Tag Archives: air

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

June 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Waterfall mist fills the air around sunlit maple trees with new spring leaves, Yosemite National Park

There are at least two stories behind this photograph. The first involves a family tradition that I started when I began taking my kids to The Valley quite a few years ago when they were small. Each spring we would take a “waterfall trip” as close as possible to the time of peak runoff – sometimes going up to the Valley and back in a single day. As part of this event, it was also my tradition to “say hello to summer” by making the first stop in the Valley at Bridal Veil falls – and hiking as close to the base of the fall as possible, in order to stand in the tremendous wind-blown clouds of spray, usually getting thoroughly soaked. This year we were there without our kids, who are now “all growed up” and off living their own lives, but I still had to make a ritual visit to the spray at the base of this fall.

The second story might actually be a continuation of the first. Sometimes I go to experience something and not photograph it, and that was my intention when we walked to the fall this time. But as we rounded a corner on the trail and I looked up into the morning light from the sun that had just cleared the top of the cliff, I saw this wonderful silhouetted maple tree standing in mist-filled air with the still-shaded waterfall beyond. But I did not have my “regular camera” nor did I have a tripod – I had my small Fujifilm X-E1, but with the wrong lens for this shot. I turned to my wife, who also has an X-E1 but usually attaches a 60mm macro lens (she is passionate about photographing small things!) and asked if I could borrow her camera/lens to try to squeeze off a couple of shots. She agreed, and I made two exposures, shooting handheld in the spray and wind.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Events, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Northern California

Dawn, Waiting for Endeavour

October 20, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early crowds at dawn, lining up to view the space shuttle Endeavour fly over the NASA/Ames Moffett Field facility

I’ve posted enough photographs of the space shuttle Endeavour on its flyover of the NASA Ames Moffett Field – here is a photograph of some of the people who showed up to see the event. The place opened its gates at 6:00 a.m., which is well before sunrise in California at this time of year. I left home at about that time and took public transit, arriving just about the time of sunrise. I joined the growing throng arriving at Moffett. Quite a few came by car, but many also came on foot, walking from the nearby light rail stations or from their cars that they had parked in nearby Mountain View.

Once on the base the decisions were pretty straightforward – to stop of breakfast, coffee and souvenirs or to head straight out to the edge of the runway to take up a position hours in advance of the flyover. I made a quick stop for coffee, but decided to forego souvenirs and the available food-truck breakfasts (as good as they looked), and headed straight out onto the runway. There was a crowd already near the entrance area, but much of the runway was still open, especially further down toward the old Hangar One, where I found a position right along the barricades next to the runway. For the next few hours, people mostly hung out – talking, making photographs, checking cell phones, and so on – as the sun rose and the anticipate built. The photograph shows a small portion of the crowd right near sunrise, when the shadows were still long and most people had not yet arrived. The skeleton of the historic Hangar One is at the far left.

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

Hangar One, Control Tower, Water Tank

October 9, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An abandoned control tower and a checkerboard-painted water tank stand near the historic Hangar One, stripped of its outer skin, at the NASA/Ames Research Center Moffett Airfield

This is almost certainly the final photograph from my September 21, 2012 visit to the NASA Ames Moffett Field for the flyover of space shuttle Endeavour on its flight to its new home in Los Angeles. As I have written earlier, since I (and thousands of others) arrived here hours before the main event, there was plenty of time to see things and make photographs. I found a position at the edge of the runway with the huge historic Hangar One located right behind me. Hangar One was originally built to support and house lighter-than-air craft, and it has long been a visual icon on the San Francisco Peninsula.

After the Navy gave the base over to NASA it was discovered that the hangar was polluting the nearby waters of San Francisco Bay – as I understand it, largely due to the use of lead paint on this gigantic structure. (It is so large that 6 football fields could fit inside.) This led to a decision to remove the outer steel skin of the structure, leaving only the skeletal steel structure beneath. While there is talk of replacing the outer covering, for now the hangar remains in this incomplete state. I was intrigued by the huge open structure and its juxtaposition with the very old and weathered control tower in front and the colorful water tank behind.

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

Hangar One, Moffett Field

October 3, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Hangar One on the day of the Space Shuttle Endeavour flyover at Moffett Field

Since I’ve already posted a bit of a longer description of this subject, I’ll keep this description a bit on the short side. The skeletal structure is the historic “Hangar One” at the NASA Ames Moffett Airfield, formerly known as “Moffett Field,” among other names. I was there in the early morning, arriving just about sunrise on this late September day to be in position for the flyover of Space Shuttle Endeavour on the last leg of its final flight aboard its carrier aircraft as it travelled on its way to a new home at a museum in Los Angeles.

Because I had to arrive so early for the shuttle flyover, I had more than three hours to hang out on the airfield grounds and make photographs of various things. Fortunately, it turned out to be a morning with some very beautiful clouds in the sky – something of a rarity for this part of California at this time of year. As the puffy, high clouds from what I presume was some tropical moisture floated overhead, I turned my camera to Hangar One and made a few photographs of its form against this sky. For those who are not familiar with Hangar One, Moffett Field was once used for lighter than air craft, and this huge hangar (the size of six football fields inside) was used to hold and service them. It originally was covered by an outer steel skin, but that had to be removed for environmental reasons. There is some hope that it will eventually be restored with a new skin.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: air

Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

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Dawn, Waiting for Endeavour

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Hangar One, Control Tower, Water Tank

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Hangar One, Moffett Field

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