G Dan Mitchell Photography

People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening

People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People along the sidewalk along 7th Avenue near Penn Station on a summer evening in New York City.

This is another night photograph made while walking along 7th Avenue around twilight, the time when there is a mixture of dim light still coming from the sky and the garish artificial lights of this urban area. The blue light in this image comes from a nearby blue “marquee” sign that runs along the side of a nearby building and right onto the sidewalk. I was attracted not only by the figures in the scene, but also by the combination of this intense blue light and the “pool” of warmer light that lit the two people.

This and the other photographs made this evening were shot “on the fly” as we walked. In some cases I took the time to raise the camera, compose and shoot – but in others I shot quickly without raising the camera to my eye. This photo is, I believe, in the latter category.

These photographs would have been more difficult to make in the era of film SLRs – not impossible, but certainly challenging. Here I was able to shoot at ISO values between 800 and as high as 3200 and still get decent image quality.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: new york, city, state, manhattan, island, urban, usa, north america, night photography, nocturne, evening, street, 7th, avenue, summer, evening, sidewalk, people, man, smoking, reading, newspaper, window, reflection, wall, pole, 7th, avenue, penn, station, fashion, blue, light, signs, cigarette, stock

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (at B&H)
ISO 800, f/2, 1/100 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.30.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street :: 2 Comments »

Sunset on Building With Columns, High Line Park

Sunset on Building With Columns, High Line Park. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light illuminates tall columns of the Standard Hotel along the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea, New York City.

This is another photograph from our Friday evening walk along the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea. We walked under the Standard Hotel, which straddles the park at this point, just as the warm and saturated pre-sunset light was peaking. Given the quality of the light and the beautiful evening, I was surprised that there were no people on the other side of the plexiglas wall – there were certainly plenty of us enjoying the evening along the walkway of the park.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: sunset, dusk, evening, light, reflection, columns, concrete, glass, wall, window, shadow, form, architecture, texture, wall, brick, sky, blue, clouds, lights, lamps, hanging, silhouette, chelsea, high line, elevated, park, walk, chelsea, new york, city, state, usa, north america, manhattan, island, travel, scenic, urban, street, stock, standard, hotel

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 75mm (at B&H)
ISO 100, f/8, 1/400 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.29.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue

Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of a person sitting behind a blue sign along 7th Avenue near Madison Square Garden on a summer evening in downtown New York.

On our last night in Manhattan we needed pizza – we bracketed our visit with New York pizza on the first and last night. (We had lots of great food in between, but that is perhaps a story for another post.) So we headed out of our hotel and up 7th Avenue near twilight. My son – who shoots old film cameras these days – and I grabbed our cameras to see what we could shoot. Keeping things simple, I just stuck a 50mm lens on my camera, cranked the ISO, and shot quickly as we moved through the crowds. Nearby there was a building with a “sign” that moved blue text up and down the front of a building and across part of the sidewalk. Sitting behind a section of the garish sign I saw this man sitting quietly.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: new york, city, state, manhattan, island, urban, usa, north america, night, nocturnal, dark, person, sitting, white shirt, miller, draft, beer, behind, blue, sign, light, letters, wall, building, madison, square, garden, 7th, avenue, fashion, downwown, street, stock, travel

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (at B&H)
ISO 800, f/2, 1/320 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.27.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

Maiden Lane, Lower Manhattan

Maiden Lane, Lower Manhattan. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light strikes buildings above the curving urban canyon of Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan.

We were in this area of lower Manhattan for several reasons on the morning of the last full day of our New York City visit. We made a stop at the nearby World Trade Center site – it is difficult to explain all of the reactions that I had to this. The last time I visited (close to New Years Day 2000) we stood on top of one of the buildings to see the nighttime view – and now there is a void in that place.

We were also there to visit our oldest son who was working that day in an office on Maiden Lane – and, later on, to join the throngs walking out onto the Brooklyn Bridge. (This was our first day of clear, blue sky weather.) I made this photograph as we approached that street a bit early, giving us some time to look around a bit. Oddly, when I visit the very narrow and twisty “canyons” of this part of Manhattan, with the very tall buildings towering immediately above and following the curves of the old streets, I always think of different sorts of canyons, for example the sort that I frequently visit in the Sierra. It occurred to me that the same light falls on both types of canyons. You can bet that I would have my camera out if light like that shining on the front of these curved buildings appeared in “my” Sierra!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: new york, city, state, usa, north america, lower, manhattan, island, financial, district, buildings, skyscraper, morning, light, canyon, maiden, lane, brick, stone, window, reflection, sky, haze, vertical, structure, architecture, curve, tall, street, stairs, fire, escape, ledge, column, travel, scenic, stock, downtown

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 105mm (at B&H)
ISO 200, f/8, 1/125 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.26.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: 4 Comments »

Parking Lot Near High Line Park

Parking Lot Near High Line Park. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening photograph of an urban parking lot near the High Line Elevated Park in the Chelsea area of New York City.

