter day, sitting masked in the open air on a bench for a few moments of conversation.


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.

Woman in Crosswalk

Woman in Crosswalk
A woman with a walker sets out to cross Broadway in Manhattan.

Woman in Crosswalk. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman with a walker sets out to cross Broadway in Manhattan.

After not going to New York City for two years during the pandemic, we had made plans to visit once again during the holidays. It seemed safe enough when we made the plans a few months ago, but as the departure date approached the Omicron virus took off and created a worrying spike in infections. We contemplated cancelling the trip, but in the end we decided to go and take exceptional precautions. This was not the sort of New York visit we would normally do. We like to travel around on the subway, cram into crowded restaurants, visit museums, go to concerts… none of which we did on this trip. We masked up consistently, tested daily, and limited ourselves to visits with our “kids” and their spouses.

All of this was not conducive to New York street photography, but I did manage to get out a couple of times with a camera. The city was strange, with everyone wearing masks, most dining done outdoors, and nearly deserted streets. I photographed this woman as she was about to head across Broadway on the Upper West Side.


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 | FacebookEmail

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.