Tag Archives: windows

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fond Antico

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Fond Antico
“Fond Antico” — Diffused light on the shaded facades of buildings along a narrow Bologna street.

I photographed this bit of Bologna architecture on a “random walk” during our 2023 summer visit. In the morning we headed out with no particular destination in mind, just expecting to wander and see what we might discover. We had a vague plan to start near the two famous towers not far from the central piazza, and then we just kept going until we came to the edge of the old part of the town. We turned around and began to improvise a different route back.

I can’t tell you exactly where I made this photograph, since by this time we were following our instincts rather than a map. We changed directions as we saw interesting things, and our route was anything but direct. I was first intrigued by the arched doorways on this building, but the light also fascinated me. The combination of reddish earth tones and light reflected from other buildings on the narrow street reminds me of walking the narrow canyons of the American Southwest.

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: Europe, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Apartment Facade, Porto

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Apartment Facade, Porto
“Apartment Facade, Porto” — A building full of tightly packed apartments, Porto.

We visited Porto, Portugal last summer during our travels though (mostly) Southern Europe. We spent a week in Portugal, split between Porto and Lisbon. We had heard good things about Porto, and it is clearly a city that combines history with modernity. That, in fact, seems to sometimes lead to some (typical urban) conflicts as older areas transition to incorporate expensive real estate, and you’ll sometimes see juxtapositions of wealth and poverty.

I saw this building on our very first walk in Porto. We headed toward the historic Ribiera district, which features densely packed buildings on a steep, hillside landscape alongside the Duoro River. The building in the photograph is not, as far as I know, any sort of historic treasure, but it is a visually remarkable structure. . It appears to be very dense apartments of some sort, and I can only imagine wh=at it must are like inside.

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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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Three Windows, Florence

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Three Windows, Florence
Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

Three Windows, Florence. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

This is one of the most prevalent color combinations we saw in Italian towns this past summer — the variations on golden-brown (which can range from essentially tan to dark brown) and the green shutters. I’m sure that not all of the shutters are actually green, but on some days it seemed so. And while I’m listing the typical things, the distressed wall surface needs to be included, as that is very common, too.

The three windows were on a nondescript building in Florence, on a side street a ways away from the bustling center of the touristy historic district. Here the streets were almost empty, and we wandered slowly among buildings, a small park, and portions of a university campus. I like the combination of the symmetry of the three windows with the distances of the open window at the left.

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

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Photographs: Croatia, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Perpendicular

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Perpendicular
Blue wooden doors with former windows filled by painted wood panels.

Perpendicular. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Blue wooden doors with former windows filled by painted wood panels.

Many photographers are intrigued — obsessed, even — with the abstract qualities of shapes, form, color, and texture. Many of you already understand that these things are often as important as, if not more so, than the objective content of photographs. A photograph does record things, but it isn’t just recording “what we see” — it is also about recording, arranging, and presenting “how we see.” And many of use — almost all, really — see this other things when we use our cameras.

I made this photograph while walking through Trogir, Croatia one morning — I am pretty sure this was the morning when Franka Mlikota Gabler and I met there to photograph. This town can be very crowded later in the day, but in the early morning hours we had it almost to ourselves, and there was plenty of time to photograph things like this without distractions. What is the photograph “about?” Hard to say precisely, and you have a voice in this, too. But I was obviously fascinated by the perpendicular arrangement of lines and rectangles, the subtle difference in the blue tones, and the weathering and other imperfections in the surfaces.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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