Tag Archives: grate

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light

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Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light
Autumn light shine through a fence to illuminate a sidewalk and fallen leaves.

Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn light shines through a fence to illuminate a sidewalk and fallen leaves.

Some years ago I went on a local walk that changed the way I think about these things. Like most of us, when I think of what I want to photography, my thoughts ofter turn to placed that are distant, exotic, and different from what I experience in my daily life. For me this means lots of fascinating landscapes — deserts, mountains, ocean, and more — or it may mean travel to distant urban areas. But on the day when I went on that walk, I carried my camera. When I walk for exercise I usually don’t pay close attention to my surroundings. Instead I tend to let my thoughts drift (a good thing sometimes!) and the focus is internal. But with camera in hand (and I mean literally in my hand, not just in the bag), I start to see things that I have overlooked. On that particular walk, on a winter day, I suddenly realized, for example, that there were shadows everywhere and that they were worth photographing.

Speaking of shadows, this is the season when they become more prevalent and more interesting. Because the Northern Hemisphere sun never gets very high in the sky, shadows are cast by almost everything and on almost everything. As I came around a corner on another walk-with-the-camera this week I was stopped in my tracks by the shape of the shadow from this metal fence, falling across a sidewalk and a few autumn leaves.

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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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Window, San Francisco

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Window, San Francisco
A window covered with security bars

Window, San Francisco. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A window covered with security bars.

If this were my window — on this particular street, in this particular position, in this particular city — I suppose that I would install a security system like this, too. (It isn’t exactly a “bad” area, but it is one where many thousands of people walk past daily, and the window is right along the sidewalk.)

But that’s not really why I made the photograph. I thought the gently suffused lighting was attractive, and I liked the combination of colors, shapes, and light and shadow. Aside from whatever intrinsic value or meaning this photograph may (or may not) have, it is another example of the fact that there are things to see everywhere, and that, in my view, photographing them is a useful way to “tune up” your ability to see things that not everyone might notice.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France

Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors

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Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors
Graffiti on a wall along a Paris sidewalk

Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Graffiti on a wall along a Paris sidewalk

When traveling it pretty quickly becomes apparent that graffiti is a pretty universal thing. The amount may vary, but is probably as much a function of how quickly it is cleaned up as it is of the amount of it that is produced. (In some cities, both in the US and Europe, it is pretty clear that no one has bothered to remove it for a long time.) Broadly speaking, it comes in several types. The personal scrawls, or “tags,” seem pretty similar just about everywhere, and I rarely share them. (They also seem like the lowest form of graffiti, basically just a “look at me” or “see what I can get away with” kind of thing.) A second sort is more art/icon oriented and not particularly about text. (My “Je suis bleu” photograph from Le Marias includes such material.) It may or may not be political. A third type includes text messages — though some of the “art” graffiti may fit here, too — seems more overtly political and delivers some message, though the meaning may not always be clear.

I saw these “Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors” scrawls in quite few places in Paris. This one is in Montmartre. I’m not certain what it means, and a quick search didn’t provide any clear answers: is it literally about actors from foreign countries, or is it about (e.g. political) “actors,” or something else? I photographed this example as much for the surroundings as for the text itself. The old wall, painted (and partially re-painted) pink, the barred square area (not actually a window), and the interruption of the power box all are visually interesting to me.

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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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

This Is Jess

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This Is Jess
Door with graffiti and stickers

This Is Jess. New York City. July 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Door with graffiti and stickers

I truly don’t remember this photograph at all! Sometimes when doing street photograph (in this case at the start of five weeks or what was largely street photography) I photograph quickly and then almost forget quite a few of the photographs as I move on to the next thing, trusting that my ideas about the subject will come back when I see the photograph again as I do my post processing. In this case, no such luck!

I don’t usually photograph graffiti — in fact I used to make it my policy to almost never post graffiti or to disfigure tags that the photographs might contain. But in this case there may be enough in the scene to convince me to let it go. The layers of time and culture in this photograph are easy to overlook, but when you stop to think about it they are quite amazing. I’m sure that this wall and old door have stood for a long time, likely created by and for people who would have little concept of how the surroundings have evolved. The “stuff” on the door includes its own kinds of diversity, ranging from informal scrawls to bits of paper that were created with the intention of affixing them to place like this. And on the left we have the bright colors of  the edge of a sign in (I presume) a Chinese language, itself visually contrasting with yet connecting to the newer writings on the green door.

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 | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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