Tag Archives: street

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Toy Apple Beauty Barber Saloon

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Toy Apple Beauty Barber Saloon
The “Toy Apple Beauty Barber Saloon” in Manhattan’s Chinatown district

Toy Apple Beauty Barber Saloon. New York City. August 10, 2014. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The “Toy Apple Beauty Barber Saloon” in Manhattan’s Chinatown district

The photograph comes from Manhattan’s Chinatown district, which we visited on a warm summer evening a few years back. (Actually, we’ve visited the area many times.) We went there to try to eat a place we know, but decided to first wander a bit and, of course, for me this meant I could make some photographs. The area is different from other parts of Manhattan in a number of ways, but to me perhaps the most striking is the narrowness of the twisting streets, which are not laid out in the expected orderly form.

The streets are filled with small shops of all sorts. I think this is a beauty shop and/or barber shop, but the store name is a bit perplexing. Places like this intrigue me in the ways that they are not like modern chain businesses. Almost everything about the place is idiosyncratic — from the name to the cup on the object over the door leading to the lower room at the right.

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: New York City, Photographs: People

Americans

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Americans
People in the street, New York City

Americans. New York City. August 20, 2014. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People in the street, New York City

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Porch and Door, Night

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Porch and Door, Night
The porch and entrance to an urban residence, Pasadena, California

Porch and Door, Night. Pasadena, California. January 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The porch and entrance to an urban residence, Pasadena, California

This is another photograph I made during the blue hour time just after sunset and before actual darkness, while walking around near downtown Pasadena, California. We started our walk in late afternoon sun, continued as the sunset came on and golden hour arrived, and continued walking on into and past dusk. Later on the walk we turned down a street lined with small, old residential units — homes, apartments, and so on.

Somehow this front door at the top of the cement steps reminded me of an earlier time, perhaps when I was a child. The architecture seems old enough to come from more or less that era. I also like the little unexpected things in the scene, some of which I wasn’t really aware of until later when I looked at the photograph: the hummingbird feeder, the watering can sitting on the porch, that odd slender “thing” to the left of the door, the slightly peeling paint, the faint suggestion of things inside the window at the right.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Apartments, Driveway, Dusk

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Apartments, Driveway, Dusk
“Apartments, Driveway, Dusk” — Security lights illuminate the driveway of an urban apartment complex, Pasadena

Landscape photographers are well away of the qualities of light during the short period leading up to sunset, and with the rapidity of the changes to that light. But something similar happens for photographers of the “urban landscape,” as well, though it tends to be most pronounced immediately after sunset rather than just before. There is a short period of perhaps a half hour or less when the ambient natural light is somewhat in balance with artificial light. During this period the natural light has diminished to the point that things appear more like night than day, but there is still enough natural light around to fill shadows and illuminate areas that are not covered by artificial light. (A bit later and the artificial lighting is virtually the only light source in most cases, and the range between light and shadow can be quite large.)

It was close to the beginning of such a time when I made this photograph of a parking lot and group of apartment buildings while walking around in Pasadena during the first week of the new year. A bit earlier and the lights either would not have been on or would not have been visible. A bit later and the foreground shadows would be completely black. It is a bit difficult to say precisely what attracted me to this scene — perhaps the bit of light spilling around the corner of the wall at left, perhaps the lovely yellowing light on the garage doors, maybe the geometry of the buildings… or perhaps the sum of all these things and more.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.