I photographed this parking facility from above as we started down the stairs at the north end of High Line Park. Since I was traveling light at this point I had no tripod – so I made this 1/8 second exposure hand-held. (Image stabilization can be your friend!) Lighting was, to say the least, tricky. Areas of the structure were in deep shadow, but there were also bright artificial light directly within the frame. By some miracle I managed to pretty much capture the full dynamic range in one shot.

These parking elevators are seen all over Manhattan, and they allow cars to be parked several deep on the vertical lift. This was the first time I had the opportunity to shoot one from a position that wasn’t on the ground, and the complicated mass of vertical beams filling the space and lit by artificial light sources seemed like an interesting subject. I haven’t seen the elevators in operation, so I still wonder how the lot operators manage to get the right cars at the top/bottom of each lift so that each person’s car will be at ground level at the right time.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: new york, nyc, city, state, usa, north america, parking, lot, facility, elevators, cars, autos, automobiles, lift, machine, industrial, structure, scaffold, evening, light, urban, street, downtown, chelsea, manhattan, island, high, line, elevated, park, east, side, lower, architecture, steel, brace, beam, stock

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 35mm (at B&H)
ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/8 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.25.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An airplane crosses a cloud-filled New York City sky above the Standard Hotel at the High Line Park in Chelsea.

This hotel straddling the High Line Elevated Park in New York City presents a striking appearance, especially when the right clouds are reflected in its glass-window surface. We were in the area on a summer evening when the sky was filled with interesting clouds, and by the time we finished walking to and then along the elevated path of the High Line park we had seen it from quite a few angles.

This was my first visit to New York City in a decade, and I have to say that coming to terms with it as a photographic subject is a tall task for someone trying to take in the whole thing for (not quite) the first time. I do a lot of street and urban photography, but usually in places with which I’m familiar – San Francisco is a short train ride from where I live, so I photograph there a lot. For me, it takes some time to get beyond the overwhelming first impressions and settle down and achieve a level of comfort with the place. There were days in New York when, despite being in the midst of tremendous numbers of photographic opportunities, I found it almost impossible to figure out what to shoot. And there were also certain times when “the light came on” and I made a lot of photographs, including this evening.

I need to go back…

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: new york, city, state, chelsea, manhattan, island, the, standard, hotel, windows, reflect, clouds, sky, architecture, building, geometry, pattern, perspective, blue, white, angle, high, line, elevated, park, usa, north america, urban, street, lower, west, side, stock, jet, airplane, airliner, plane, fly, flight

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 45mm (at B&H)
ISO 200, f/8, 1/320 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.24.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: 2 Comments »

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea

Wall With Face and Ivy, Chelsea. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a wall in Chelsea along 10th Avenue near High Line Park, New York featuring ivy, bricks, and a face.

I was on the move when I grabbed this shot, so I can’t say with precision where I made it. I think it was along 10th Avenue roughly in the same area as the Standard Hotel along the High Line Park – I sort of recall looking up to see some people coming out of the hotel at about the time I made this photograph.

The face first caught my attention. I think that it is a somewhat worn poster or similar attached to the surface of the wall near this junction between two buildings, hence the division between brick and not-brick. The rich textures of worn concrete with some graffiti painted on it, the two colors of brick wall, the staring face with the intense eyes, and the incongruous growth of lush green ivy were a surprise on this very urban bit of sidewalk.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: wall, brick, concrete, cement, crack, ivy, plant, vine, face, eye, poster, weathered, old, dilapidated, spray, paint, grafitti, leaves, sidewalk, street, urban, detail, chelsea, 10th, avenue, new york, city, state, usa, north america, manhattan, island, lower, west, building, texture, structure, architecture, stock

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 90mm (at B&H)
ISO 100, f/11, 1/50 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.23.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »