Tag Archives: steps

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Metal Structure

March 23, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Detail of a blue metal building at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

I was at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard to spend the evening doing night photography with my friends from the original Nocturnes group, and I had arrived well before sunset. After meeting up in the Mare Island Museum for pizza and conversation we realized that the end of the day was coming. I went outside about a half hour before sunset, and I thought of some old industrial buildings that I had passed on the way in. Instead of staying where I was and starting my typical routine of wandering on foot with my gear I decided to take short drive back to those buildings and see if I could make a few quick photographs in the end-of-day light.

I soon arrived and made a few photographs in golden hour light, but the sun quickly dropped below the horizon and I was left with that post-sunset glow. This light can be quite warm if clouds reflect some of the remaining red, yellow, and orange tones of sunset, but if the sky is clear what remains is the intense blue of early twilight. The latter light is what evolved, and I soon moved back to this unusual structure whose blue paint’s color was even more intensified by this twilight illumination.

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Barber and His Shop

May 31, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A barber takes a break on the steps of his shop, London

We spent a few late afternoon and early evening hours wandering around this area of narrow streets and small shops, killing time before a scheduled evening event. It was a warm evening, and this fellow was sitting on the steps in the doorway of his shop, probably getting a bit of fresh air, when we walked past.

From time to time I’ve read about people with some strict “rules” about what street photography is and is not. They often involve the equipment used, a preference for black and white, a challenge to get in the faces of subjects, and the desire to produce a certain “raw” look. There is nothing wrong with any of that, but I have my own notions about street photography — what it can look like, how it can be done, and even the boundaries around the subjects that qualify as street. It can be and up close, black and white image of a person doing more or less nothing special. But it can also be an urban landscape in which the wildlife is human. It can be in color. People do not necessarily have to be included. It can be produced in a slow and methodical manner or spontaneously while in motion. To make this photograph – notice the very low camera position — I held the camera down at my side and “shot blind” as we walked past.

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

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

Flag Makers

March 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A complex landscape of steps, columns, braces, windows, reflections, and buildings

I made this photograph near the new, lower level entrance to the remodeled San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) during a visit around the start of the new year. The old entrance to the museum has now been augmented by a new entrance that leads into the newly added wing. A large installation fills the space on the very lowest level, and large windows open from there to the surrounding buildings and a stairway leading to the entrance one floor higher.

I love photographing in museums — for the architectural spaces and the people — and I photograph inside and around MOMA every time I visit. Some subjects are immediately obvious but other take a bit longer to figure out. This open area on the lower level is, for me, in the latter category. It immediately felt like a place to make photographs, but it has taken quite a few visits to begin to reveal its potential. This photograph is more or less a study of the many layers and angles found within and outside of this space, including layers of time between the very new museum and the very old brick wall just beyond the stairs.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Door, Steps, and Window

January 27, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The front of an urban Pasadena building at twilight

Here I’ll interject an “urban landscape” into the stream of mostly natural landscape photographs that I’ve recently posted. This photograph comes from a visit to Southern California, mostly in the Pasadena area, just after the New Year’s Day Holiday. We were there for a family event, but there were plenty of opportunities to do street and similar kinds of photography in the characteristic Southern California environment.

We had been out walking in the afternoon, and as evening came on it was that time that is so magical for handheld street photography, the time just after sunset when there is still ambient light as artificial lights start to come on and take over the landscape. We continued to wander, taking a big look back into central Pasadena and past some residential areas where I found this little vignette.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: steps

Blue Metal Structure

Barber and His Shop

Flag Makers

Door, Steps, and Window

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