Tag Archives: windows

Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man

Image May 16, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man walks up a gentle slope in front of old buildings, Vienna

Two summers ago we spent seven weeks “on the road” traveling though parts of Europe. We travel on our own — except when we meet up with family members — and tend to sort of wander in whatever places we visit. On this occasion we were in Vienna and, if I recall correctly, the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse), a remarkable bit of early twentieth-century architecture. While I do have photographs of that location, I also make photographs of… things like this.

In cities I usually carry a small rangefinder-style camera with a small prime lens attached, and I often have it ready at my side as I walk. That was almost certainly the case here. I am pretty certain that I initially had been photographing the blocky architecture of this street when I saw this man about to walk into the frame.

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: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Closing Time

Image May 15, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman places boards over the windows of a business at night.

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these night photography shoots in San Francisco. A few years ago a group of us would get together once per year or so in the late afternoon, photograph in early evening light, typically go somewhere for dinner, and then head back out to photograph at night. We frequently ended up in Chinatown, perhaps because the lights and narrower streets are conducive to photography after dark.

This photograph comes from one of those excursions back in 2015. Since around that time — perhaps a few years earlier — it occurred to me that since I live close to San Francisco and regularly visit New York that I could do a little project around photographing in Chinatown districts of both cities. They are both fascinating places, both draw tourists (though in different ways), and both have a non-tourist life that is even more fascinating. (I see this photograph a bit differently in the wake of the pandemic.)

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

Window Maze

Image October 7, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cubist patterns of color, reflections, and perspective in the windows of a San Francisco builiding.

Continuing with the theme of “windows,” here is another photograph I recently made while walking in San Francisco. My San Francisco ambling typically has a general structure — I usually arrive at the Fourth Street Caltrain Station early in the morning, then typically start walking north (often along the waterfront, though not on this visit). I photograph as I go, and eventually reach a turn-around point, where I start back towards the train station on a different route.

I made this photograph on that return walk, and I was actually in a bit of a hurry — I had just enough time to get to the station and board before my train was to leave, and missing it would have meant an hour wait. These windows caught my attention and I paused very briefly to make two exposures. The objective reality of the scene is simple — a couple of “window walls” joining at a corner — but the subjective effect is quite complex and wild, with confusing combinations of elements (the windows themselves, what lies inside, and things behind me in the reflections), perspective lines, and color.

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