Tag Archives: bolt

Steel Plates and Bolts

Steel Plates and Bolts - Steel plates and bolts found on a downtown San Francisco bridge.
Steel plates and bolts found on a downtown San Francisco bridge.

Steel Plates and Bolts. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Steel plates and bolts found on a downtown San Francisco bridge.

This is one of those fun – for the photographer, anyway! – photographs that you might just stumble on while wandering around with the camera and keeping your eyes open. The subject is a detail of some heavy steel plates and connecting bolts on a section of an old bridge (early 20th century?) that crosses an inlet along San Francisco Bay. I had walked across it perhaps a half hour earlier but had been focused on other things. At that time I had looked at the bolts and thought they were interesting, but I wasn’t able to see a photograph in it that excited me. So I continued on.

Later, after photographing some industrial/construction subjects, I walked back the same way and happened to use the other side of the bridge on the return trip. Now the light was a bit different and something about this little section of the structure of the bridge caught my attention. I paused long enough to make three or four handheld shots and then moved on.

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.

Blow Horn and Pipes

San Francisco - Hand painted sign and various pipes and valves on a concrete wall in San Francisco, California.
Hand painted sign and various pipes and valves on a concrete wall in San Francisco, California.

Blow Horn and Pipes. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hand painted sign and various pipes and valves on a concrete wall in San Francisco, California.

This is one of those odd little photographic vignettes you can find if you poke your nose into the right (or wrong) little alleys while wandering around in a city. I have passed this general area many times before, and had often notice fenced-off or gated small alleys extending along the sides of some of the buildings. I had even attempted to photograph through the fences, but without much success. However, for some reason – or else a fortunate coincidence – on this morning most or even all of the gates were open and I could wander down along the sides of these old buildings with their interesting and weathered textures and subjects.

This collection of “stuff” was next to a door that looked like it might have been used as a loading area, so I imagine that the old “BLOW HORN” sign, hand-painted directly on the concrete wall, must have once supplied instructions to those coming to make pick-ups or deliveries. I still wonder though about the fact that the sign was squeezed in behind this has of pipes, given that there were large areas of clear wall just a foot or two away from this assemblage of pipes and valves.

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 | FacebookGoogle+ | 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.

Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light

Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light
Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light

Towers and Brick Building, Full Moon Light. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. February 27, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Industrial towers and brick building under the light of the full moon at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

On February 27, for the second time this month, I visited Mare Island Naval Shipyard to do night photography with The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. (Anyone looking for great resources on night photography should visit their web site. They also offer classes and workshops on night photography.) This was a “Mare Islands Alumni” event, attended by quite a few folks who have done night photography at Mare Island. One of the highlights came before the actual photography began as we met in the museum building and had a chance to view work by participating photographers – the work gets better every time and there was some wonderful night photography on display.

One attraction on this night was the full moon, which appears just above and to the right of the frame in this photograph made near the intersection of 8th and Nimitz Streets, in the heart of the old ship construction area. The was the first subject I photographed – it was something of a “do over,” since I had overlooked some obvious composition problems with the shot earlier this month and wanted to get it right this time. When I originally mentioned that, Tim Baskerville pointed out that I might have a hard time getting the same reflective puddles in the scene, but as luck would have it a good sized storm was just departing and it left great puddles everywhere!

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 35mm f/2.0
ISO 100, f/11, 353 seconds

keywords: 8th, avenue, street, nimitz, asphalt, puddle, reflection, water, twig, manhole, cover, steel, tower, rivets, bolt, brick, shop, building, window, arch, industrial, stop, sign, full, moon, light, sky, star, trail, cloud, minsy, the, nocturnes, mare, island, naval, shipyard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, north america, curb, sidewalk, night, photography

Green Wall

Green Wall
Green Wall

Green Wall. San Jose, California. January 1, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Green wall with green door and window in an urban industrial area of San Jose, California.

This is another urban landscape from my New Years Day walk and shoot. This photograph and the one that follows (a yellow building with a “For Lease” sign) are almost directly across the street from one another – a colorful bit of industrial neighborhood for sure! Despite the weathered and repainted character of this detail, the overall building is actually in decent shape. There is something mysterious about it though with the green color(s) and the boarded up windows and the door with no handle.

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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keywords: green, corrugated, metal, wall, building, door, window, cover, hinge, scuff, mark, bolt, weathered, repainted, paint, urban, industrial, city, street, structure, stock, dent, crease, patch, damage