Category Archives: Photographs: Night

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue

August 27, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of a person sitting behind a blue sign along 7th Avenue near Madison Square Garden on a summer evening in downtown New York.

On our last night in Manhattan we needed pizza – we bracketed our visit with New York pizza on the first and last night. (We had lots of great food in between, but that is perhaps a story for another post.) So we headed out of our hotel and up 7th Avenue near twilight. My son – who shoots old film cameras these days – and I grabbed our cameras to see what we could shoot. Keeping things simple, I just stuck a 50mm lens on my camera, cranked the ISO, and shot quickly as we moved through the crowds. Nearby there was a building with a “sign” that moved blue text up and down the front of a building and across part of the sidewalk. Sitting behind a section of the garish sign I saw this man sitting quietly.

This photograph is 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: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pipes, Shadow, and Brick Wall

June 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white night photograph of pipes, shadow, and a brick wall at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California.

This is an example of the sort of thing I was looking for during my night photography shoot near the end of May at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. The place is well-known among night photographers for its interesting and impressive abandoned (mostly) structures, some of which are very old. The most striking subjects for most shooters involve the massive ship yard equipment that towers above old brick factory buildings. I’ve made my share of photographs of those wonderful subjects!

But on this visit I resolved to not shoot the familiar large buildings and structures, and to instead look for odd little vignettes of the place that I had overlooked in the past. This pipe standing against a brick was was actually hard to really see in the very dim artificial light in the alley where it is located, but I thought that the pipe and its shadow on the brick wall might be interesting. At the time I made the exposure I wasn’t certain if it would end up being black and white or color, but after working with it in post I’m happier with this monochrome version.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 96mm
ISO 200, f/8, 96 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, nocturnes, brick, wall, weathered, worn, pipe, joint, shadow, old, black and white, monochrome, urban, street, landscape, detail, curb, stock

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bunker Entry Door, Mare Island

June 4, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Entry door to old bunkers at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

I was surprised to find this bunker door open. Typically this area of old cement bunkers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard seems to be sealed up tightly – in fact, most of the doors (or what I presume to be doors) have been covered with metal plates. Although this images has the look of soft daylight, perhaps that of an overcast day, the effect is the result of shooting during very late twilight when there was a combination of diffused light from the sky and some artificial light spilling into the scene from nearby.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 73mm
ISO 200, f/16, 30 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, bunker, door, concrete, cement, entrance, sign, main, entry, point, authorized, personnel, only, frame, paint, worn, weathered, dilapidated, historic, structure, military, urban, industrial, stock, black and white, monochrome

Commentary, Photographs: Night

Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

June 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The wall of an abandoned building with a metal door and painted numbers and text at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Illuminated by gaudy yellow sodium vapor lamps.

It may be difficult (if not impossible) to make sense out of this image without some explanation. In a side alley off of Nimitz Street at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard I previously found a large abandoned building that is lit at night by bright and garish sodium vapor lamps. When I photographed the building the first time I shot at the end nearest to the main street, and I ended up toning down the intense yellow tones that this type of artificial lighting produces when it shines on a subject like this building. This time I went further back into the alley and near the back of the building found a strange area around an old metal door where the weathered wall and window had been covered by strange marking apparently made with spray paint – numbered squares along the lower part of the wall and, above and out of this frame, seemingly random bits of numbers and text – with all of this interrupted by crossing pipes, conduit, boards, and general decay. With nothing in the frame but the wall, here shot straight on, the bizarrely lit surface seems to me like an almost complete abstraction.

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.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.