Tag Archives: building

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

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

July 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light on a large parking lot near Pier 48, San Francisco.

Continuing with the “urban landscape” theme, this is a photograph of a parking lot south of the bridge next to ATT Park and near the buildings of Pier 48 in San Francisco. After getting off the train that arrived in San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. and wandering over to Townsend Street, I decided to cross the what I think must be the Mission Bay inlet and take a look through this area which was rather deserted at this early hour. (Come back here before a Giants game, and the parking lot will be completely full of the cars of people who are willing to spend exorbitant amounts to park here.)

While there were cars in other portions of this parking lot that are closer to likely destinations, at this far end there was a single lonely car, and that seemed like it could be an anchor for a photograph of the lot, the tall streetlight poles, the industrial-looking buildings of Pier 48 and other assorted waterfront things. Because it was so early, the sun rising across the bay was filling the air with brilliant light that created a sky that was more white than blue.

In addition to the obvious crop, this image required other kinds of substantial work in post. The first issue was controlling the very brightest parts of the sky and a second was the follow-up need to then lighten a few other areas to get some detail back into the image. Color balance was a tricky thing – this isn’t that far from what the raw file contained, though I did warm the colors just a bit. I also did something in this image that I rarely do, namely use semi-opaque blurred and desaturated overlay layer of the original image to do, well, some stuff that is a bit hard to describe in written form. Suffice it to say that this had an effect on the parking lot and on the brightness of the sky.

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: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Talking on Cell Phone

June 30, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Man sitting on a bench in front of a San Francisco building and talking on his cell phone.

The first time I worked on this photograph, I made a decision to work it up as a black and white image. However, when I returned to it a month or so ago, I felt like it might be interesting as a color photograph as well.

There is nothing all that special about the location itself – it is on a small street in an area that might be thought of as along the edges of downtown San Francisco. It is not too far to typical large downtown buildings, but here it seems that many might residences and rental units, and many on this street are connected with the Academy of Arts College (or is it “university” now?) facilities that are spread all around the city. I’m intrigued by the interesting shapes and colors and textures of these San Francisco buildings, that often embody some strange combination of a great deal of order (carefully painted rectangular white window frames), utility (the fire escape being almost the most prominent thing on the front of the building), and little oddities (the benches on a slanting sidewalk and guy talking obliviously on his cell phone).

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

Point Reyes Lighthouse, Pacific Ocean

June 8, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Afternoon light reflects on the surface of the Pacific Ocean beyond the Point Reyes lighthouse.

(Some of the following is repeated from a previous post of the same photograph in a color version.) Although our trip to Point Reyes was not primarily to do photography, somehow I ended up bringing back quite a few photographs! This photograph was made from the iconic overlook at “the point” and right above the long stairway down to the historic lighthouse. On this afternoon high clouds were streaming in from the Pacific and casting a mottled pattern of light and shadows on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

This spot is often completely socked in by clouds and/or extremely windy and cold. However, this was perhaps the most benign afternoon I’ve experienced there. The temperatures were very comfortable – we were a bit too warm on the walk to the point. The sun was out, and the wind was nearly still at times.

I wasn’t certain when I made the exposure of whether it would end up being a black and white or a color photograph. I’m still not sure! I’m sharing the color version first, but a black and white rendition will follow shortly.

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

Point Reyes Lighthouse, Pacific Ocean

June 7, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Afternoon light reflects on the surface of the Pacific Ocean beyond the Point Reyes lighthouse.

Although our trip to Point Reyes was not primarily to do photography, somehow I ended up bringing back quite a few photographs! This photograph was made from the iconic overlook at “the point” and right above the long stairway down to the historic lighthouse. On this afternoon high clouds were streaming in from the Pacific and casting a mottled pattern of light and shadows on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

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