Tag Archives: urban

Photographs: England, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Patty Photographing London

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Patty Photographing London
Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing in London

Patty Photographing London. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing in London

Our opportunities for international travel have been pretty limited since the beginning of the pandemic. We had a big trip scheduled late in the first year of the event, but that had to be cancelled. We might have considered going this year, but instead extended family members decided on an American meet-up. So we’re still looking forward to future international travel, hopefully by next summer.

For a bunch of reasons, we often start in London, so we’ve been there a few times now. We like to wander, carrying cameras, looking for interesting things, and stopping for refreshments and meals whenever the urge takes us. And, yes, we sometimes photograph one another!

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

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis

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Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis
Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris.

This church figured briefly in the text accompanying a recently-posted photograph of a historic Paris fire alarm station. The story is that I wasn’t sure what building this is. It caught my attention, for obvious reasons, while walking in Le Marais, so I made a photograph — but I neglected to note the precise location or even the identity of the place. (I often prefer to not do too much research about a location in order to retain some of the fun of “discovering” it.) I finally figured it out by spotting its reflection in the fire alarm photo!

The remarkable church was constructed in the 1600s, which explains the detailed architecture. Today the colors of certain features are quite striking — those red doors and the sun design around the clock, for example.

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.

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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: Urban/Street

Fire Alarm Station

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Fire Alarm Station
A historic fire alarm, Paris.

Fire Alarm Station. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A historic fire alarm, Le Marais, Paris.

This is a photograph that began as a simple, spur-of-the-moment thing and ultimately led me down a rabbit hole of information about the history of fire alarms. I saw this thing while walking in Le Marais. It looked interesting, and the shiny red paint caught my eye, so I photographed the upper part of it with the alcove and barred windows in the background. Later I finally looked into it and learned a LOT about fire alarm systems. The earliest apparently were created about 200 years ago — and before that alarms were delivered by… sending a runner. In the 1800s telegraph technology was eventually used, and near the end of the century early telephone technology made its appearance. Paris was late to the game, with their first alarms in the late 1800s. This one dates to the early 1900s, and people reporting fires would break a glass window and then speak to the department via telephone. Whew.

One other interesting thing came from this photograph. Recently I was working on a photograph of a Paris church, and I did not recognize it. I knew I made it on a day when we walked in and around Le Marais as other nearby areas, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then, as I worked on this fire alarm photograph I realized that the building is reflected in the window at the right! Since I could easily find the location of the fire alarm (it is the only one in this area), I went to it on a digital map and there was the church! (More about that location later when I share its photograph.)

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.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Zeum, Architectural Detail

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Zeum, Architectural Detail
A San Francisco view from the Zeum on a blue sky day.

Zeum, Architectural Detail. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A San Francisco view from the Zeum on a blue sky day.

Recently I have leaned on a Minor White quote more than once: “One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are.” I’ve always taken this to be about photography’s burden of “capturing the real world,” how limiting that goal may be, and how photographs can be seen in other ways. It is almost always worth asking about a photograph, “Beyond what this is, what is it?”

This is, obviously, a photograph of a bit of architecture in San Francisco, a place called “The Zeum.” I’ve wandered through it many times while on San Francisco photography walks. An incomplete list of the “what else it is” in this photograph could include some of the following. It is about color and light and shadow. It is about perspective and angles and lines. It is about that sky and that single cloud. Perhaps you can think of other things?

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.

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