Tag Archives: twilight

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Digital Solutions

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Digital Solutions
Street scene in Lower Manhattan, evening.

Digital Solutions. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Street scene in Lower Manhattan, evening.

Considering that I have recently shared photograph from our December 2021 visit to pandemic-stricken New York City, you might think that this photograph, with its appropriately empty street and sidewalk, might come from that trip. You would be incorrect. This photograph comes from our last visit before the Great Lockdown, back in the late winter of 2019, when we spent a week wandering freely around Manhattan, stopping wherever we wanted to for food and drink, wandering into museums, and mingling in crowds. The quiet scene shown here was, at that time, the exception to the rule.

If I recall correctly, I made the photograph on a relatively long we made from Midtown all the way down to Lower Manhattan, starting in the afternoon and ending around sunset. This photograph comes from that wonderful time of day when it isn’t yet dark — and buildings are still lit by the fading ambient light — but the lights of businesses and offices have started to come on, illuminating interiors and spilling light out onto the sidewalks.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Criminal Courts Building

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Criminal Courts Building
“Criminal Courts Building” — North Entrance, Criminal Courts Building, Manhattan.

This photograph comes from the same winter walk from Midtown to Lower Manhattan that I wrote about in another recent post. It was a somewhat unusual photographic walk, in that we had a specific appointment to make in Lower Manhattan just after sunset. With that in mind we were less able to follow our noses on this walk, and rather than pausing too much or taking little side journeys along the way, we progressed at a fairly regular rate to the south. This meant that I rarely had time to pause long to make photographs, aside from the occasional street light, so most of the photographs were made quickly, and I had only a short time to work any of the subjects. (In fact, we moved fast enough that I often did not have time to even take careful note of what I was photographing.)

As we passed this impressive Art Deco building in Lower Manhattan, the combination of angular stone faced, blue-toned evening light, and the contrasting warm yellow tones of interior light caught my attention. I was working quickly and using a fixed-focal length lens, so my compositional options were limited. I couldn’t photograph the entirety o the building, so I focused on this entrance area. It occurred to me later how profoundly the appearance of this scene is affected by light — a daytime photograph here would not be particularly dramatic, but there’s something a bit oppressive about the quality in this light.

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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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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan

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Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan
Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan.

At about this time two years ago, near the end of the Before Times, we were in New York City for the holidays. It was a trip much like previous visits there — we mingled in gigantic crowds, walked almost everywhere, occasionally froze in very un-California weather, ate in packed restaurants, and did pretty much all of the things one does in a busy, crowded, and intense place like New York. Although we had no idea at the time — the first news of the oncoming pandemic had still not arrived — this would be the last big trip like this for years.

I mentioned above that we walk a lot in Manhattan. Those who don’t know the place are, it seems, often surprised to find that almost everyone there walks, residents and visitors alike. Certainly part of the reason is that it is not a friendly place to drivers. But it also really is a friendly place to walkers, despite what you might think. We always wander around on foot a lot when we visit, and even in winter we’ll sometimes walk long distances. This was one of those days. We started in more or less Midtown and then headed south all the way to Lower Manhattan below the City Hall area, where we met family members. Close to our destination we passed this scene at a subway entrance near City Hall as the day was ending and evening lights were appearing.

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: Nature, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Twilight Moon

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Twilight Moon
Twilight moon over a Yosemite backcountry lake.

Twilight Moon. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twilight moon over a Yosemite backcountry lake.

The last few hours of daylight and the first hour or so after sunset are prime times for landscape photography. (The same is true for the comparable hours around sunrise.) I am often surprised to find myself alone at this time of day, even when I’m photographing near large campgrounds. In the morning everyone is still zipped in their sleeping bags, and in the evening I suppose they are busy eating dinner. I occasionally want to head back into those campgrounds and tell people! But then I remember how much I enjoy the solitude at these extraordinary moments.

This photograph was made in the company of a group of folks, photographers all, who understand. We are out of our tents in pre-sunrise darkness, and we return to camp to attend to our needs for food and coffee hours later. We head out again in the late afternoon, and the last of us stumbles back into camp well after dark, navigating by the light of a headlamp. On this evening I had followed that pattern, doing a wide solo loop around this lake and photographing as the golden hour light came on, then continuing right through to the dusk hours when only a bit of the fading sunset color remained.

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.