Two photos today! Photographer Rebecca Jackrel (Adventures Through the Lens) points out that today is the birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was opened on this date in 1937. Since I have a few photos of this icon lying around I thought I’d repost one of them to celebrate. (More information about this image in the original post)
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.
The light of the rising full moon illuminates the ruins of the old bank building against a star-filled sky in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.
I have photographed the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada on several occasions in the past, but always in the very early morning. (I have a habit of hitting Rhyolite before dawn, shooting as long as the light allows, visiting Beatty for cheap gas and breakfast, then heading back to Death Valley via Titus Canyon.) I have wanted to try photographing the location both at sunset and under a full moon, and the timing for both worked out on my late March visit to Death Valley National Park. Late on my second afternoon I headed east out of the Valley and over the pass and arrived at Rhyolite before sunset.
I spent some time wandering around the familiar locations in the unfamiliar late-day light. In the end, my suspicion that Rhyolite is more of an early morning location than an evening location seemed to be confirmed. At this time of year the sun sets a bit too far to the “right” as you look west, and the the light is blocked by a low hill at just the time it would otherwise become interesting. I did make some photographs of the ruins of the ghost town in the fading light… then I settled in to make a few night photographs of the tall bank building ruins.
I’m thinking of this as sort of a practice run for a return visit for more Rhyolite night photography. I think that the full moon timing has potential, but I want to try again and think more about the placement of the structures relative to the North Star. One more thing… when I arrived there was essentially no one else there. Soon a couple other photographers showed up, but the place was still relatively deserted. Then, after dark, I was surprised when a number of cars showed up. There was apparently some sort of night photography workshop visiting the place – perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that they acted like they owned the place and that the rest of us didn’t matter. Most night photographers would know better than to drive into a shooting location with headlights blazing, and they might ask photographers who were already there if their light painting would interfere with shots underway. Just sayin’…
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.
Tall concrete building covered with reflective windows, San Francisco, California.
This photograph is an urban landscape made in the darkened canyons of streets not far from Union Square in downtown San Francisco, California. The crazy perspective angles and lines caught my attention as I walked along this street, as did the contrasting blue of reflected sky and other strange colors, shapes, and textures reflected in the many windows in this scene.
There is a bit of an optical illusion effect in this image. I don’t know if others see it the same way, but to me the lower left section of the photograph almost seems to drop down as if the margin is narrower on that side. But it isn’t, and I think the effect is produced by the crazy angles confusing my sense of perspective.
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.
Reflections and other subjects in a wall of windows at the Macys’ store, Union Square, San Francisco.
While busy trying to see closer “street” subjects – usually quite a few here – in San Francisco’s Union Square on a Saturday afternoon I looked up and saw these absolutely wild reflections in the wall of windows of this downtown Macy’s store. If you just glance at the image you see the front of a store covered with lots of windows. However, if you start looking more closely – especially at a large print – you begin to see an astonishing and almost hallucinogenic level of strange details. A few “normal” people appear faintly in some windows – in one a person sits at a table and is perhaps reading or eating. In the middle row of windows you can see hot pink pants, some strange fluorescent green item… and the reflected point of the Transamerica Tower. Along the sides bizarrely warped forms of reflected building windows appear.
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.
