The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, on an island across the narrow bay from Vallejo, California, is a remarkable place. It has a long history, going back to the first half of the 1800s, when it was the first such ship yard on the west coast of the United States. It continued to serve in that capacity until the 1990s, when it was finally decommissioned. At first, much of the facility languished, gradually falling into disrepair. More recently, it has become the site of redevelopment, new construction… and efforts to arrest the decay and preserve some of the historic area.
Mare Island has also been a Mecca for Bay Area night photographers for a couple of decades. Ask almost any area night photographer if they’ve been there, and the answer will be “yes.” I got my start doing night photography at Mare Island about fifteen years ago, when I happened to end up at an introductory session run by the original “The Nocturnes” group, put on as part of the Pacific Flyway Festival. The subject of this photograph is one of the gigantic shipyard crane structures found along the waterfront, designed to facilitate moving huge ship components at the dry-docks. This crane sits on carriages that run on a short section of curving track, allowing it to move over a short distance.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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