Ship Yard Structures, Artificial Light and Moonlit Fog. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. April 16, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The light of the full moon illuminates fast-moving fog clouds above Mare Island Naval Ship Yard structures lit by artificial lighting.

Since I haven’t posted photographs of these structures for a while, I’ll share a bit of explanation. The location is the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, across the water from Vallejo, California. Mare Island is a decommissioned ship yard whose history goes way back into the 1800s, when it was the largest naval ship yard on the west coast. There is a ton of history to the place that I only know vaguely, but it was, among other place, the ship yard where a number of nuclear submarines were produced. (That and certain other dangerous residues are also part of the legacy of the place, unfortunately.) The ship yard has not been active since the 1990s, with the exception of some current work to dismantle a ship from the “ghost fleet” parked near the Carquinez Bridge.

The very old buildings and the remnants of some quite large industrial facilities draw night photographers from around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. (On my recent visit there were three groups photographing the place, including one from Sacramento.) There are almost endless subjects for night photography, ranging from very old to very new buildings, interesting structures like those in this photograph, old residences, and the general clutter found in any industrial area. All of it is lit by a varied array of lights including just about anything you can imagine: the full moon, light from nearby Vallejo, neon, fluorescent, tungsten, sodium vapor and probably other types of light.

In this photograph, huge overhead structures are lit by garish artificial light, while the overhead clouds are lit by the full moon. If I understand correctly, the structures supported huge cranes on tracks, and were used to move very heavy materials to the waterfront for installation in ships. They haven’t been used in a long time, and they are deteriorating in a way that is fascinating to photographers!

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