Category Archives: Photographs: Architecture

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Launch For Hire Building

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Launch For Hire Building
Launch For Hire Building

Launch For Hire Building. Tomales Bay, California. February 9, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The “Launch For Hire” building, docks, and Tomales Bay as remnants of morning fog drift above the water

I was in this area back in early February, attempting to make it out to Point Reyes by dawn – but various things delayed me, including distractions along the way, and I ended up along the shoreline of Tomales Bay at sunrise. The bay is long and thin and seems quite peaceful, but Californians often remember that it is there because it is the junction between the continental plate and the Pacific plate, otherwise known as the San Andreas earthquake fault. The land I stood on to make this photograph is gradually heading northward and out to sea relative to the more distant land across the bay in the upper part of the frame. Periodically, this must briefly be a distinctly non-peaceful place when that fault lets go!

But on this morning it was quiet. The winter season and cold (literally freezing) temperatures ensured that few other people were there yet, though visitors to Point Reyes National Seashore come all year long and would begin to arrive a bit later in the morning. The light was a study in contrasts. To my right from the camera position was the morning sun, barely rising above the Marin hills and shining from behind some thin and clearing fog. I also made some photographs in that direction and you would hardly guess they were shot from the same place at the same time, since the backlit atmosphere was so bright and luminous than only silhouettes appear. But in this direction only a bit of that fog is seen, in a thin layer just above the water near the far hills, and the foreground is completely clear. There is a group of these piers here, and they extend a good distance into the shallow waters of the bay. I cannot tell what, if anything, the building whose full sign reads “Launch for Hire” is used for today, though its form and the reflections underneath seemed like a good subject for a photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Night Photography, Photographs: Architecture

Porch and Shadows

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Porch and Shadows
Porch and Shadows

Porch and Shadows. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. November 17, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ambient light, shadows, architecture and vegetation on a night photography shoot.

In November 2012 I joined my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group, for a get-together and shoot at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard. Since this was an “alumni night” event, there was a certain ritual to be followed. Folks who were new to Mare Island arrived early to tour the site – the first west coast naval ship yard, with history going back well over 150 years. A bit later, the “veterans” arrived to join everyone else for events that began with sharing of photographs, continued with pizza, and then led to a night of, well, night photography nearby.

The weather was not promising. We knew that a weather front was on its way, and we hoped – though we probably knew better – that it might hold off long enough to complete some photography. (Those of us with smartphones, checking the weather radar updates, knew better.) The tell-tale south wind was rising as we headed out, and within moments of starting to photograph an old wooden building the rain began. At first I continued to shoot under my umbrella, but soon it was just plain too wet to stay out. Fortunately, we had arranged for access to one of the historic officer’s quarters buildings and photographing inside and around this building quickly became the fall-back plan. I ended up on the front porch with Mark Citret and Tim Baskerville where we intermittently talked photography and made a few shots of things that didn’t require us to stand in the rain. At one point I parked myself near an end of the old porch and made this photograph of the shadow of my rig falling the wall of the building.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Turret Skylight, SFMOMA

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Turret Skylight, SFMOMA
Turret Skylight, SFMOMA

Turret Skylight, SFMOMA. San Francisco, California. May 31, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Vertical format black and white photograph of light streaming through the upper reaches of the turret skylight above the atrium at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

This is a second photograph made during a recent visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or SFMOMA, on the weekend before the place closed for two years of renovation and expansion work. Only days before did I realize that it was about to close and the extraordinary length of the closure, and I quickly adjusted my plans to get up there one more time. I wanted to wander the facility itself, but I especially wanted to see the excellent exhibit of the work of photographer Garry Winogrand.

This skylight is a dominant feature when the museum exterior is viewed from the west, where its tilted and round shape stands out from almost anything else nearby. Inside the building it creates a wonderful space full of light that somehow seems intimate, even though it is the highest point in a very large lobby atrium. The small diameter of the space and the walkway that splits it in two probably contribute to this effect. This photograph is a highly interpreted or stylized view of the subject, and is the result of a great deal of work in post-production – which almost seems somewhat ironic since the photograph was made handheld with a very small rangefinder style mirrorless digital camera.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Wall, Pearl District

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Brick Wall, Pearl District
Brick Wall, Pearl District

Brick Wall, Pearl District. Portland, Oregon. May 25, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A brick wall with green windows and a small garden in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon

This is another photograph from my recent trip to Portland, Oregon. As car-free (and almost carefree) visitors to the city, we did a lot of walking, wandering more than once a day up and down between portions of the Pearl District and the downtown area where we were staying. Since I was carrying a very small and light camera on this trip (my Fujifilm X-E1) I was able to do a lot of “casual” photography of various things we saw on these walks.

There is quite a variety of buildings in and around the Pearl District, including many brick buildings. (To this California near-native, that seems like a disaster waiting to happen, but I digress…) They range from rather old structures to newer architecture seemingly intended to capture that old Portland semi-industrial/working class look. The subject of this photograph is simply the back wall of a large apartment building that we walked past on a partly cloudy and intermittently showery afternoon.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.