A group of people sit on a concrete bench as a red bus stops behind them.
I think there might be a bit more to this photograph than meets the eye — at least I like to think so. The scene is a concrete bench along the edge of Trafalgar Square late in the day, as the low angle sun hits the bench and its occupants straight on. I’ll leave it at that…
Subway tracks and a few people on the platform, Penn Station
There is not a whole lot to say about this photograph, though I might tell a technical secret about it.
The photograph is obviously from the New York Subway system, shot underground with available light at a relatively quiet time between trains while we were waiting for the next one to arrive. I shot this in street photography mode, during a week when I did not once use a tripod or a remote release, and when I shot entirely with a small handheld camera while on foot. I probably don’t have the point out that this photograph could be “about” several things: the small family group sitting on the bench and waiting for their train, the light and colors of the underground station, and the geometry of the structures and tracks.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
People hurrying along a ramp in Grand Central Station, New York
During our last trip to New York City, in August of 2011, at one point we ended up wandering in to Grand Central Station, perhaps just “because,” though now I don’t remember for sure. This is an iconic Manhattan location, for sure, and the central hall is quite a place, with its conjunction of contemporary hurry and its connections to history as seen in its architecture.
I did not have a tripod, nor did I really want to be burdened with one while moving around Manhattan on foot and by subway, so I shot handheld in the low light. Here I was looking down at a long ramp between two levels of the building, where I could photograph people as they walked past – and I made this photograph just as the group of women passed through the pool of light from the overhead lighting.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Details of the Staten Island Ferry in black and white.
This photograph may need a bit of explanation. Though it might be fun for you to try to parse out what you are seeing first. Go ahead. I’ll wait…
We did the cheap thing on this afternoon after walking around parts of south Manhattan – we wandered over to the Battery Park, saw a ferry approaching, figured we had just enough time for a scenic round trip, ran to the terminal, and did the free over-and-back on the Staten Island Ferry. The price is certainly right, and the ferry provides interesting views of the Brooklyn shoreline and the south end of Manhattan.
This is a photograph of… not much. The only in-focus element is the vertical metal bar near the left side of the frame. There are windows in the frame as well, and they provide several layers of reflections along with some other “stuff” from the glass itself. (The fence-like object at lower right is actually behind my camera position.) I shot this with a very large aperture to get a narrow depth of field, so everything beyond the metal column is out of focus – the sliding windows, the portion of a person at the right edge of the frame, the water and horizon, and the barely visible bit of the Verrazano bridge in the right window.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
