Tag Archives: abandoned

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

World Headquarters

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World Headquarters
An abandoned building at the location of a future high tech center, San Jose, California.

World Headquarters. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building at the location of a future high tech center, San Jose, California.

You might have to look a bit past the superficial visual constituents of this image to see the world headquarters, but something close to that is coming to this location. Far enough from where I live that it is a very long walk, a major “tech giant” is beginning a long-term project to create a major urban campus. At this point about all one sees is a whole lot of empty lots and abandoned buildings, structures from a much earlier period in the history of this city — homes, small businesses, warehouses, and more. The plan is that a decade from now this will be some sort of ultra-modern, thriving technology center with access to transit and more. We’ll see.

For now though it can be a bit of a photographic playground if your interest includes old, abandoned places and things. I did not investigate closely enough to know what actually went on in this building, but it has the appearance of a small shop or light industrial facility — perhaps automobile repair, some kind of fabrication, or similar. Beyond these associations with an earlier time in this region, it also has the appeal of a nicely weathered look, and some interesting paint colors. On this day the light also proved interesting. In fact, if you look at this the right way, there are — or at least it seems to me — two structures on the scene. One comes from the square angles of the building itself and the other comes from the oblique and curving lines of light and shadow.

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

Abandoned, Rio Dell

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Abandoned, Rio Dell
An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

Abandoned, Rio Dell. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

On this last full day of our recent visit to the far Northern California coast we took a long drive through varied terrain out along a section of the so-called Lost Coast. While the mileage would have made for a one-hour urban drive on almost any California freeway (at least if it weren’t rush hour), the nature and condition of the roadway, along with the need to stop to look and make photographs, turned this into a full-day affair.

This is a very different California than what we see in the Bay Area, Southern California, or even the Central Valley for that matter. Most of the area is quite rural, and the effects of over a year of pandemic isolation are clear in small communities with many closed businesses. (Though a new business, one based on certain formerly-illegal agricultural products, seems to be thriving in some of the backwoods areas.) We came back to US 101, the main through-route, near here and decided to stop of coffee in the small town of Rio Dell. As we left town this building caught my eye. I’m guessing that it was originally a gas station before being turned into something else and then more or less abandoned. But what a paint job!

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: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky

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Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky
Utility poles in front of an abandoned brick building.

Abandoned Building, Poles, Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Utility poles in front of an abandoned brick building.

This is one of my occasional walking-around photographs. I like to walk, and I done this even more during the pandemic when local walks were much more possible than drives to more distant locations. I always carry a small camera that fits in the little bag I carry on these forays. (The camera is a small rangefinder-style camera fitted with a single very small prime lens.) On most walks the camera stays in the bag, but every so often I see something that catches my eye… and I’m happy that I brought it along.

I have traveled past this spot for decades. Long ago it was part of a busy cannery run by a major company. (We could spell the aroma of incipient tomato paste and sauce from this factory miles away.) Those days are gone, and the area now features a growing collection of high density urban housing, but some of the buildings still remain. I think of this photograph as an urban landscape, and the inclusion of that sky and those clouds perhaps makes the connection more obvious.

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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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.

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.