Tag Archives: barn

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds

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““Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds” — Night photograph of two large yellow buildings, shadows, and streaks for clouds moving across the sky above the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

This seems to be the week for photographs involving a combination of preparation and serendipity. I made an unsuccessful attempt to photograph these buildings a year or so ago. I managed to get spooked and learn a little lesson in the process. Most of the time night photography is a quiet, peaceful, and slow experience. There are often very few other people around, and in the darkness you can be entirely alone. Much of the work is done slowly – wandering around looking for compositions in the near darkness first, and then waiting for long exposures to complete. On that first attempt with this subject I had set up in an abandoned parking lot next to these buildings and was standing quietly by my tripod when I heard the sound of a fast-moving car. A sixth sense told me to pay attention… and in seconds a car came speeding around the corner of a nearby building and into the parking lot! I don’t think I’ve ever grabbed my gear and run so fast! (The resulting photo is sort of funny and captures my panicked escape after perhaps 2/3 of the exposure had completed – the image of the buildings is there, but superimposed on it is a wild pattern of light formed as I spun around, carrying the camera without even taking time to close the shutter.)

Since then I wanted to try photographing these buildings again. Late in the evening of this recent shoot I noticed translucent clouds passing overhead. When such clouds are lit from below and have a chance to moving during long exposures they form interesting patterns. I quickly headed toward that same notorious parking lot… and this time found a safer spot on a raised sidewalk, which also gave me a better angle on the buildings. The clouds were moving away and to the right, so I had to work quickly to get set up and start exposures. The first one (not shown here) was a slightly wider shot. Then I thought about the zig-zagging angles and shapes of the buildings roof lines and corners and noticed that the same shapes were mirrored in the shadow cast by a nearby building. With this in mind I decided to try a tighter crop on the buildings, and I ended up with this photograph.

(Edited and updated in January 2025)

More Night Photography

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Bird, Flooded Fields

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Bird, Flooded Fields
Bird, Flooded Fields

Bird, Flooded Fields. Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bird wades in a flooded Central Valley winter field in front of a receding line of power poles and some farm buildings on a levee.

This is (yet another!) photograph of the flooded fields along a country road near the Cosumnes River in California’s Central Valley. I was shooting almost directly into the sun through remaining fog and haze near the middle of a winter day. The building sits on a levee between the fields and the bird was kind enough to pose for me while I made the photograph.

Given one of the subjects subject that I’ve been discussing at the blog during the past few days, it seems reasonable to point out that this image involved significant work during the post-processing phase – what we used to refer to as “the darkroom,” but which we now refer to as “photoshop.” I used a variety of techniques to push this image towards what I had in mind – a very high key interpretation that I hope evokes the sensation of looking into a backlit hazy atmosphere that is so bright that you can barely look at it. (In fact, it was very much like this when I made the photograph – as you can see it required a 1/1000 second exposure at f/8 and ISO 100. That’s bright!) In general I brought the overall brightness up to nearly pure white in the lightest portions of the image, and I employed some other techniques to lower the amount of contrast in the sky yet keep the building, the poles, and the levee fairly dark. Although all of this was accomplished in the “digital darkroom,” all of the processes are equivalent to those that might have been applied by photographers working in the traditional darkroom.

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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon

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Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon
Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon

Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon. Big Sur, California. May 1, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of rugged Big Sur coastline rocks and surf near Soberanes Canyon, Garrapata State Park, California.

One more rugged shoreline photograph from my May 1 visit to the Big Sur coastline. This area is within the confines of Garrapata State Park, and very close to Soberanes Canyon. (Those who know the Soberanes Canyon trail may recognize the old barn seen faintly through the foggy haze near the upper right corner of the frame.)

I love to follow the ridgelines of these coastal mountains all the way down to the surf. Them begin high up on the steep but rounded slopes and gradually become sharper as they descend toward the ocean, being cut deeply by the streams in the bottoms of their canyons. Just above the ocean the canyons are often quite steep, though there can be a bluff right above the drop-off to the water, too. Then, at the very lowest ends of these ridges, the ocean has its effect and the softer dirt and gravel that gives them their folded forms higher up is stripped away, leaving the broken and rugged underlying rocks and they disappear into the surf.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/160 second

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