Tag Archives: couch

Free Couch

Free Couch
A free couch and colorful pillows on the sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood.

Free Couch. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A free couch and colorful pillows on the sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood.

While walking in the neighborhood (which means anything in a radius of about three miles around our home) I often come across things that are… interesting. At this point I can point to homes occupied by hoarders, the best places to look for free garden produce left out for passers-by (which is why we have two loaves of persimmon bread in our freezer), cool house paint, the folks who imagine that putting a fake green carpet when their lawn used to be makes it “beautiful,” the neighborhood full of expensive and gigantic and extremely banal homes, and more.

I also come across quite a bit of suburban detritus. The things that we don’t want any more probably reveal a lot about us — perhaps more than we realize. (It is amazing that someone actually wants some of these things. We’ve had people pick up things like broken rakes…) In a few cases, I suspect that the give-aways may reflect past decisions that the owners eventually realized were, well, not examples of their best aesthetic judgment. Notice those pillows?


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Santa Couch

Santa Couch
Santa Couch

Santa Couch. San Jose, California. December 27, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Santa Claus figure on a window behind a gaudily colorful couch on the front porch of an urban home, San Jose, California

Sometimes something catches my attention and I have to photograph it, even though I can’t quite put my finger on why. This might be one of those photographs. On this late afternoon of a late December day, I did something that I often seem to do about this time each year, namely take a camera and walk out my front door and wander around making photographs. I didn’t make too many on this day – perhaps fewer than two dozen.

When I carry the camera I see things that I would almost certainly miss completely if I were just out walking from point A to point B. With the camera in hand I tend to saunter along slowly, stopping to look at things or occasionally wander up a driveway. There is something just a bit strange about this giant, bright Alice-In-Wonderland couch with the face of Santa Clause peeking over the back.

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.