Category Archives: Photographs: Architecture

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Abandoned, Rio Dell

Image Leave a comment
Abandoned, Rio Dell
An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

Abandoned, Rio Dell. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

On this last full day of our recent visit to the far Northern California coast we took a long drive through varied terrain out along a section of the so-called Lost Coast. While the mileage would have made for a one-hour urban drive on almost any California freeway (at least if it weren’t rush hour), the nature and condition of the roadway, along with the need to stop to look and make photographs, turned this into a full-day affair.

This is a very different California than what we see in the Bay Area, Southern California, or even the Central Valley for that matter. Most of the area is quite rural, and the effects of over a year of pandemic isolation are clear in small communities with many closed businesses. (Though a new business, one based on certain formerly-illegal agricultural products, seems to be thriving in some of the backwoods areas.) We came back to US 101, the main through-route, near here and decided to stop of coffee in the small town of Rio Dell. As we left town this building caught my eye. I’m guessing that it was originally a gas station before being turned into something else and then more or less abandoned. But what a paint job!

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky

Image Leave a comment
Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky
Utility poles in front of an abandoned brick building.

Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Utility poles in front of an abandoned brick building.

This is one of my occasional walking-around photographs. I like to walk, and I done this even more during the pandemic when local walks were much more possible than drives to more distant locations. I always carry a small camera that fits in the little bag I carry on these forays. (The camera is a small rangefinder-style camera fitted with a single very small prime lens.) On most walks the camera stays in the bag, but every so often I see something that catches my eye… and I’m happy that I brought it along.

I have traveled past this spot for decades. Long ago it was part of a busy cannery run by a major company. (We could spell the aroma of incipient tomato paste and sauce from this factory miles away.) Those days are gone, and the area now features a growing collection of high density urban housing, but some of the buildings still remain. I think of this photograph as an urban landscape, and the inclusion of that sky and those clouds perhaps makes the connection more obvious.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue and Billboard

Image Leave a comment
Blue and Billboard
A billboard portrait loomes over urban reisdences.

Blue and Billboard. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A billboard portrait loomes over urban reisdences.

Photographs like this one are sometimes a bit difficult to “sell” (in the sense of “persuasion”) to folks who mostly think of me as a “landscape photographer.” There’s a whole lot I could write about this, and I’ll share a little bit of that below, but one reason that I’ve photographed some subjects like this recently is that they are available to me! I carry a camera while out walking, and every so often something catches my eye and I pause to photograph.

In a sense you could think of these photographs as an extension of my landscape photography into the “urban landscape” that I live in. While the subjects seem completely different, there are connections that you might imagine if you think about it a bit. There is also a practical aspect to this kind of photography — it is available to me simply by walking out my front door, unlike the more familiar landscapes that require more travel and logistical preparation. In addition, there are benefits to keeping my seeing skills tuned up by trying to find things to photograph no matter where I am. Beyond that, there are a few things to ponder about regarding the juxtaposition of elements found here.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Industrial Building Windows

Image Leave a comment
Industrail Building Windows
Broken, graffiti-scarred windows and walls of an abandoned industrial building.

Industrial Building Windows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Broken, graffiti-scarred windows and walls of an abandoned industrial building.

All around the San Francisco Bay Area — and, actually, up and down the west coasts — there are sites full of institutional buildings like this one. Some are on military bases, some are old public buildings, and this one is part of a historic ship yard on San Francisco Bay. I think I was sort of peripherally aware of this sort of architecture for decades, but it wasn’t until I started a long project photographing the old Mare Island Naval Ship Yard at night that I really began to notice.

Among these kinds of buildings, this is a young one. I don’t know the actual age, but it seems like a mid-Twentieth-Century building, perhaps from the World War II or post-war period? Now it is abandoned, in a mostly forgotten corner of a much larger facility. I was there to do night photography some years back, arriving early enough to photograph it in the last light before darkness came on.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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