Tag Archives: urban

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

Gelato King

Leave a comment
Gelato King
Late-night passers-by at the Gelato King stand, corner of Mulberry and Grand, NYC

Gelato King. New York City. July 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-night passers-by at the Gelato King stand, corner of Mulberry and Grand, NYC

Another gelato stand! It seems that this is becoming a theme here. Of course, given that we were staying in a hotel located essentially on the border between Manhattan’s Chinatown and Little Italy districts, these kinds of places were everywhere: Italian deli on the corner, Italian pastry across the street, gelato and cannoli never more than a few footsteps away. (The fact that we were staying in this particular area was more a function of a good price on a hotel than of a desire to be in the middle to the tourist attractions of Little Italy.)

This photograph, if nothing else, illustrates a few things that I look for when photographing urban areas at night, at least when working with subjects like this one. It has a central focus point, and one that seems to provide most of the interesting light in the scene — namely the little gelato stand, with its light (and that of the cannoli stand just around the corner) spilling out onto the sidewalk and providing much of the illumination in the scene. (Additional ambient illumination from other businesses provides a bit of light on the figures.) I made a series of photographs here in rapid succession as people walked through the scene. In some there is no one but the fellow in the stand, in others a group is queued up to buy gelato. In this one the people are almost uniformly spread across the scene, with various orientations to the central light. On both sides women in lighter colors walk toward it; red and yellow tones show up in the attire of several of the subjects.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Woman, Wall

Leave a comment
Walking Woman, Wall
A woman walks past a Manhattan wall

Walking Woman, Wall. New York City. July 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past a Manhattan wall

We returned last night from a week in Manhattan, mostly visiting family but also wandering… and eating… and photographing. I know for a fact that I’m not the only so-called nature or landscape photographer who also loves photographing the urban landscape, and when there is hardly a more varied or compelling location than New York City — from Central Park to the skyscraper canyons to the variety of neighborhoods. I’m often happy to just go out walking with my camera, with only the vaguest notions of what I’ll photograph, and to be open to surprise.

We were walking uptown from our hotel, which was on Grand, almost in the middle of the Little Italy area, and we decided to pass through the Washington Square area. We were almost there when we approach portions of the NYU campus and I saw this cubist scene, with colors, shapes, and textures that immediately reminded me of the sandstone canyons of the Southwest. (Yes, my mind works that way, even in the Big City.) I made a few quick initial exposures and then paused to see who would walk into the frame on this sunny morning.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Food Truck

Leave a comment
Food Truck
The food truck vendor behind dark blue glass

Food Truck. San Jose, California. June 21, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The food truck vendor behind dark blue glass

There is a bit of a strange story behind this photograph and a few others I made on the same evening. I was at a brewery that isn’t too far from where I live — we had been meaning to visit the place for some time, but when we heard there would be a Fujifilm camera demo event with loaners we decided to go. The Fujifilm representative showed up with a table full of goodies, and they let us check them out for about 15 minutes at a time.

I decided to go with something basic and try the X100f, the new Fujifilm rangefinder style camera. The photographic subjects were a bit limited. There were a couple of models hired to come in for the event, but that’s not really my thing. But the street photography presence of a beaten up old food truck was irresistible.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Empty Lot, Paris

Leave a comment
Empty Lot, Paris
An empty lot with graffiti and street art, Paris

Empty Lot, Paris. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty lot with graffiti and street art, Paris

I’m pretty certain that I made this photograph on the evening of our arrival in Paris in the summer of 2016. We came from London the train, arrived in the afternoon, checked into a hotel, and headed out to explore. We were staying in Montemartre, which is a fine place to wander, with narrow streets, hills, and plenty of places to eat and drink.

A bit later, at dusk, we were walking through a residential area when we passed this empty and apparently abandoned lot. It appeared that it had been commandeered by graffiti artists, who produced everything from text to images. My sense was that this produced a sort of urban landscape, and as different as this look from, say, the Sierra Nevada, it photographed it in a similar way in the fading light.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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