Tag Archives: street

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

PattyOboe in Heidelberg

January 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walking down a narrow street in Old Heidelberg, Germany

Patty, waiting for me – yet again! – as I make photographs on narrow back-streets in the area of the Heidelberg old town and the University. Yes, we did walk the busy and commercial Hauptstrasse, too, but more often I recall that we moved over a few blocks and walked up these very narrow and much less crowded streets.

Not only is Patty in this photograph – carrying her bag of camera gear and ready to shoot! – but a bunch of other members of her family comprise the group walking down the small street beyond. I think they eventually just gave up on waiting for us when we stopped to photograph!

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Lamp and Open Window

January 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A street lamp and two windows on a building wall along a narrow street in Salzburg, Austria

I saw these interesting lamps on my first day walking around in Salzburg but didn’t think much more about them until later. They were attached to walls by what look like curved rods of iron, and were not like anything that I’m familiar with. Later, when visiting a location near but not in Salzburg, I saw the same lamps on other buildings. Now, seeing a pattern, I started looking for them, and they popped up in lots of different places in and around Salzburg.

This wall belongs to what I presume is a home or apartment along a narrow street not far from central Salzburg. In the afternoon we walked away from the busy old central city and headed toward a nearby area where we had parked, and as we did we passed through a number of these old, narrow streets. In places, the afternoon light was almost parallel to the streets, and here it glances across the rough surface of the wall, hitting one window and casting a shadow on the open upper window.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Yellow Wall, Hellbrunn Palace

January 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yellow walls, green shutters, and the ubiquitous metal street lamps, Hellbrunn Palace near Salzburg, Austria

Hellbrunn is the site of the famous water garden, including a variety of “trick” fountains. I had never heard of the place, but our family guides thought it would be a good place to visit, so there we went. It was a palace for a member of Austrian nobility at one point (there’s more to the story than that…), and the story goes that he enjoyed playing tricks on guests. As a result, the grounds feature not only the usual huge lawns, statues, manicured gardens and so forth, but also a lot of water, some used to create all sorts of tricks and oddities.

There are benches from which water may spray on the person sitting there, doorways to small buildings that can suddenly spray the visitor, water that sprays up from sidewalks, and animated scene powered by water, a water powered organ, and more. The buildings, which are quite extensive, also include more staid living quarters, places to entertain guests, and art collections. As we walked around, I noticed the same street lamps attached to the exterior walls that I had seen elsewhere in Salzburg, so I included an example in this photograph of the corner of a brightly painted building.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Downtown Storefronts

December 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A row of downtown bars and restaurants, Seattle, Washington

This is another Seattle photograph, shot quickly in street style while walking around portions of the city and exploring. It is hard for me to put my finger on precisely what it is that appeals to me about subjects like this, but let me make an attempt. My first impression of such a location, especially in the daytime when everything is more clearly seen and fewer people are around, is that a lot of it is simply run down and even drab – weathered bricks, worn and peeling paint, construction that isn’t quite square. This patina of age and use is itself interesting, and somehow a photograph of it (or the act of making a photograph of it) helps me see it for what it is and for what else I might otherwise not see.

On the large scale, there are patterns that appeal to me – and, yes, patterns are part of my way of seeing. The scene is divided into successively smaller and smaller rectangular shapes for the most part, ranging from the largest one formed by the green facade to the very small ones formed by things like the spaces between the bars of a gate. Superimposed on this are things that don’t fit the geometric grid – the car (which also seems a bit out of context with the old buildings), the roughly triangular shapes of umbrellas, and many other odd little bits and pieces. In fact, if you like this sort of thing, seeing those “bits and pieces” might make the photo become a bit more than what it first seems to be: the figure of a red and white chef statue in the window at far right above some sort of bright green carts, the tree bright blue flower pots and a pink watering can on a ledge, the bright colors near the “Il Chiosco” sign, one door that has been varnished rather than painted the same drab colors as everything else, etc.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: street

PattyOboe in Heidelberg

Street Lamp and Open Window

Yellow Wall, Hellbrunn Palace

Downtown Storefronts

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