Tag Archives: suburban

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue House, Flag, Holiday Lights

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Blue House, Flag, Holiday Lights
A house with weathered blue paint, an American flag, and holiday lights.

Blue House, Flag, Holiday Lights. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A house with weathered blue paint, an American flag, and holiday lights.

I have frequently written that I often walk out the front door carrying a camera, and during the last two years I’ve been doing a lot of walking in a several mile radius of my home. This takes me through remarkably varied areas — some very old (one might say run-down) homes, apartment complexes, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the area, light industrial areas, new office buildings, urban trails, a small downtown, areas occupied by the unhoused, and more. Needless to say, there is a lot to see — which is fortunate, given the amount of time I’ve spent wandering around here.

It has been noted that photographs often ask questions as much as they make statements, and as I walk around and look at these surroundings quite a few questions arise for me. Take this home for example — a small, older home on the edge of a newer and much wealthier neighborhood. It looks a bit ragged around the edges, but I wonder why? Is the occupant perhaps old and unable to take care of the place? Or perhaps one of the “house rich, cash poor” who bought the place years ago and can no longer afford the upkeep? Is the flag a habit, about simple patriotic feelings, or a statement to the neighbors? What, if anything, are we to make of the holiday lights that are falling off the edge of the roof? What about the small, lonely plant next to the concrete?

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Urban/Street

Suburban Questions

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Suburban Questions
A scene from a suburban neighborhood.

Suburban Questions. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A scene from a suburban neighborhood.

While walking recently I came across a scene — in a quiet urban neighborhood — that reminded of writers who speculate about what photographs might tell us and about the questions they may pose. How do photographs work and what do they convey?

Sometimes the questions seem to outweigh anything else.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Urban/Street

Free Couch

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Free Couch
A free couch and colorful pillows on the sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood.

Free Couch. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A free couch and colorful pillows on the sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood.

While walking in the neighborhood (which means anything in a radius of about three miles around our home) I often come across things that are… interesting. At this point I can point to homes occupied by hoarders, the best places to look for free garden produce left out for passers-by (which is why we have two loaves of persimmon bread in our freezer), cool house paint, the folks who imagine that putting a fake green carpet when their lawn used to be makes it “beautiful,” the neighborhood full of expensive and gigantic and extremely banal homes, and more.

I also come across quite a bit of suburban detritus. The things that we don’t want any more probably reveal a lot about us — perhaps more than we realize. (It is amazing that someone actually wants some of these things. We’ve had people pick up things like broken rakes…) In a few cases, I suspect that the give-aways may reflect past decisions that the owners eventually realized were, well, not examples of their best aesthetic judgment. Notice those pillows?

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Pandemia, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fence and Gate

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Fence and Gate
A gate in a fence along a trail, photographed on a neighborhood walk.

Fence and Gate. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gate in a fence along a trail, photographed on a neighborhood walk.

As I have shared in the past, during the pandemic I have cut way back on longer photographic outings, which sadly means less time in places like the Sierra Nevada and similar. (I still go to those places — carefully! — but much less frequently.) On the other hand, initially to compensate but now because it has become habitual, I’m doing a lot of walking in a radius of a few miles around our home. Walks are very close to daily events, and they vary between a couple of miles and up to occasionally as much as eight miles. Among other benefits, these walks open my eyes to local features that I would otherwise overlook. (I have informally referred to the resulting photographs as “postcards from Pandemia.”)

This photo comes from one such recent walk. The subject is simply a gate in a fence along a trail that I probably walk two or three times each week. After months of walking past this, for some reason the gate caught my attention this time. I’ve gone with a black and white rendition here — I’m leaning towards focusing on monochrome for this series now — and a very dark interpretation of the subject. For a long time all of my photographs have tended to try to put more light into the scene. Don’t expect that to stop, however I’m also starting to consider how I can explore images that lean toward darker tones.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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