Tag Archives: wall

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Santo Spirito Toilet

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Santo Spirito Toilet
Two Florence doorways, one leading to the “Santo Spirito Toilet.”

Santo Spirito Toilet. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Two Florence doorways, one leading to the “Santo Spirito Toilet.”

To arrive in this area of Florence you could cross the Ponte Vecchio (or other convenient bridge across the Arno) and walk a few more blocks. It is still a busy area, but the further you get from the Arno the more the tourist traffic diminishes. It was certainly not gone in this spot, but it was not the crowded scene that you encounter north of the Arno in the old part of the city. We were exploring a small square when I noticed the strange and seemingly-unfortunate name of the doorway on the right…

I think the the area is known by the “Santo spirito” name because of a nearby church. Logically I can understand how that name ended up being applied to other features in the area. But “Santo Spirito Toilet?!” Since people here likely know that they are in the Santo Spirito are, perhaps it would have been sufficient to erect a sign that just said “toilet?” Ah, well, who am I to say?

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: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bike Rack and Wall

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Bike Rack and Wall
A bike rack in front of a wall covered with graffiti and street art, Bologna.

Bike Rack and Wall. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A bike rack in front of a wall covered with graffiti and street art, Bologna.

This photograph comes from a less-traveled (at least by tourists) back street in Bologna, Italy, in a neighborhood of narrow streets and walkways that seems like it might be where some of the locals actually live. There was, indeed, more street art and graffiti in this neighborhood, though this is perhaps an extreme example.

Several things drew me to this scene. Oddly, one of them was the connection between the light here and light that I have photographed in the narrow sandstone canyons of the American Southwest, where light bounces back and forth between reddish walls and acquires a warm softness. But the rest of the scene is, obviously, nothing like those natural landscape. a phalanx of bicycles crowds a wide rack, and the wall behind and above is plastered with a wild array of posters and graffiti.

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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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: People, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Busker, Lisbon

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Busker, Lisbon
A street musician stands in front of a wall near the St. George Castle, Lisbon.

Busker, Lisbon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A street musician stands in front of a wall near the St. George Castle, Lisbon.

As I have mentioned, we like to walk when visiting cities, and we did a lot of that when we were in Lisbon this summer. Like many European (and the centers of some American) cities, the place is really quite walkable, though we did deal with some hot temperatures… and, of course, the famous hills of this city. The hills figured in this photograph and some others I made on this morning. We decided to go to the area of the St. George Castle. (We did not go in the castle grounds — we explored nearby instead.) We walked… and we bypassed the tempting options to get driven up the hill. This was a lot more work, but we also saw a lot more than we would have if we let someone carry us up there!

We wandered various narrow streets in the upper areas of the hill where the castle is located. At one point I came upon this solo busker, setting up to perform in a place that seemed unlikely to see all that many tourists. It was kind of out of the way, against a wall where a road more or less ended — and, if I recall correctly, we were about the only people around. I slipped a few euros into his basket and make a few photographs, including this one.

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: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Art, Bologna

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Street Art, Bologna
Weathered layers of street art and graffiti on a Bologna wall.

Street Art, Bologna. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Weathered layers of street art and graffiti on a Bologna wall.

Recently I have noticed that American visitors to Europe are surprised by the amount of graffiti (aka “street art”) in some cities. There is a lot of it, but I’m not sure if there is more of it than in the US. Perhaps they/we just end up in places where it is found more often when traveling, or maybe we are so used to it at home that we no longer “see” it. Another possibility: In the US I think there are efforts to control graffiti in places that tourists go, but in at least some parts of Europe that seems to be less the case. (This is not to suggest that graffiti isn’t a problem, as some recent stories about cretins writing and carving on antiquities has shown.)

One of the European cities where I first started to notice this is Bologna, Italy. Almost a decade ago we spent one night there during a drive from Germany to Tuscany — and I have this strong memory of walking through unlit streets with tons of graffiti at dusk. (After our recent trip, when walks in the same area at the same time of day included quite a few people, I’m beginning to distrust that early memory.) This photograph comes from a side-street in Bologna, where it was one of many examples. This one fascinated me, with its top layer of glued-on paper deteriorating to reveal layers of earlier marks and its interesting palette of colors.

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.