Tag Archives: stop

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trolley Stop

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Trolley Stop
Trolley stop lights along a San Francisco street

Trolley Stop. San Francisco, California. December 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trolley stop lights along a San Francisco street

For some reason the public transit stations and stops in San Francisco have long intrigued me. I think it may be a combination of things: people often pause there and may present interesting subjects, the forms and colors of some of the shelters are interesting, and they are, of course, a part of the overall urban environment here.

I was photographing an area of buildings and walkways along the San Francisco waterfront when I noticed this stop, sitting in the middle of the road that passed by. The glow inside the shelter was the only significant source of light, with only pinpoints of light from nearby windows and street lights to supplement it.

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: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Black and White Stripes

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Black and White Stripes
Black and white strips on a bus stop billboard

Black and White Stripes. Pasadena, California. January 6, 2017. Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white strips on a bus stop billboard

For a guy who photographs landscapes, shooting street photography can be liberating and a whole lot of fun. Consider: Rather than carrying a large tripod, a big camera, a bag full of lenses — not that I’m complaining! — I can go out with a camera I can hold in one hand, usually with a single prime lens, and I can simply respond immediately to whatever I see. Subjects can include commercial signs, architecture, people, you name it. On a practical note, photographing this way helps me tune up my “seeing” so that I more quickly can find and figure out how to photograph things.

We were killing time in the late afternoon in Pasadena, California, between a midday event and a rendezvous for dinner in the evening. We walked some, hung out in a little place for a while, then walked more, had coffee, and walked again. This pattern was part of an advertising graphic on a sign at a bus stop, if I recall correctly.

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrian, Bus Stop, Street

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Pedestrian, Bus Stop, Street
A pedestrian walks past a bus stop along a San Francisco street

Pedestrian, Bus Stop, Street. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pedestrian walks past a bus stop along a San Francisco street

Living a short train ride away, I get to photograph in the streets of San Francisco on a fairly regular basis. The street is always a laboratory for exploring color and shape, light, people, architecture, urban landscape, and more. One of the benefits, in my view, of this kind of photography is that it almost forces one to think and respond quickly and intuitively, sharpening the instincts of seeing in ways that are useful for any kind of photography.

Despite the appearance, I made this photograph along a very busy street — Market Street — in downtown San Francisco. In fact, it took a great deal of good fortune to be able to place the walker in this exact spot at the instant when no cars, trucks, buses, rail cars, or other people were in the frame! The person is one subject, but the light is another – dappled light coming from behind, reflected by buildings and passing through sidewalk trees. Color is a bit significant, too, but you probably already figured that out…

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Crossing

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The Crossing
Two men wait on the sidewalk for the traffic light to change, San Francisco

The Crossing. San Francisco, California. September 5, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two men wait on the sidewalk for the traffic light to change, San Francisco

Taking a brief break from the stream of photographs of eastern Sierra Nevada fall colors — I think I need to rest my eyes! — I’m next sharing a couple more San Francisco street photography images from early September of this year, when I joined a group of fellow photographers to wander about in some downtown areas. We started in the late afternoon, with the plan of shooting in the sunset and twilight and then continuing right on into the night. This photograph comes from a later hour, shortly before I wrapped up for the evening.

We eventually ended up in San Francisco’s Chinatown district. This is, of course, a popular tourist area during the daytime, but it has a different character in the evening as the shops close up. From here we wandered down to the Union Square area, where there are almost always crowds of shoppers, tourists, and people passing through. At about this point it was time for me to head back to where I started, so I left the group and started back toward my car, stopping occasionally to make a few more photographs. In a way, this photograph is a bit of a lie and a contrivance — though all photographs are such to some extent. Here, in a rather busy area, I spotted the two men along at a corner and by choosing my composition careful (and quickly, this being street photography!) I managed to exclude the rest of the bustling scene and place them against a sort of amorphous form of the back ground building and in front of the geometry of the cross walk.

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