Tag Archives: brick

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

Brick and Concrete Buildings, Mare Island

February 21, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photography of brick and concrete buildings under artificial lighting with star trails at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

The Mare Island night photography well has still not quite run dry – so here is one more from my February 6 shoot there with The Nocturnes. I spent a fair amount of time poking around the spaces near this brilliantly lit concrete building and the darker brick building beyond, photographing the two buildings from various angles and directions. The contrast between the artificially lit plain concrete walls of the foreground building and the darker and more textured brick walls of the further building was striking, and I’ve been intrigued for some time by the reflections and glow of the windows up high on the roof. This exposure was long enough that the high clouds moved and created the linear blurred shapes you see in the sky, interspersed with subtle but numerous star trails.

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.

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, minsy, concrete, brick, building, wall, window, light, reflection, shadow, fence, roof, sky, cloud, star, trail, yellow, vent, architecture, asphalt, puddle, industrial, stock, north america

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

Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings

February 18, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tower, buildings, and power plant smokestack along Nimitz Avenue, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

One more, and perhaps the last, in the current series of Mare Island night photographs made with The Nocturnes during the first weekend of February. This scene is one that is well-known to Mare Island night photographers – a row of industrial buildings in the “historic core” of the old shipbuilding facility where huge overhead steel structures run between the machine shops and the old docks. In this photograph I decided to more or less shoot through the base of one of these giant towers. The scene is illuminated by bright and colorful artificial light and the photograph required an exposure of about a minute and a half. (I cheated and shot the 5D2 at ISO 200.) Though they may be hard to see in the small jpg, some star trails are visible in the sky near the smokestack of the old power plant.

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.

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, nimitz, avenue, street, railroad, track, puddle, water, reflection, tower, steel, yellow, ladder, industrial, rust, core, brick, wall, window, door, roof, asphalt, north america, sky, star, trails, cyclone, fence, smokestack, power, plant, stock

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

Eighth and Nimitz, Towers and Wall

February 15, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Towers and brick wall at the corner of Eight and Nimitz, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

One more take on the corner of Nimitz Avenue and Eighth Street in the “historic core” of the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, as photographed after dark on my recent visit with The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group. (Visit their web site for lots of great night photography resources.)

I thought I’d post this photograph as an example of several things that I think about a lot as I make photographs and post them at my blog and elsewhere on the web. Here goes:

While I post a number of photographs that I am very happy with, I also post quite a few that are part of the learning and development process. In fact, posting daily is part of my dedication to practice, an idea that I learned from many years in music. Daily work with images – whether making photographs or working on photographs already made or thinking about how I might photograph subjects I encounter or looking at the photographs of others – sharpens my visual acuity and improves my ability to “see” photographs in subjects I encounter. This is one of those not-quite-right photographs that I learn from.
There is much that I like in this photograph, but there is also a significant compositional issue that I recognized as soon as I looked at it on the computer. See it yet? I’ll wait…
With a moment to look more closely you probably noticed some issues with the placement of the nearest steel beam on the right side of the frame. It almost, but not quite, covers one of the window frames in the brick wall in the background, but unfortunately a bit of that frame sticks out beyond the left side of the beam. In addition, and related to that, the right side of this beam partially blocks the upper right edge of one of the windows.
Of course, now that I’m sitting at my computer in a warm and well-lit room, I can easily see how I could have solved this problem when I made the exposure – most likely by moving a bit to the right and perhaps slightly forward. With that in mind, I’ve filed two things in the “photographic memory bank.” First, the next time I shoot this scene I’ll probably resolve this issue! Second, I’ve added one more data point to the experience that I draw on when I make a shot, and this increases the chances that I won’t miss things like this quite so often in the future.

Live and learn! :-)

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.

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, construction, industrial, tower, track, railroad, street, avenue, brick, wall, window, structure, tower, eighth, nimitz, puddle, rain, water, reflection, structure, nocturnal, night, sky, photography, stop, sing, roof, asphalt, stock, north america

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

Museum Building, Reflection – Eighth and Nimitz

February 14, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photography at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard – The museum building reflected in rainwater pools with shipbuilding equipment beyond.

One more in the series of night photographs made with The Nocturnes at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California during the first weekend of February. I made several photographs from this general location that feature the brick side wall of the museum building with the other ship yard structures in the background and the puddles from recent rain in the foreground.

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.

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, eighth, nimitz, avenue, street, museum, core, brick, window, reflection, stop, sing, wall, roof, sidewalk, street, railroad, rain, water, pool, puddle, industrial, scaffold, equipment, sky, nocturnal, nocturnes, clouds, stock

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: brick

Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings

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Eighth and Nimitz, Towers and Wall

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Museum Building, Reflection – Eighth and Nimitz

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

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