Tag Archives: weathered

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea

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Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea
Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a wall in Chelsea along 10th Avenue near High Line Park, New York featuring ivy, bricks, and a face.

I was on the move when I grabbed this shot, so I can’t say with precision where I made it. I think it was along 10th Avenue roughly in the same area as the Standard Hotel along the High Line Park – I sort of recall looking up to see some people coming out of the hotel at about the time I made this photograph.

The face first caught my attention. I think that it is a somewhat worn poster or similar attached to the surface of the wall near this junction between two buildings, hence the division between brick and not-brick. The rich textures of worn concrete with some graffiti painted on it, the two colors of brick wall, the staring face with the intense eyes, and the incongruous growth of lush green ivy were a surprise on this very urban bit of sidewalk.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building Exterior, Peter Macchiarini Steps

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Building Exterior, Peter Macchiarini Steps
Building Exterior, Peter Macchiarini Steps

Building Exterior, Peter Macchiarini Steps. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of weathered and dilapidated building exterior wall along the Peter Macciarini Steps, San Francisco.

This is another in a small series of photographs I made of the old, weathered buildings along these very steep sidewalk stairs in San Francisco. In this case I decided to go with black and white since it seems to me that the main interest in the image would be the shapes and forms rather than colors. (Though the color images has a certain appeal, too – the colors are very subtle and almost all in the “tan” range except for a bit of reddish brick, a couple of small colorful stickers on the wall, and the nearly gray concrete.)

I had seen other named stairways elsewhere in San Francisco, but was unaware that this one warranted a name. A web site with information on this and other stairways in SF points out that the city has a history of naming some of its ugliest streets and other features for famous people. This one, despite having a kind of gritty urban charm, seems to fit the mold.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/640 second

keywords: san, francisco, california, usa, peter, macchiarini, steps, kearny, broadway, street, steep, stairs, railing, pipe, siding, duct, exterior, cement, brick, window, door, urban, street, brown, dilapidated, weathered, worn, curb, sidewalk, north america, stock, downtown, trash, garbage, can receptacle, grafitti, monochrome, black and white

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

Man Descending Sidewalk Steps

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Man Descending Sidewalk Steps
Man Descending Sidewalk Steps

Man Descending Sidewalk Steps. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man descends sidewalk steps past dilapidated buildings with exterior duct work in San Francisco, California.

On a day when my wife was rehearsing in SF and my son needed to do some packing in his apartment… I took this as an excuse to take the (very) early train to the City and wander around shooting on the street until mid-afternoon. A started shooting near the Caltrain depot at about7:00 a.m., wandered up the Embarcadero, heading into the North Beach area, backtracking though the less-touristy part of Chinatown, and finally descending (in more ways than one) to the shoreline at Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 (ugh) before wandering back up near the ferry building to catch BART to meet up with them.

I made this photograph in an area that seems to me to be sort of on the fringes of Chinatown. The first thing that caught my attention as I passed by on a cross street was the crazy bunch of ducts and other stuff attached to the outside of this building. I wandered up the other side of the street to shoot this straight on, and was doing so when this man helpfully wandered through the frame – which was just what I was hoping for.

On another note, last week I saw some impressive photographs by a person who will remain nameless. The images were largely urban/street work, and included some really interesting photographs of people. But as I looked at the work it occurred to me that part of what was catching my attention was that everyone had seemingly been given the same formulaic treatment in post, likely consisting mostly of a Gaussian blur overlay and some strong vignetting. As an experiment – and partly to confirm my suspicions – I took this image through the same process and with about 10 minutes of work had achieve “the look” of and edgy, saturated, and dark-looking image. But I was left in a bit of a bind. On one hand, it seems cheap to apply a formula in this way, especially when it is so straightforward. On the other hand, it does have a certain appeal…

The version I settled on here eschews that bit of work in post and is more of a “straight” photograph of the scene.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/500 second

keywords: san, francisco, california, usa, peter, macchiarini, steps, kearny, broadway, street, steep, stairs, railing, pipe, siding, duct, exterior, cement, brick, window, door, urban, street, brown, jacket, black, pants, dilapidated, weathered, worn, curb, sidewalk, north america, stock, downtown

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pipes, Shadow, and Brick Wall

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Pipes, Shadow, and Brick Wall
Pipes, Shadow, and Brick Wall

Pipes, Shadow, and Brick Wall. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. May 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white night photograph of pipes, shadow, and a brick wall at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California.

This is an example of the sort of thing I was looking for during my night photography shoot near the end of May at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. The place is well-known among night photographers for its interesting and impressive abandoned (mostly) structures, some of which are very old. The most striking subjects for most shooters involve the massive ship yard equipment that towers above old brick factory buildings. I’ve made my share of photographs of those wonderful subjects!

But on this visit I resolved to not shoot the familiar large buildings and structures, and to instead look for odd little vignettes of the place that I had overlooked in the past. This pipe standing against a brick was was actually hard to really see in the very dim artificial light in the alley where it is located, but I thought that the pipe and its shadow on the brick wall might be interesting. At the time I made the exposure I wasn’t certain if it would end up being black and white or color, but after working with it in post I’m happier with this monochrome version.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 96mm
ISO 200, f/8, 96 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, nocturnes, brick, wall, weathered, worn, pipe, joint, shadow, old, black and white, monochrome, urban, street, landscape, detail, curb, stock