Tag Archives: windows

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

Osgood Place

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Osgood Place
Osgood Place

Osgood Place. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A steep street in downtown San Francisco with a sign for “Osgood Place.”

I came across this photograph from last summer while going over old raw files again this week. To be honest, I barely remember shooting this scene, and the only hints about the precise location are the “Osgood Place” sign (referring to one of the buildings) and the base of the Transamerica Pyramid beyond the end of the street.

When I saw it this week, something caught my attention about it. I like the vantage point that roughly as high as the third story of buildings near the bottom of the street – this does some slightly odd things to perspective lines. I also like the various types of red to brick-red coloration and the row of steel posts along the narrow sidewalk. The subtle green beer bottle against the first post at the right is a touch I like, too. ;-) It is surprising that I managed to take a photograph of this area of San Francisco that includes no people.

(Update: Thanks to some folks who saw this photograph elsewhere, I have learned that the street is also called Osgood Place.)

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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.

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

Laundry, Fire Escape, Chinatown

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Laundry, Fire Escape, Chinatown
Laundry, Fire Escape, Chinatown

Laundry, Fire Escape, Chinatown. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Laundry is hung to dry on fire escape above the streets of Chinatown, San Francisco.

This is a photography from one of my early morning photo-walks in San Francisco last summer. I take the train to the City very early in the morning and then walk. A lot. On this morning I passed through Chinatown on my way to the North Beach area fairly early in the morning – well before the tourist crowds showed up. A few blocks from the main tourist area it is a different world with markets opening up, deliveries being made, and busy people everywhere. I was working in more or less traditional street photographer style – to the extent that someone armed with a DSLR can do that ! – and shooting with just a 50mm prime lens on the camera and trying to work quickly as images presented themselves.

I imagine that many people who pass through here may easily be so focused on the activity at the street level that they might not look up. It often strikes me as surprising that in areas where so much is going on at street level – many people, colorful shop fronts, lots of action – the fronts of buildings right above present a completely different appearance. The first thing that caught my attention here was the laundry festooning the fire escape landings. But I also like the geometry of dark landings, ladders, and pipes against the lighter stucco wall, and the wonderful light coming through the morning haze from upper right and casting the lined shadows across the walls of the building.

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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.

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

Golden Eagle Hotel

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Golden Eagle Hotel
Golden Eagle Hotel

Golden Eagle Hotel. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Man sitting on steps in front of tattoo parlor below the Golden Eagle Hotel, San Francisco.

Last summer, on one of my “walking shoots” in San Francisco, I wandered into a less-than-lovely area of The City – though it has its points of visual interest, for sure. I named this photograph after the Golden Eagle Hotel at least partly because I assume that the dilapidated green apartment building above the colorful (in many senses) shops at street level comprise the “hotel.” Another reason is that I wasn’t sure I wanted to title a photograph “Tattoo” or “Naughty Laundry!” (I don’t know what the “Naughty Laundry” place is, and I probably am better of keeping it that way! :-)

In a sense, every photograph I make is “about” something, though often they are simply about the qualities of the subject or subjects themselves. You could certainly look at this image that way. I was certainly intrigued by the juxtaposition of the very colorful and closely packed shops and the very drab apartments above. The building itself, which may have seen better days, is interesting to me architecturally. What is with the little round windows, with their thick frames, between the conventional rectangular windows? And despite having some interesting San Francisco qualities, the building is terribly run down. A close look reveals peeling paint, wires running here and there, painted over spots of what might have been graffiti, and so forth.

Then there is that guy sitting on the step of “Goldfield’s Original Broadway Tattoo Studio.” There are no other people in the scene, and my recollection is that there really weren’t many people around. He sits, face downward and headphones on, apparently completely engrossed in whatever technology he holds in his hand, and apparently also completely disassociated from his environment. You can find a lot of people like this today.

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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.

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

Power Plant Wall, Night

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Power Plant Wall, Night
Power Plant Wall, Night

Power Plant Wall, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. April 16, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of the exterior wall of the power plant at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

I have wandered past this building on many previous night photography sessions at Mare Island and have photographed quite a bit nearby, but this is the first time I have photographed it, at least from this perspective. (The iconic power plant smokestack above this building has been a subject of mine in the past.) The first thing that caught my interest about this building is that wonderful bundle of pipes that emerges near the upper left area and then heads off to who-knows-where in both directions. As I looked at the side of the building and imagined what it would look like in a long exposure under this artificial light, the rectangular shapes of the painted sections of the concrete wall seemed like they might also be interesting. And only after I made the photograph and looked at it in post did I realize that there was enough light in the scene – and perhaps inside the building – to faintly light some parts of the interior seen through the windows. The many shadows coming from different directions are produced by multiple overlapping light sources nearby.

To give you an idea of how dark it was on the scene, there was not enough light to focus. Usually I can get just enough by using the live view feature on my camera and finding an edge or a reflection somewhere that provides a line that has enough light, but not here. I finally ended up using one of the standard night photography tricks: I took a very small pocket LED light, walked over and set it against the wall, walked back to my camera to focus on this point of light, returned to the wall to retrieve the light, walked back to the camera and made my exposure.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email
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.