Tag Archives: street

Woman in Black, Sidewalk, Petals

April 2, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The legs of a woman wearing black, cracked sidewalk, bright flower petals.

This is a photograph that I might not have gotten if I had been working in my more typical manner – e.g. shooting with a full frame DSLR and an assortment of lenses. Instead, I was shooting with a small rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and only a 14mm prime. (Roughly equivalent about a 24mm prime on a full frame camera.) Shooting this way encourages working quickly – with a single focal length there is much less to think about, and shooting happens more quickly and, in some ways, more instinctively.

For what its worth, the photograph was made while walking in San Diego’s Balboa Park, near a spot where these brilliantly colorful flower petals were falling from a nearby tree. I suddenly got the idea to shoot the lens and feet of the people walking in front of me, and it was serendipitous that this happened as we were walking through the flower petals.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Indian Restaurant

February 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon winter light on the exterior of a neighborhood Indian restaurant.

This restaurant is located not far from where I live – close enough that I could photograph it on a walk from my home. (Though these walks can sometimes carry me out to about a four mile radius or so…) This is not one of those fancy, up-scale Indian restaurants, but rather a local, neighborhood place whose location and outer appearance might not encourage you to go inside and try the delicious food. Yes, I’ve eaten there.

At first I was just thinking about the angles and surfaces of the building, but also about this interesting late-afternoon winter light that slants in almost parallel to the ground in the vertical dimension, and almost flat across the front wall of the restaurant. As I moved in to try to find a composition I noticed the empty vase for the first time, and as I line things up to keep the very bright light on a hidden wall out of the frame, I saw the bright and somewhat orange light reflected from that wall onto the more distant area to the left where a door is open (even though the restaurant is closed) and a blue milk carton crate has been abandoned.

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Wall, Tree Shadow in Winter Light

February 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The shadow of a tree casts its shadow in winter light across an urban wall.

I made this photograph in the very late afternoon near the end of December, 2012. For some reason, each year at about this time I get the idea of doing a personal “photo walk” that starts at my front door and then wanders around the “neighborhood” in a two-mile or so radius. Almost invariably, the walk takes place late in the day and lasts through the sunset hours. I frequently cover (or perhaps I should write “cover again”) familiar territory, and I even re-photograph some of the same subjects that I have photographed in the past. (This isn’t the first time that I have photographed this wall.) I usually walk slowly for the most part, focusing more on looking than on walking. By slowing down and especially by paying attention to things I might photograph, I invariably see things – within walking distance of my home – that I would otherwise not see at all.

This photograph probably looks like a very strange amorphous thing to some viewers, so let me at least explain what you see. This is a concrete wall, with low angle sun striking it almost directly from the left, producing stretched shadows from a nearby tree. The wall is painted green, but the very warm golden hour light moves the color toward yellow. The wall apparently is an attractive target for vandals/graffiti artists, since it is apparent that something was previously painted out using a slightly different color paint. Although it is hard to see in this small web jpg, I like this odd mix of colors and the interesting details of the wall’s texture as they are revealing by the side-light.

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Santa Couch

December 28, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Santa Claus figure on a window behind a gaudily colorful couch on the front porch of an urban home, San Jose, California

Sometimes something catches my attention and I have to photograph it, even though I can’t quite put my finger on why. This might be one of those photographs. On this late afternoon of a late December day, I did something that I often seem to do about this time each year, namely take a camera and walk out my front door and wander around making photographs. I didn’t make too many on this day – perhaps fewer than two dozen.

When I carry the camera I see things that I would almost certainly miss completely if I were just out walking from point A to point B. With the camera in hand I tend to saunter along slowly, stopping to look at things or occasionally wander up a driveway. There is something just a bit strange about this giant, bright Alice-In-Wonderland couch with the face of Santa Clause peeking over the back.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: street

Woman in Black, Sidewalk, Petals

Indian Restaurant

Urban Wall, Tree Shadow in Winter Light

Santa Couch

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