Tag Archives: woman

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Flower Hunter

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Urban Flower Hunter
Urban Flower Hunter

Urban Flower Hunter. Chicago, Illinois. August 2, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographing flowers in a Chicago urban garden

In this photograph a woman kneels to make close-up photographs of flowers in an urban garden at Chicago’s Millennium Park. Not just any woman, by the way, but my wife! Aside from that obvious factor, there are several other things that I like about this scene and this photograph, some of them photographic and others more about the facts of the image.

Most people would pass right by such an urban garden. Some will notice it and perhaps look a bit. But a person who stops and looks close, as Patty does, can find a whole world to see in such a small place. In this photograph I also like the juxtaposition of the sharp angles and structures of the downtown Chicago skyline, with colors muted by hazy afternoon, and the wild and unpredictable organic forms and colors of the bit of garden. It doesn’t hurt that her red top complements the greens, either!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Life, Manhattan

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Urban Life, Manhattan
Urban Life, Manhattan

Urban Life, Manhattan. New York City. August 7, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman sits in the sun on a stone bench against the wall of an urban building and beneath the shadows of lights and a security camera

I often wonder at the urban environment and how some places seem completely disconnected from the natural world that is how home. (No, I’m not an anti-urban or anti-city person, and I really love visiting New York. But still…) The almost entirely constructed environment is, in many ways, a marvel. The noise, the people, the constant motion can all be energizing. But eventually, at least for me, I reach my limit and I need a quiet time out to recover. And from time to time I need to completely escape from places like this.

I was just below Central Park one morning, where I had gone with a plan in mind of walking the perimeter of the park and photographing. (I almost completed this goal before the day ended, but ran out of time just a bit short of where I had started, when I realized that I was to meet up with some other people.) Before starting up the east side of the park I first went south a bit looking for breakfast and coffee, and I found this small courtyard near when I ate. I saw several things here that drew me to make a photograph — the solitary figure on the bench looking out of the frame, how small the position of her body and her position within the frame makes here appear, the cold and lifeless nature of the space in which she sits, the slightly ominous lights and their shadows above, and the even more ominous small security camera at upper right, probably watching and recording everything… including me as I made my photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Escalator and Stairs

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Escalator and Stairs
Escalator and Stairs

Escalator and Stairs. San Francisco, California. June 13, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Escalator and stairs at a San Francisco BART station

These BART entrance stations are well-known to San Francisco Bay Area residents. (As are the many stories about them: the wisdom—or not—of outdoor escalators, the necessity of, uh, cleaning them frequently, and more.) They tend to feature a combination of escalators for those going up and stairs for those descending.

I think that they sometimes create a visual center of interest in the cluttered environment of the downtown city. They are ringed by a low metal fence, and this one at least is designed in an attractive curve. (Some other photographs of mine work with that subject.) Looking down from the railings of this fence and tightening the crop enough, I could create a composition of shapes and colors that excluded just about everything but the large vertical shapes broken up by the smaller horizontal shapes, and the contrasting blue and yellow tones. A person begins to enter the frame at the lower right.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | 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.

Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Urban/Street

Salzburg Cafe

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Salzburg Cafe
Salzburg Cafe

Salzburg Cafe. Salzburg Austria. July 17, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People sit at an outdoor cafe on a sidewalk along a narrow street in Salzburg, Austria

This is sort of a photograph of nowhere in particular in Salzburg, Austria. A ways off from the busy downtown area around the touristy shops and other old buildings, things seem to quiet down a lot. There are few or no cars on many of this very narrow streets – barely wide enough for a single car anyway, and the tightly packed multistory buildings create a sort of canyon effect. There do not appear to be any gardens here, and every plant I recall seeing on most of these streets was growing in a pot. The buildings are not all the same color, but they do all seem to be pastel shades.

As we walked in this area we came to a t-intersection, with this little cafe occupying the middle of the upper bar of the “t.” I photographed it straight on from the other street on the intersection. I was fascinated by the almost complete lack of “branding” on this business – it was only by looking very closely at the photograph that I could make out a name for the place. The most obvious sign simply says “cafe & restaurant.” I was also interested to see that the seating, of which there must not be enough inside the building, not only spilled onto and across the narrow sidewalk, but extended right into the street, where its boundaries were defined by the large potted plants! A couple sits in the green chairs on the right with a very young child. They seem to perhaps be the grandparents – and grandpa is catching a smoke while grandma tends to the child. The colors in the seating area contrast with the pale, pastel colors of the buildings (and the matching umbrellas), and include a green that is brighter than that of the plants and lemon yellow back near where two men talk on the right.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | 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.