Tag Archives: street

Along the Seine

Along the Seine
“Along the Seine’ — A man sits at the top of steps along the Seine River, Paris

Most of our time in Paris this past August was spent walking, and there are certainly plenty of great places to walk in this city! But Paris is big enough that sometimes it is useful to get around in other ways: train, bus, subway… and boat. So, after a few days of looking around on foot we decided to catch one of the river tours up and down the Seine through the city. We’ve done this in other cities and discovered that the boats often provide a very different view of things than what we see from the streets.

I quickly figured out that much of my photography from the river would best be done with a longer lens, so I put a telephoto zoom that I had brought along on my little Fujifilm XPro2 camera. Photographic subjects, when seen from a boat, often pass very quickly and there would be little time for lens changes. I photographed almost continuously — architecture, bridges, people along the banks of the river, and more. Here I saw a fellow relaxing against a wall at the top of a stairway leading down to a walkway along the river.


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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

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Stone Walls, Midday Light

Stone Walls, Midday Light
Bright midday light on a narrow street at Castello di Ama, Italy

Stone Walls, Midday Light. Tuscany, Italy. August 22, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright midday light on a narrow street at Castello di Ama, Italy

The Chianti region is, of course, full of vineyards and olive orchards and of wineries and producers of olive oil. There are vineyards everywhere — in the valleys, draped across the hillsides, and even on the tops of ridges. All of this is in a region full of historical structures, often centered around very old castles and churches and small villages.

One day we decide to visit this small place, a former village now (or so it seems) owned by the people who operate the surrounding vineyards. The little town, with its stone buildings and very narrow streets remains.


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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Caffe, Tabaccheria, and Bicyclist

Caffe, Tabaccheria, and Bicyclist
A bicyclist passes in front of a caffe’ and a tabaccheria, Florence.

Caffe, Tabaccheria, and Bicyclist. Florence/Firenze, Italy. August 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bicyclist passes in front of a caffe’ and a tabaccheria, Florence.

Most of my photographs, nature and urban, tend to be made at the “good light” times of day — morning and evening — when the light softens and the colors warm. But the midday light has a charm of its own, especially this summer light in Italy. It is a surprising combination of stark from the high angle of the sun and soft from the frequent hazy quality of the atmosphere.

With this in mind, we were out and about during the daytime hours in Florence on this late August day. Things often happen quickly when shooting street photographs, and subjects and juxtapositions occur so quickly that one must often simply raise the camera and photograph intuitively, with little or no time to ponder. This was one of those moments. Somehow the slightly off-kilter cyclist appeared right in front of the metal door of the shop in the background just as the pedestrian was about the exit the frame at the left.


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.

Walking Man, Narrow Street

Walking Man, Narrow Street
A man walks up a narrow street in Florence, Italy.

Walking Man, Narrow Street. Florence/Firenze, Italy. August 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks up a narrow street in Florence, Italy.

This past summer we had the chance to do some extensive travel. The “main event” was a five-week trip that began in New York City and continued to London, Paris, Heidelberg, and various places in Italy. After a week in the wine and olive country of the Chianti region we returned to Florence for a few days before our return flight to the US. My only regret about this last phase of the journey was that we didn’t give ourselves nearly enough time in Florence!

Yes, Florence is now crowded with tourists, and in a place that isn’t that large to begin with the effect is hard to ignore. But putting that aside for a moment, Florence (at least to this observer) combines many things that seem typical of Italy with its own unique qualities. We stayed in the old part of Florence, between the Arno and the Duomo and not far from the Uffizi Museum. The streets here are strikingly narrow and lined with tall buildings, almost all in tones of brown to tan. The effect on the light reminds me in ways of being in the canyons of the American Southwest, though populated and perhaps more twisty, not by necessity following the effect of gravity on water. Unlike American cities, there are very few obvious signs in most places. And if you go out to the right places at the right times of day you can find nearly empty streets like this one.


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 | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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