Category Archives: Photographs: Structures and Objects

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

D4 Industrial Brownhoist

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D4 Industrial Brownhoist
“D4 Industrial Brownhoist” —A massive ship yard crane at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

Among the iconic structures at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, these huge, movable hoists are possibly the most visible and the best know. Seen from across the water in the town of Vallejo, they tower above the rest of the island, and they have strange forms that suggest something alive. There are a number of them surrounding the dry dock areas, where they were used in the manufacture of military ships. Today they are used to dismantle some of the same sorts of vessels.

During the dozen or so years that I’ve been photographing Mare Island at night, the hoists have always been behind security fences, and it wasn’t possible for me to get very close to them without hopping fences. (Most of us who photograph here eschew such illegal activities, and the result has been mostly very good relationship with the island and its residents.) So when I finally walked over towards the waterfront near the end of this evening’s shoot, I was very surprised to find that this hoist had been moved, rolled out on its tracks to a location where I could walk right up to it. After years of photographing them straight on from a distance, I was glad to have the opportunity to photograph this one from almost directly below, highlighting its immense height and bulk.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Steps and Concrete Walls, Night

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Steps and Concrete Walls, Night
“Steps and Concrete Walls, Night” — A stairway in the dark, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

I made this photograph recently, on a night photography visit to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with my friends from the Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. We assembled for an “alumni” event, so almost all of us were veterans of night photography at this location. Many of us have photographed here for a decade or more.

Instead of beginning with the usual subjects, I needed out into the night with the goal of avoiding them, at least at first, and instead looking in unlikely places that I had not previously photographed. I spent more time that I would have expected in the area of this staircase. I first happened on it almost by chance. I was photographing this building from some distance away, and as I worked on that photograph I began to notice the potentials of some of the concrete structures near the front of the building. I wandered over there, slowly considered the possibilities, and was first drawn to this stairway. It took be a bit of work to finally arrive at this composition — my first thought was to use a vertical composition.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Exit, Yellow Doors, Blue Windows

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Exit, Yellow Doors, Blue Windows
Exit sign above doors to outside area illuminated by dusk light

Exit, Yellow Doors, Blue Windows. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Exit sign above doors to outside area illuminated by dusk light

After meeting up with my fellow night photographers (associated with The Nocturnes, the long-standing San Francisco night photography community) to share photographs and pizza, we all got ready to head out into the night as darkness came on. After the social time I began to get myself into the rather different frame of mind necessary to photographing this subject. Before I even left the building I began to look around inside, and I decided to walk slowly into some corners of this facility that I had not looked at before. As I did I found myself in a bit of a dead-end spot where this door, lit by indoor artificial lighting, let to the developing twilight on the other side.

I associate a number of things with photographing at night. Of course, subjects often take on a very different appearance at night, and rather prosaic subjects can acquire a feeling of mystery. In practical terms, I’m absolutely fascinated by this world that is illuminated by lighting that is far more varied than what we typically see in daylight. Rather that more or less one kind of lighting, there could be many — the blues of twilight, the daylight-like color balance of moonlight, the wild colors of artificial light from tungsten, sodium vapor, fluorescent and other kinds of light. But beyond all of that, I associate the sense of profound stillness and quite with this kind of photography, where I frequently stand alone in dark and quiet places for many minutes as I wait for exposures to complete.

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

A Dark Corner

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A Dark Corner
A pathway ends at a dead end and cement walls, night photography at Mare Island

A Dark Corner. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7. 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pathway ends at a dead end and cement walls, night photography at Mare Island

Since I have photographed on this sprawling decommissioned ship yard for over a decade, I’m now more and more on the lookout for new subjects and locations there. Somehow I always seem to find them by poking around in (literally!) odd, dark corners. A first time visitor to the ship yard is most likely to be captivated by some of the larger and iconic subjects — the cranes, the old architecture, the tower at the old power plant, and more. But eventually one finds things missed on earlier visits.

I worked my way toward this odd little corner bit by bit. I first stopped to look at the front of a building that I not really spent much time with in the past. Near its front entrance I found a stairway leading up toward a dark terrace above. At first I spent some time making photograph of the stairs. Over the course of long exposures my eyes adapted to the darkness and I began to become aware of other shapes and textures and qualities of light nearby. The light in such places at night is often tremendously varied, coming from almost every kind of lightning imaginable. Sodium vapor lamps glow with an intense yellow color, led light can appear almost like daylight, fluorescent lamps can be greenish, and the glow of the city of Vallejo across the water has a reddish-brown quality. Here an overhead light sent beams of slightly blue-green light downwards, almost parallel to the surface of the concrete walls. That light from the town across the water found its way to these walls too, turning the close wall on the left an intense red-brown color and lending a faint glow to the back wall.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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