Tag Archives: weathered

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

Woman in Red Coat

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Woman in Red Coat, Paris
“Woman in Red Coat” — A woman in a red coat sits on steps outside a Paris building.

This is another of the “grab shots” that I often come away with when I’m doing street photography. Here things appear and disappear quickly, and it is often more a matter of grab-that-shot than careful and slow consideration of the subject. Here I simply spotted this women on the steps and wearing the striking red coat as we walked past.

It can sometimes be hard to articulate precisely what I see in a photograph that I make. Here, I think that the color of the woman’s red coat is pretty important, as it stands out against the cooler colors in the rest of the scene, especially the color blue. I also was attracted to the somewhat melancholy feeling of the woman sitting alone on the steps in front of the badly weathered doorway. Form is also important, and here the mirrored shapes of the planter boxes create a kind of background rhythm.

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

Weathered Street Art

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Weathered Street Art
“Weathered Street Art” — The weathered and worn figure of a man, on a wall in Montpellier, France.

There is a fine line when photographing things like this between appropriation of someone else’s creative work and making the image because the placement and weathering themselves provide independent visual interest. In short, I’m not big on simply photographing what other people create, but I do seek out and photograph things like this bit of weathered street art found on a wall in Montpelllier, France.

I suspect that it has or had some meaning or message that isn’t apparent to me — either because I lack the cultural context to see it or because it has been weathered to the point where it is no longer apparent. For me, that weathering itself is part of the attraction. In this case, the bits that remain suggest something like a genie emerging from a bottle.

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

Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

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(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)

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

Stone Wall and Pedestrians

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Stone Wall and Pedestrians, Paris
“Stone Wall and Pedestrians” — Parisiens walk and run past a tall stone wall.

The photograph is from somewhere in Paris. We were on a walk and I was photographing as we moved, not paying too much attention to identifying locations. (That’s a characteristic of how I work when photographing the urban environment — I am so focused on it as a visual experience that I often forget to record locations or the names of places and so on.)

If a photograph can be about something, this one might be in some ways about the relationships between people and the infrastructure of the the urban environment. . To my eye, the people here look very small and transitory by comparison to the scale of the building and the angular forms of most of the scene.

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.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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

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

Street Scene, Calle el Temple

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Street Scene, Calle el Temple, Zaragoza
“Street Scene, Calle el Temple” — Blocked-off ground-level units and weathered walls at Calle el Temple, Zaragoza.

I am always a bit of a sucker for old buildings that show the effects of time, especially if they are on narrow, car-free European streets, and perhaps more so when they are a bit messy around the edges. This building puzzled me. The ground floor seemed abandoned, with doorways sealed of its bricks. But the second story and above seemed well-maintained.

We stayed in the old part of Zaragoza, Spain. This location is mere footsteps from our hotel, and we walked past it a number of times. ON this morning we were just starting a walk that would take us the Central Market, then to some historical buildings, followed by a walk along the river back to the center of this part of town.

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” from Heyday Books, is available directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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