Category Archives: Photographs: Structures and Objects

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Yellow Wall, Warning Signs

November 16, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of yellow building wall, doorway, windows, and warning signs, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

This will be the first of a series of night photographs, made on a recent visit to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California. I have been photographing at night here for more than a decade now. As I return I continue to find new things to photograph as the lighting is always different and the buildings themselves change. For example, on this visit I found that a dry dock area that has recently been used to dismantle old ships is lit in such a way as to light familiar buildings in new ways, and that some ship yard equipment that used to be behind security fences was now more accessible.

The architecture of this old building is found all over Mare Island and in other military and similar locations all over the country. (At a recent exhibit in San Francisco many viewers of one of my Mare Island photographs were almost certain that the photograph was from Hunters Point — and I can see why, as the same sort of architecture is found there.) Many buildings near this one appear to have been damaged in a north bay earthquake that happened not too long ago — a chunk of the building’s roof is damaged, some of the hanging conduit may have come down in the quake, and a corner of the next door brick building is gone.

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

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

Reflections, Shadows, Bridge, and Sky

November 11, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Industrial buildings covered with shadows and reflections, clouds moving across the night sky.

On my recent nighttime visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, where I again made night photographs with a group of like-minded photographers, I decided to forego some of the more familiar subjects and instead poke around in some dark corners of the place. I began by spending nearly an hour photograph an odd little area of concrete structures at the base of a long stairway, and once I finished there it only seemed right to walk up those stairs and find out where they led. This took me to what seemed like an old parking area behind some abandoned buildings — though it is sometimes hard to tell in the inky darkness. I could tell that there was a lot of debris in this lot, so I stepped around it carefully as I explored this blocky building that was painted by light and shadow from its surroundings in interesting ways.

Much of this light was virtually invisible to me, but it is a combination of light from close and far artificial light sources, the shadows of trees and other structures, and the well-defined shapes of windows through which more distant light shines. Overhead there is a covered walkway between larger buildings, and the darker form of one of them is visible at the lower left. Clouds were moving across the sky, and their shapes blurred during the long exposure.

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

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

Shipyard Hoist

November 10, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of an industrial hoist at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Night photograph from the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard are something of a long-standing photographic theme for me. Over a decade ago I first went there to try out night photography at an event sponsored by The Nocturnes, and I was immediately hooked on the place and on night photography. Since that time I have returned to Mare Island several times every year, each time discovering something new to see and photograph.

This time I joined other photographers as part of a Nocturnes Alumni event that is part historical investigation, part social, and (a big) part night photography. On this evening I began by searching out some non-iconic subjects (some of which I’ll share later) in odd, out-of-the-way corners of the place. Eventually, though, I walked back toward the familiar central area near the huge dry docks, where I found that one of these huge ship yard hoists had been moved out of its typical position at the water’s edge behind security fences. This meant that I could photograph from right underneath it, shooting almost straight up, and positioning myself so that it would be illuminated by ship yard lighting.

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Green Door, Brick Wall

August 22, 2015 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Repainted and patched green door in the brick wall of an old San Francisco building

On this mid-August morning I got up early, took the bus to the train and the train to San Francisco, then walked right up into the downtown core of the City. The walk began with among train commuters heading up toward Market Street, past construction zones, freeway interchanges, and lots of traffic. Once at Market Street I turned toward the Bay and walked slowly, stopping frequently to watch and photograph. At the end of Market I turned south and began my walk back to the train station along the Embarcadero.

Eventually I decided to leave the Embarcadero and follow smaller streets to cross back to the Caltrain station. Like so many parts of San Francisco today, this is an area in transition. There are still some gritty old buildings, but things are rapidly evolving in a much more upscale and expensive direction — and for now the gritty and the modern live side by side. But not for long. Given the price of real estate in this area, funky old buildings like the one with this doorway do not have much of a future. I imagine that almost all of them will be knocked down for more condos and townhouses, and those that remain will be cleaned up and gentrified in ways that retain only the stylish chic quality. Two things (at least) caught my attention about this doorway, at least sufficiently to make me stop for a minute and make a few exposures. First is the stark contrast between the pinkish color of the painted bricks and greens of the doorway. Second is the sum effect of paint over graffiti and then painting it over again, which often produces interesting cubist patterns on San Francisco architecture in places like this.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Structures and Objects

Yellow Wall, Warning Signs

Reflections, Shadows, Bridge, and Sky

Shipyard Hoist

Green Door, Brick Wall

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