Tag Archives: bridge

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

Third Street Bridge, Morning

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Third Street Bridge - The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.
The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.

Third Street Bridge, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.

This bridges sits in a newly revitalized area of San Francisco next to the Giants’ AT&T ball park, which is visible in the background along the right side of the frame. In an area that was (and still is, if you look around a bit) somewhat “seedy,” there are now, for better or for worse, lots of new buildings including businesses and condominiums. This bridge seems like a sort of surprising structure to see in a place like this. It is a “draw bridge” that can apparently be lifted to allow boats to pass underneath to go in and out of a small inlet that extends from the bay (to the right of this photo) and inland a ways.

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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Morning Clouds, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay

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Morning Clouds, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay - Light shining through layers of morning clouds over San Francisco Bay silhouettes the hills of Angel Island near Richardson Bay.
Light shining through layers of morning clouds over San Francisco Bay silhouettes the hills of Angel Island near Richardson Bay.

Morning Clouds, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay. Marin County, California. March 10, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light shining through layers of morning clouds over San Francisco Bay silhouettes the hills of Angel Island near Richardson Bay.

I can be a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to shooting in certain locations that I’m very familiar with. But the habit isn’t so much shooting the same thing – though that can be part of it – as it is being attentive to how the familiar thing might present itself in ways I have not previously seen. This photograph is a case in point.

I was on my way to a location north of the Golden Gate where I frequently photograph, so I know the route well and have a routine that I frequently follow – it involves where I’m heading, what time I plan to get there, and the route I typically follow. Along the way there are several places where I almost always pause long enough to look around and see if a familiar scene might look different. At a location where my route follows a short ridge line, I often stop and look back across Richardson Bay towards Angel Island and, beyond that, the waterfront of Oakland and then the East Bay hills. On this recent morning, a weak weather front was washing out as it arrived in the Bay Area and, as a result, there were many layers of clouds stacked up to the east. While the sun was able to shine through and light the surface of San Francisco Bay beyond the boats anchored in Richardson Bay, there was haze in the atmosphere that obscured details even on relatively close Angel Island, and in the sky above and beyond there were layers of fog, lower clouds, and the highest clouds of the weather front.

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: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge

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Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge - A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City
Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge - A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City

Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge. New York City, New York. August 23, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City.

I was surprised to find that I apparently never posted this photograph after our August trip to New York City. We had taken the subway over to Brooklyn very early in the morning to meet our son, and then wandered around some areas of Brooklyn near the waterfront where there is a view of lower Manhattan. Eventually we worked our way over to the Bridge with the plan being to walk back to Manhattan.

As we walked along I noticed several things that seem to characterize this bridge. Some of the features are pretty obvious to the point of being iconic – the pattern of the support cables for example. But these lamps kept distracting me, so I decided to see how I could photograph them. At this point, it occurred to me that I could actually leave out most of the bridge except for the lamp post (and a bit of the top of one of the towers) and then line it up with a bunch of other recognizable stuff on the lower Manhattan skyline. I chose to desaturate this image quite a bit in post, which explains the somewhat unusual color palette.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

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Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway
Black and white photograph of the Pacific Coast Highway crossing Bixby Bridge above the rugged Big Sur coastline of California.

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The Pacific Coast Highway crossing Bixby Bridge above the rugged Big Sur coastline of California.

Bixby Bridge is one of the iconic sights along the rugged terrain of California Coast Highway (highway one) in the Big Sur area south of Monterey. Although it is not the only bridge of its type along this route – and, in my opinion, not necessarily the most visually impressive – it is no doubt the best known. Many people drive to this spot and stop to take in the view from high above the ocean and to photograph the bridge and this scenic section of the highway.

I have photographed this bridge before, and I’ve spent a bit of time scoping out alternative points of view. These include some locations visible from “behind” the bridge, up higher in the coastal hills, and from other nearby locations along the highway. While I have photographed the bridge from the backside in the past, the idea of photographing it in black and white from this vantage point was triggered by a photograph by Chris Morrison that I saw in an online photography forum. When I saw it, I almost immediately “saw” a slightly different composition of the bridge and the steep headlands and cliffs running south along the coast.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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