Two Buildings, Night. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
One of the attractions of photographing at night is the way that everything changes and familiar and even mundane subjects can be transformed. Night almost automatically adds an element of mystery to subjects, even when the literal subjects might arguably be mundane. This is partly the natural associations we make with the night, but it is also the objective nature of the light — rather than working under the sun or other forms of light from the sky, we rely almost always on multiple point sources of artificial illuminations. (And exception would be working under full moon light, but that has its own implications.)
I made this photograph in the “historic core” area of the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California. For the most part many of the original structures still stand in this area. (Much more extensive redevelopment has occurred elsewhere on the island, some of which has removed the old facilities.) Here some of the buildings have been updated and put to use for more modern purposes, but the general feeling of the place remains. I have photographed in this little alley-way for about fifteen years now. Somethings stay the same and other change, and on this visit I found that I was able to use the new corner windows on the foreground building as a point of focus.
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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Stunning! Just love this image. I am sure you would not put yourself in danger, so wondering your thoughts on doing this photography at night. Do you do it with others with you?
On this occasion I was there with a group of other night photographers who have been “working” this location for years.
I rarely feel threatened doing my night photography, especially my night street photography with handheld cameras, since most people probably don’t really notice me. The photography at this location was long-exposure, tripod-based work which, I suppose, might make me more obvious… except that this place is largely deserted.
Dan