The Street Lives

5 min readMay 19, 2019

This time we see glimpses of the street, along with Mitch’s continued exploration of the Fort Lauderdale sky and beach. And oh what a sky.

When God wants there to be light he can tear the night in two. Meanwhile, I do not remember lights on these courts.

Ah, but I remember parking my backpack against that pole while I did some skating, so yeah. And now some drama I am missing. A thief in a dress.

“Dressed like that no wonder he got caught” — Mitch

I need to know more about the rose in the beer bottle in this next shot.

“A man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” — Mitch

Next up is Jimmy, who rules the day in December with his beard and Santa hat. Now Spring Break is over and a long summer approaches. He has time to reflect.

That shot above reminds me of the other times Mitch’s Eyes turned from the sea and sky to capture folks being folks, like the gentleman pushing a bicycle across the beach. Ah, here it is.

That shot originally appeared in this post. I just went and found that and am stunned that the theme is all about Mitch photographing people on the street. Talk about full circle.

This next shot brings refreshing ocean sun, but most of all…The Wall!

I slept off many a brunch buzz under Mitch’s watchful protection propped against the slope of that wall. I would wake and find him just straddling his bike, which was puzzling because Mitch normally sat propped against his backpack when hanging out. Then he would pedal off and after a couple of times of this I realized he was just standing watch over a friend, waiting for me to waken before getting on with his day.

The next shot came when Mitch spotted a group taking selfies and they welcomed his attention. Strike a pose!

“Tell the world that you are loved.” — Mitch

And now an emerging new theme. The night shot. Mitch’s cell phone camera has him working hard to catch a good shot. Too soon to tell if it will work out.

“Life gives us days like this to make us dig deep.” — Mitch

I was not going to include the one above but I kept wondering about the shirt on the cross, so in it went. Another brave effort at a night shot:

And now quick visits to many of Mitch’s older themes, starting with The Bicycle:

The Wildlife.

The Street Corner Light.

The Street Corner Light and God’s Tear in the Sky.

South Florida does weather like nobody. I keep thinking those are the Swiss Alps glimpsed through a break in the weather.

Next theme. The Macro.

I tell Mitch he works his themes like Georgia O’Keefe. This shot is one of O’Keefe’s themes.

And two for The Bird in Flight.

Below, an impressionistic charcoal or watercolor treatment of The Playground. Sometimes Mitch is more Manet than Avedon.

The Playground again, also embracing The Bichromal theme.

Another Bichromal, and that Magnificent Tree.

Here we have a terrific new angle on The Lifeguard Station, with the sky in three dimensions.

“Share the world you see with someone who cannot.” — Mithc

Before leaving The Playground, this bright orange stripe pierces like the oboe in a Mozart sonata.

And perhaps later that night, a ship gained the harbor.

“I had to wait ten minutes to get that.” — Mitch

I just realized that I have never picked on The Moon as one of Mitch’s favorite subjects, probably because it is such a tough shot. But Mitch always tries to give a full moon its due. Here it gets some helpful context from the playground.

Now two more wonderful looks at God Tearing the Sky to let there be light.

A cloud casts a shadow on a cloud. Nice catch, Mitch.

Next, an impressive reminder of the scale of things.

Next theme. The Pastels.

And while black and white is not so much a theme as one way Mitch offers shots, if we wanted to call it out as a theme this next shot would have to be the exemplar for this post.