Category Archives: Photographs: Night

Cafe, Montmartre

Cafe, Montmartre
Evening scene at a cafe in Montmartre, Paris

Cafe, Montmartre. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening scene at a cafe in Montmartre, Paris

This photograph was made on a warm summer evening last summer in Paris, on the day that we arrived by train from London. I’m almost embarrassed to say that this was our first ever visit to Paris — it is a long story — but I’m also very happy that we did get there, spending a beautiful week in the city. As first-time Paris visitors, we had little idea what we were doing, an issue perhaps compounded by the fact that I generally don’t like to do too much research about a place before arriving. Oh, and we don’t speak French. All of that aside, we made it from the train station to our hotel, and set out on foot in the early evening to try to get our bearings.

We had virtually no idea where we were going. We understood that we were in Montmartre, which we had selected at least in part because our son and daughter-in-law had stayed in the area recently. I won’t recount the entire story of our random wanderings through areas that we began to understand a bit better by the end of our visit, though in another post I may share the tale of our “discovery” of a rather well-known place. In any case, we were hungry, and it didn’t take us too long — though longer that it took on the following evenings — to figure out that finding a place is not a problem in Paris. In fact, we ate at this place…


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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San Francisco Waterfront, Night

San Francisco Waterfront, Night
Downtown San Francisco waterfront at dusk.

San Francisco Waterfront, Night. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Downtown San Francisco waterfront at dusk.

I made this photograph on a lovely, slow, spring evening in San Francisco, where I had gone to meet up with a small group of street photographers. First I joined them for dinner in Chinatown, and then we all headed out to do some photography. While I usually do street photography completely on my own, relishing the ability to move fast from place to place or stay put for long periods of time, it is enjoyable to work with others at times, too. Several folks in the group were interested in the waterfront where downtown San Francisco meets the bay, so we headed that way first, and eventually everyone ended up on a popular pedestrian pier with good views back towards the City.

A few years ago I realized that the image quality and high ISO capabilities of very small digital cameras was making it entirely possible to go out into the street and do handheld photography after dark. Before that time my night photography was almost invariably the long-exposure type, with the camera on a tripod and exposure times measured in minutes rather than fractions of seconds. Then, during a weeklong visit to New York, it hit me that I could push things enough to shoot night, and I was immediately hooked. So when I found myself in front of this subject, one that would typically be a tripod-only subject, I thought I’d give it a try even though I was traveling very light — one small camera, one prime lens, no tripod. And even in this late dusk light it turned out to be quite possible.


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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight

Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight
Rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at Twilight, Montmartre

Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight. Paris, France. August 10, 2016. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at Twilight, Montmartre

This photograph is partly a hotel story. There are all sorts of such stories, but this one began poorly and ended well. We took a cab from the train station to our hotel when we arrived in Paris, hopped out, ran inside, went to the desk to check in… and they had no idea who we were. Uh, we were in the wrong hotel. Ours was next-door and, if I recall, had a similar name. We sorted this out, went to the right hotel, checked in, and went up to our room. We opened the door to find… someone else’s luggage spread out in the room. Uh, no…

Back downstairs at the desk they apologized profusely and asked if we should mind an upgrade to a better room with a better view on a higher floor. Sounded good to us, and we ended up high enough to have a decent overview of the surroundings. We didn’t initially think of this in a photographic context, at least not until we found ourselves in the room at twilight one evening as lights began to come on in the city and soon the Eiffel Tower was illuminated.


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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Restaurant, Spring Evening

Restaurant, Spring Evening
Restaurant with windows open on a spring evening, San Francisco

Restaurant, Spring Evening. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Restaurant with windows open on a spring evening, San Francisco

On foot in the twilight, I’m always intrigued by the worlds inside restaurants and bars, separated from the outside world on the street but visible through windows. I suppose there is a bit of a voyeuristic appeal in this, but I’m also fascinated by the light and by the little vignettes, sometimes almost like separate photographs, that are framed by the windows.

This time I was out with a small group of night and street photographers, and we had just wrapped up some photography of a somewhat iconic view of the San Francisco waterfront. I decided to wander back into areas more conducive to my kind of street photography, so I walked past and briefly photographed a number of places like this one, a small bar (I think) in an old (or at least old-looking) wooden structure attached to the side of a much larger building, and with its windows open to the pleasant air of a spring evening.


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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.