Photograph: Il Trovatore - San Francisco, California

Il Trovatore

Posted on 03 May 2011

Il Trovatore

Two women near Il Trovatore, corner of Kearny and Broadway, San Francisco.

This is a simple (or maybe not so simple) street scene at the corner of Kearny and Broadway in San Francisco. I had wandered into this area on one of my street photography shoots in The City, on which I generally walk somewhat randomly through various parts of the town and shoot whatever catches my fancy.

I had just finished shooting the “Macchiarini Steps,” which are visible at the lower right. These very steep steps constitute the “sidewalk” on this short street, which is too steep for a normal sidewalk. I had first shot from Broadway, aiming up this hill, then decided to walk up the hill itself and shoot the steeps against the background of some rather dilapidated buildings. I managed to incorporate people into some of those shots using a technique that I often employ when shooting in the city: I treat the scene like a landscape and find a composition that seems to work, and then I wait for the right people to wander into the scene.

Eventually I walked back down this street and saw this juxtaposition of brick walls, red and green poles, the green and white colors of the upper-story “Il Trovatore” (which I assume is an Italian restaurant) and the more distant buildings with their faded colors against an overcast sky. I also liked the fact the very steep stairs ended up being parallel to the bottom of the frame. In addition to all that, this is also about colors: the red jacket on the woman crossing the street, the very red lamp post on the sidewalk, the red of the brick buildings; green colors of the chalk board, the restaurant, and the street sign; and then the odd bits of yellow on the sidewalk and the street.

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.

Category: Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street
Tags: any, architecture, brick, broadway, building, california, city, cross, escape, fire, green, hill woman, home, il trovatore, kearny, left, light, no, north america, parking, photo, photography, pole, restaurant, san francisco, scenic, siganal, sky, steep, stock, street, time, traffic, travel, tree, turn sign, urban, usa, walk, walking, window

2 comments to Il Trovatore

Joshua Sigar

says:

May 3, 2011 at 9:21 am

Not sure why I like this photo. It’s probably the architecture, streets with no cars, and the walkers that add life.

G Dan Mitchell

says:

May 4, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Joshua, thanks for your “not sure” comment. It actually makes a lot of sense, especially given that I originally overlooked this photograph last summer when I made it. I don’t think I quite got it yet at that time either, but I think I do now.

I wrote a bit about what I see in it in the original post. There are some things relating to angles and juxtapositions that I think can make it interesting. A few that I observe include:

- the diagonally opposed brick surfaces, one closer and the other farther away.

- the connection between the woman’s red jacket and the colors of the bricks and the odd red light pole.

- the dissonance between looking “straight into the photo” toward the distant building and following the faces of the closer buildings from right toward the left.

- the cement stairway is also an interesting element to think about. Although it climbs steeply to the right, it is actually parallel to the bottom of the frame – and I think that skews things in some interesting ways. (Imagine if instead of that hill, the area to the right was flat at the same level as the roadway.)

- the predominance of the complementary red and green tones.

All of that analysis aside – and it isn’t easy for me to analyze my own photographs that way – I also just sort of like it! :-)

Dan