Tag Archives: travel

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sortie de Garage

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Sortie de Garage
Garage, doors, windows, and wall along a narrow Paris street.

Sortie de Garage. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Garage, doors, windows, and wall along a narrow Paris street.

I am hopeful that you’ll indulge my recent and continuing thread of photographs from one small area of Paris, photographs made on a single walk about a half-dozen years ago. A return to one photograph from this day led me to reconsider a bunch of photographs that I had almost forgotten, and I’ve been enjoying this “virtual trip” back to that day in Paris.

I understand that a traditional notion of street photography is that it focuses on catching people doing what they do “in the streets” of an urban area. My idea of street photography is a bit broader, encompassing not just human activity, but also architecture and the overall urban landscape. I’m fascinated by doors and windows and walls, and there are always little unexpected details to see. In this photograph, one of them is the small sign that provided the title. Another is the contrast between the simple, square forms on the main building and the elaborate decoration on the visible bit of the building to 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Door, Wall, and Sidewalk

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Blue Door, Wall, and Sidewalk
A quiet street scene with a blue door, Le Marais, Paris.

Blue Door, Wall, and Sidewalk. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A quiet street scene with a blue door, Le Marais, Paris.

As I worked on this photograph I had a bit of an odd experience. I rarely mention it here, but my academic training is in music and I was s a college music faculty member. But it is difficult to understand, much less explain, the relationships between my audio and visual lives. The entire subject is too big and complex to cover here. The odd experience? I was listening to music as I worked on this photograph and a few others from the same source. Perhaps surprisingly, I don’t usually do that.

Why do I mention this? I usually consider photographs almost exclusively from a visual perspective — the nature of the subject, the quality of light, the composition and relationships among elements, color, texture, and so on. But the particular music I was listening to as I worked on this photograph changed my perspective on it in a way that is difficult to describe. (The music included some work by the composer Max Richter, which often moves slowly and quietly.) The scene took on a quiet and a stillness that I had not thought about before, and I began to think about the age of this building and what might be behind that door and those windows. Music can do that to you.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Two pedestrians, Sidewalk and Buildings

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Two Pedestrians, Sidewalk and Buildings
Two pedestrians stroll past buildings in Le Marais, Paris.

Two Pedestrians, Sidewalk and Buildings. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Two pedestrians stroll past buildings in Le Marais, Paris.

I went back and forth on whether this should be a color or a black and white photograph. (We’re so lucky today that we can make this kind of choice after pressing the shutter release!) In the end, everything about the scene seemed to me to call for monochrome… though I did have to give up the colors of the flowers growing in the row of window boxes.

I think this is one of those “photographs of nothing special” that evokes the feeling of the place. I have nothing at all against specialness in a photograph — it is often something to strive for! — but that can give us a less than true sense of the subject. This photograph is also an example of how being ready to “capture” a fleeting moment is so important in street photography… and, for that matter, in many other sorts of photography too.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

right 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France, Photographs: People, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man

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Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man
“Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man” — A man rides past a wall covered with street art, Le Marais.

I have been writing a new installment for my “A Photograph Exposed” series, where I write in depth about one of my favorite photographs. The photograph in question, which I regard as one of my best, features a group of three women photographed in front of this street art-covered wall. As part of the writing process, I went back to view other files made at about the same time — for reasons that will make sense when I share the article. In doing so I found other photographs of this scene that I like. In fact, if the “three women” photograph had not turned out, I might well have shared this one years ago!

I am fascinated by the experience of going back to forgotten image files and “discovering” work for the first time. There is a difference in how we see photographs that we have just made (and which we associate with the immediate experience of making them) and how we see the same photographs after time has passed. I think that, in some ways, we see the images more objectively in the latter case — perhaps we can “see” them as what they are more than as what we expected them to be.

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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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