Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco

Bay Reflections, Morning

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Bay Reflections, Morning
Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Bay Reflections, Morning. © Copyright 2013 Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Happy New Year! Let’s start 2021 with a sunrise. 2020 was a year we all want to put behind us as soon as possible — to move on as a country, to get through the worst of this pandemic and see vaccines take effect, to travel again, to see friends and relatives in person, to eat out and go to concerts and, all in all, perhaps find a bit of normalcy once again. So, perhaps the best wish is: Happier New Year!

The photograph is of San Francisco Bay, photographed not long after sunrise on a very early spring morning a few years ago. The conditions were a bit unusual — prevalent thin fog rather than the more typical strands of the stuff. I photographed directly toward the rising sun, capturing the metallic colors and textures of the Bay waters along with Alcatraz Island, Treasure Island, and the far shores of the East Bay.

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

Tower, Night Sky

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Tower, Night Sky
A tower against night sky at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Tower, Night Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tower against night sky at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This is not the first nor the only photograph I’ve made of this structure. It comes from the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in the San Francisco Bay Area, the place where I did my first serious night photography almost two decades ago. (It happened on more or less a lark when I saw an announcement of a free event, showed up, and became hooked.) This structure is one half of a pair of gigantic overhead tracks that I believe originally supported some sort of lift mechanism that moved heavy mechanical systems (probably engines) to ships that were under construction. The buildings were originally various shops connected to the shipbuilding work, though today, years after the facility was decommissioned, many of them have been taken over for other purposes.

The relationship between night photographs and objective reality is a complex thing. I think of it as revealing “what the camera sees” more than as capturing what we see at night. In truth, in places like this and in lightning like this… we can’t really see much at all. But by extending the exposure times we can make images out of what is largely unseen. (A close examination of this photograph will reveal star trails made as the earth rotated beneath the night sky over the course of a several minute exposure.) In the end, many decisions about such images — luminosity, color, and more — must be subjective, since there really is no objective reality that corresponds to what the camera sees.

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

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay

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Winter Mist, Tomales Bay
Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

One advantage of living near iconic locations (in this case, the Point Reyes National Seashore) is that I can go there on short notice at times when few other visitors are around. Being only a short distance north of San Francisco and less than an hour’s drive from some populated areas of the greater Bay Area, a visit here on a summer weekend can be considerably less than a solitary experience. But on a freezing cold (literally!) late-winter weekday morning you might find yourself all alone in such a place.

I have passed by this spot many times, and this was not the first time I stopped to make photographs here. (Nearby and just out of sight are a couple of iconic regional photographic subjects.) On this morning it was the light that stopped me, along with the new grass on the coastal hills along the far shore. (Winter is our green season in much of California.) As I worked, the thin morning fog above the waters of Tomales Bay drifted slowly, backlit by the low-angle morning light.

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Two Shores, Autumn Light

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Two Shores, Autumn Light
Autumn light and atmosphere above water and California mountains.

Two Shores, Autumn Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn light and atmosphere above water and California mountains.

Have I mentioned that I like atmospheric haze? Light coming from straight in front of the camera position? Reflections? The large landscape? Strong contrasts between light and dark? Well, I do.

I made this photograph while driving back from an early morning visit to California’s Central Valley. I’ve probably passed this location hundreds of times, and while I always look I rarely stop. I have mixed feelings about the place. On one hand it provides some monumental vistas and at times — such as spring, when the hills are emerald green — the scene is beautiful. On the other hand, it is a reservoir, formed by damming a lovely and, some would have argued, historic valley. (I have a long history with this place. I recall traveling across the now-submerged valley with my father in the pre-reservoir days when we took trips to Yosemite.) This time the light and atmosphere caught my attention, and I had to find a way to reverse course and get back to this overlook to make a few exposures.

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.