Photograph: Stairs, Person Walking

Stairs, Person Walking

Posted on 29 July 2011

Stairs, Person Walking

A person walks past the bottom of a stairway along Stockton Street, San Francisco.

When I posted a color version of this photograph a week or so ago I mentioned that there was also a black and white version – and that I was up in the air about which I prefer. I’m still not certain, though I’m leaning more towards this monochrome version. While there are some aspects of the subtle colorations in the other version that I am hesitant to give up, I think that the angles and forms and masses of dark and light may be more the focus in this version.

Since I told the story on the original post I’ll keep it short here. I was in the Stockton Street area of Chinatown in the morning and had crossed the “bridge” at the termination of a dead end alley that sits above Stockton. There were two stairways down to the street level where Stockton emerges from a short tunnel. As I went down the stairs I thought that the angles and the light in the stairwell looked interesting as forms and was working out a composition or two when the figure walked through the frame and I reacted quickly to make a photo that is quite a bit different from what I was thinking of when I started.

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Category: Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street
Tags: black and white, blur, california, cement, china, city, concrete, door, litter, monochrome, motion. walking, north america, person, photo, railing, san francisco, shadow, sidewalk, stair, stairway, steel, steps, stock, stockton, street, the, town, trash, urban, usa, walls

3 comments to Stairs, Person Walking

Joshua Sigar

says:

July 29, 2011 at 10:59 am

I like this one because the color photo has got no spectacular colors. The gold-colored handrail is a turn-off; I would prefer red, yellow, green, or some other interesting color. Or it could simply unpainted so the purple backpack will stand out.

Also, when you reference an old post, you should probably provide the link. I hated it when I had to dig thru the archive.

G Dan Mitchell

says:

July 29, 2011 at 9:38 pm

Joshua: I still like the color version, but I’m with you on liking this one better… I think. ;-)

Thanks for the reminder about a link to the earlier post. Will do that in the next couple of minutes!

Dan

Photograph: Stairs, Person Walking - San Francisco | G Dan Mitchell Photography says:

July 29, 2011 at 9:43 pm

[...] of channeling HCB, there is also a BW version of this image that probably has more of the classic “street” look. At the moment, thinking that [...]