Tag Archives: area

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Construction Site, Cyclone Fence

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Construction Site, Cyclone Fence - A of new building under construction in the Mission Bay are of San Francisco, as seen through a cyclone fence.
A of new building under construction in the Mission Bay are of San Francisco, as seen through a cyclone fence.

Construction Site, Cyclone Fence. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A of new building under construction in the Mission Bay are of San Francisco, as seen through a cyclone fence.

Just across McCovey Cove from San Francisco’s AT&T Park is an area where a lot of construction is currently occurring. The area is visually interesting right now partly because of the juxtapositions of really old and run-down stuff, some of the typical empty urban areas filled with parking lots and other temporary facilities, and a lot of change as new buildings go up. On this morning I walked into an area that not all that long ago had an abandoned feeling during the morning hours – and how it was buzzing with activity. Huge steel pilings stretch toward the sky, construction zones are fenced off, and hundreds of workers and lots of heavy equipment are busily at work. Yet even this is only a temporary state that will lead before long to yet another change once the buildings are complete, the construction workers go away, and new businesses and residents move in.

At this site I had first photographed the towering steel pilings. They created a feeling of a sort of odd, abstract monument as they pointed toward the sky. (A photograph of that will appear, or may already have appeared, here at the blog.) Then I walked up next to the fence surrounding the construction site and was impressed by the organized (I presume!) confusion and complexity of what was going on at ground level. Every inch of the site seemed to be occupied by something – rebar ready for concrete pouring, workers operating various pieces of large and small machinery, engineers and planners inspecting the work, the beginnings of towers and walls rising here and there. If anything in the urban landscape comes close to the level of complexity that may be found in the natural landscape, it just might be a place like this!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sandstone Tower and Cliff, Morning

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Sandstone Tower and Cliff, Morning - A nearby sandstone tower backed by a more distant cliff face in morning light, Zion National Park.
A nearby sandstone tower backed by a more distant cliff face in morning light, Zion National Park.

Sandstone Tower and Cliff, Morning. Zion National Park, Utah. April 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A nearby sandstone tower backed by a more distant cliff face in morning light, Zion National Park.

If you look at the photograph that I posted yesterday, you can probably locate almost the entire composition of this photograph contained within the earlier one. This perhaps illustrates one or more things about how I sometimes think when making photographs. One approach that I think I use quite a bit is to try to isolate small sections within much larger landscapes. If you look at yesterday’s image, you’ll see that it uses a fairly familiar sort of approach, namely to include a fairly large swath of “stuff” from close to far away within the frame. Today’s image, though, eliminates out all of that other stuff that might provide a wider context and instead just “shows” one small, interesting bit of the larger scene. And, obviously, I used a longer lens – something else that I often do when shooting landscape. I’m most certainly not one of those photographers who buys into the notion that “landscape photography is done with wide-angle lenses!” I also like juxtapositions. In this scene there are perhaps quite a few – and you might even see some that I’m unaware of. There are color juxtapositions the bright green at the bottom against the very different tones of the rocks; the brighter reddish rocks in the foreground against the darker and more blue or even purple tones of the more distant rocks; the clarity of the close and sunlit red rocks against the lower contrast and somewhat haze-obstructed character of the distant cliff.

The location is in the Virgin River drainage of Zion Canyon. One person described it as “Yosemite in red,” and now that I have been there I can certainly see why! While the overall scale of this valley is smaller than that of Yosemite, the verticality of the place is just as stunning. In fact, in some ways, because the walls are closer and because of the wild colors, it may be more stunning. (Of course, Yosemite does have those waterfalls… and some crazy dome formations… and the massive scale of features like El Capitan. I digress… ;-) The smaller scale makes some kinds of photography perhaps a bit easier. For example, those “juxtapositions” I mentioned above can be fine tune a bit more readily by moving the camera position a few feet. (I did that here as I moved the camera a bit to get three trees way up on the far cliff to line up to the left of the upper section of the closer formation on the right side of the frame. Ironically, you probably didn’t even see them until I mentioned that… ;-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Street Light, Yellow Walls

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Street Light, Yellow Walls - A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.
A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Street Light, Yellow Walls. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Given the number of times I have ended up photographing this building at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California, you might think that I’d almost be done with it by now. Apparently not. I was back at Mare Island in early March to do some photography with my friends from The Nocturnes (and to drag along photographer and friend David Hoffman). After shooting a newly-accessible area near the waterfront and not far from the Mare Island Museum, our wanderings took us past this building, also sometimes known as the UFO building. (I’ll leave the source of that name a mystery for now…)

These old buildings were part of a very active ship building facility until the mid-1990s when the area was decommissioned. Today many of the old buildings still stand, some kept maintained in their historical state and others now the homes of various industries. As far as I can tell, this weathered building is not occupied, and its exterior is a marvel of peeling paint, wild textures, boarded up windows, external electrical conduits, and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Pink Trillium flower

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Pink Trillium Flower - A pink trillium flower growing in the shade beneath redwood trees, Muir Woods National Monument.
A pink trillium flower growing in the shade beneath redwood trees, Muir Woods National Monument.

Pink Trillium flower. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pink trillium flower growing in the shade beneath redwood trees, Muir Woods National Monument.

As I recall, I decided to photograph this particular trillium flower specimen for several reasons. The subtle pink color attracted me, since most of the flowers here at Muir Woods tend to be more or less white – though there are some that are even a bit more colorful than this one. I also liked the essentially perfect leaves that had not yet been torn or developed holes. The subtle shadowed light had just a hint of sunlight filtering down through the canopy of the redwood forest high above.

There is surprisingly little light to work with down on the redwood forest floor, especially early/late in the day or when there are clouds. Recently a friend who shot here expressed surprise to discover that he was shooting during the day at shutter speeds of around one second! This is not at all unusual, especially when using somewhat large apertures and shooting at low ISO. You quickly become sensitive to the slightest motion in the air, since breezes that you might otherwise not even feel can set the plants moving back and forth.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.