Tag Archives: building

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Yellow Building, Ventilation Towers

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Yellow Building, Ventilation Towers
Night photograph of a building in yellow light and ventilation towers, Mare Island

Yellow Building, Ventilation Towers. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of a building in yellow light and ventilation towers, Mare Island

This was one of the last photographs I made on a recent evening with The Nocturnes at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard. After spending the first half of the shoot exploring some little hidden areas that aren’t quite so obvious, I made my way back towards the “historic core” of the ship yard near the dry docks. This area is well-lit these days, as it is being used to dismantle ships of the “ghost fleet” that have been anchored in the delta for years.

The nature of that light is part of the subject of this photograph. The foreground building, with its classic and well-worn military base construction, stands across a street from the work area. It is brightly lit by sodium vapor lamps whose light floods this entire area, and this kind of lighting has a very warm color cast, so warm that it can give a bright yellow appearances to buildings that are very drab in daylight. Off in the distance is another set of buildings, with some kind of ventilation or cooling towers standing above them. The color of the light on that structure is a mystery — aqua, faint purple, yellow, blue-green. Most likely it is due to a combination of multiple light sources including sodium vapor, industrial LED streetlights, and more. Above all of that is the sky, though it also has a somewhat odd coloration, much warmer that the sky tones in rural areas due to the city lights reflecting on clouds.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Reflections, Shadows, Bridge, and Sky

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Reflections, Shadows, Bridge, and Sky
Industrial buildings covered with shadows and reflections, clouds moving across the night sky.

Reflections, Shadows, Bridge, and Sky. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Industrial buildings covered with shadows and reflections, clouds moving across the night sky.

On my recent nighttime visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, where I again made night photographs with a group of like-minded photographers, I decided to forego some of the more familiar subjects and instead poke around in some dark corners of the place. I began by spending nearly an hour photograph an odd little area of concrete structures at the base of a long stairway, and once I finished there it only seemed right to walk up those stairs and find out where they led. This took me to what seemed like an old parking area behind some abandoned buildings — though it is sometimes hard to tell in the inky darkness. I could tell that there was a lot of debris in this lot, so I stepped around it carefully as I explored this blocky building that was painted by light and shadow from its surroundings in interesting ways.

Much of this light was virtually invisible to me, but it is a combination of light from close and far artificial light sources, the shadows of trees and other structures, and the well-defined shapes of windows through which more distant light shines. Overhead there is a covered walkway between larger buildings, and the darker form of one of them is visible at the lower left. Clouds were moving across the sky, and their shapes blurred during the long exposure.

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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Architectural Shapes

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Architectural Shapes
Intersecting walls, San Francisco architecture

Architectural Shapes. San Francisco, California. August 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Intersecting walls, San Francisco architecture

I saw this little architectural vignette when I took an impromptu side trip up a set of stairs while walking around downtown San Francisco. I’ve been to and photographed the general location — near Moscone Center — in the past, but that wasn’t my plan this time. Near the top of the stairs I happened to notice a bit of wall with a combination of soft colors and hard angles. The colors were the first focus of my attention, but as I looked at the scene more closely I noticed that squares are everywhere, small and large and interlocking with one another.

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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall and Shadow

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Wall and Shadow
The shadow of a passing person on a bright yellow wall, San Francisco

Wall and Shadow. San Francisco, California. August 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shadow of a passing person on a bright yellow wall, San Francisco

I had been walking along a busy San Francisco street as I traveled from the Caltrain Station up toward Market Street, photographing people and structures and construction zones. Right near Moscone Center I took a detour up a stairway leading towards the “Zeum” and the area around it.

It was still early morning and the low angle light struck a very brightly painted yellow wall where a staircase led to the upper level. I was working on ways to photograph this color (trickier than it seems!) and the angles of the stairway and the shadows when a person fortuitously walked across behind me and added her shadow to the scene.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.