Tag Archives: window

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mondrian Wall

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Mondrian Wall
A wall of a school building closed during the pandemic.

Mondrian Wall. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A wall of a school building closed during the pandemic.

Why, yes, this is from the “Postcards from Pandemia” series of photographs made on my almost-daily walks in the greater neighborhood, an area including a range of subjects in suburban neighborhoods, apartment complexes, closed schools, nearly empty parks, a largely shuttered business district, and light industrial zones.

This is a detail of a wall at the front of a school that is became deserted at about the time when students would have been pushing through the last part of the academic year and looking forward to summer. If you are like me, you might find more than one way to look at this 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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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

Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard

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Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard
A study in right angles, MOMA courtyard, Manhattan

Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A study in right angles, MOMA courtyard, Manhattan.

This is a photograph from nearly a decade ago, made on one of our semi-regular visits to New York City. For some reason I ended up in the archive of raw files from that visit recently and I ended up working on this photograph. It turns out that it is quite similar to another I made at this same spot, but there are some subtle but important distinctions that convinced me to work on this version.

The camera position is a window facing this courtyard, a spot that most people probably walk right past on their way between floors at the Museum of Modern Art. I think I may first have been attracted by the elevated viewpoint, looking down into the courtyard where people may sit or walk. I also was fascinated by the dense cubic forms of the buildings and the strong perspective lines that they form.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

J’Existe

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Detail of wall with sticker-covered pipe, Le Marais, Paris

J’Existe. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of wall with sticker-covered pipe, Le Marais, Paris.

For those who wonder, the title of the photograph comes from the small sticker attached near the upper end of the pipe near the middle of the frame. Once I noticed this one I started seeing them in other places in Paris… and in photographs I had made without seeing them!

I made the photograph on a walk through Le Marais, an older section of Paris that still has narrow streets and lots of rather old buildings. We were staying not far from here, and having visiting this area in the past I wanted to go back. With the narrow streets — barely wide enough for a single vehicle, with sidewalks that are barely wide enough for one person — photographing here can be a bit of a “cramped” affair, especially when shooting the buildings straight on. But the architecture is often quite interesting (if nearly monochromatic) with very old structures, some leaning at “interesting” angles. This little vignette caught my attention with its interesting geometry build out of lines and rectangles — and I was intrigued by the fact that the numerous stickers covered the pipe… but had politely been left off of the walls.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Purple, Green, Blue, And Red

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Purple, Green, Blue, And Red
Objects along the sidewalk, San Francisco

Purple, Green, Blue, And Red. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Objects along the sidewalk, San Francisco.

Given its title, it should be obvious that this photograph is, at least in part, about the colors I found in this little downtown San Francisco scene. The specific location probably isn’t too important, though it is a central city area that is not one of great wealth and privilege, but which is perhaps under some pressure from the developmental forces currently bringing radical changes to the qualities that made this city famous.

Sometimes I just make photographs without analyzing too much, and you could look at a photograph like this in much the same way. But sometimes I do ask myself questions, such as “Why would I want to photograph something like this?” The answer is too complex for a two-paragraph web post — and I’m not sure that I know the complete answer — but I do know that I’m looking for order relationships among things that might not be objectively related. (Here those elements include the conjunctions of color and objects.) I’m also, I think, trying to see things for “what else they might be.”

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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