Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Silicon Valley

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Silicon Valley
The words “Silicon Valley” on an industrial building in San Jose, California.

Silicon Valley. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The words “Silicon Valley” on an industrial building in San Jose, California.

This is probably not quite what comes to mind when you hear the words “Silicon Valley.” Although the photograph does indeed come from that place, the location is in a somewhat run-down area occupied by small light industrial tenants. This particular one has mystified me more than once — as far as I can tell the only signage is the two words painted on the wall, and I never seen anyone there. (I’m tempted here to make some pun about letting the chips fall where they may, but I won’t. Sort of.)

Aside from that mysterious sign, I like the simple geometry and the bright color of the building. (It has been sitting on my desktop for a while now, along with several other urban photographs that also feature a particular color.) In fact, I think it may be possible to view this simply as a sort of a color and form 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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Industrial Building Windows

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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.

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

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

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

Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer

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Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer
Fog at the historic Battery Spencer, Marin Headlands

Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fog at the historic Battery Spencer, Marin Headlands

There are old forts and batteries all over the West Coast and especially around the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of them have long histories, though we tend to associate them with World War II, the most recent time when the country through they might be put to use. I know of a number of these sites, but I’m most familiar with those in the Marin Headlands, across the Golden Gate to the north of San Francisco. If you have visited a particular and iconic overlook of the famous bridge you have likely been near to this place.

It is one thing to visit these spots on a sunny day when they are overrun with visitors. But if you go early on a cold and foggy morning you may bet a better sense of what it might have been like to be stationed at one of these sites. When I visited on this fogged-in morning, I was attracted by the relationships and angles of the railings.

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.

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

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

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

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze

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Bluffs, Surf, and Haze
Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

The scenes like this one that I photograph, visit and revisit… the more clear is the contrast between their timeless nature and the way we live our lives. This photograph comes from over almost a decade ago — which either feels like a very short time or a very long time right now — but it could have come from virtually any time in the past. There’s nothing obvious in it to link to any particular time.

The scene likely feels familiar to anyone who lives near or visits locations where coastal flatlands run up against the edge of the continent. The sea eventually wins the inevitable battle, and in the process produces a stark contrast between gentle, flat bluffs and the cliffs at their edges, which drop precipitously into the ocean and leave behind sea stacks and small islands. On this evening the sea was rather quiet and a thin fog was beginning to obscure distant views.

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.

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