Tag Archives: building

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

Shipbuilding Yard Towers, Night

September 19, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

High fog across the night sky above towers at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I’ve had the good fortune to be able to do night photography at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California on a number of occasions over the past few years – largely because I discovered The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group run by Tim Baskerville. (If you are looking for night photography events, workshops, and general information – you would do well to visit their web site.) The Nocturnes photograph regularly at Mare Island (also known as “MINSY”) and I got my first, ahem, exposure to night photography via one of their events.

This visit, on the final night of August, was the first time I’ve shot there when it wasn’t an event sponsored by The Nocturnes, and it seemed a bit odd to be the person most experienced at shooting here. This event was more or less organized by SF Bay Area photographer Ivan Makarov who contacted me ahead of time for some information about shooting at MINSY and invited me to join his group if I could. I could, so I did.

After shooting there a half dozen times or so, it starts to seem a bit too easy to keep shooting the same Mare Island icons in the same way, so this time I decided to try to shoot a few things that I had not shot before and to shoot some of the familiar subjects in somewhat different ways. One decision I made was to – for the most part – avoid the usual super-wide-angle shots that seem so obvious in this environment. I started out using a 70-200mm zoom instead and later moved to shooting with normal to slightly long primes. (I did fall back on the UWA approach for a few shots – heck, if it works I’m going to do it!) Another factor was that we did not have the totally clear full-moon skies that I’m more familiar with from previous MINSY shoots. We had a softer but earlier 3/4 moon, and at times there was quite dense high fog. The fog obviously obscures the sky and reduces/eliminates the star trail photographs, but it also picks up and then spreads a wonderful diffuse light from the many natural and artificial light sources found at MINSY.

The photograph shown here was made with the long zoom and includes nearly complete fog coverage of the sky. The lighting is a crazy combination of light from nearby Vallejo reflected in the clouds, garish sodium vapor lighting coming from beyond the scaffolding, and some “natural” light from the moon on the front of the metal building. (One of the things I enjoy about night photography in a location like this is that with so many wildly different light sources there is no correct color balance – so I get to pick!

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, tower, steel, truss, equipment, industrial, bridge, star, trail, fog, light, building, shack, loading, dock, door, window, stairs, steps, asphalt, wire, rust, worn, abandoned, stock, tall, shadow, night, photography, nocturnal, metal, concrete, cement, glow, yellow

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

Kitchen Windows, Fort Mason

September 2, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Kitchen windows of a Fort Mason restaurant, San Francisco, California.

A few weeks ago I was at Fort Mason, along the waterfront of San Francisco Bay between the Marina and the Fishermans Wharf area, and I had a few hours to wander around and make photographs. Near the end of my wandering I passed by this window on the side of Greens Restaurant and was attracted by a bunch of features: the basic geometric pattern, the barely visible “stuff” inside the window, the superimposition of subjects reflected from the building behind me, and the wonderful mess coming from the upper left part of the window.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: kitchen, window, restaurant, greens, reflection, pane, frame, pattern, form, texture, architecture, urban, city, fort, mason, vent, light, book, utensil, bowl, pot, roof, corrugated, red, brown, rust, vent, building, street, sill, wall, san francisco, california, usa, travel, landscape, detail, bay, waterfront, pier, public, park, stock, screen, distort, historic, landmark

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

Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum

August 31, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Detail of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California.

I’ve been watching this structure since the time it was under construction, and I have frequently walked past it, thought about making photographs… and not quite been able to figure out what to do with the subject. The building is an intriguing and slightly confusing combination of old-style (not shown here) and rather modern architecture, and it is embedded in a visually busy location surrounded by tall buildings and an old Catholic church. I actually have some earlier photographs of this same portion of the building (though shot from a different angle) that I haven’t posted, as I’m still pondering how to handle them.

On this visit, during a long “photography walk” across a good portion of The City, I passed by here and was intrigued with the juxtaposition of stark angles and different colors and textures.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, contemporary, jewish, museum, cube, blue, modern, art, culture, window, pattern, structure, architecture, building, tower, perspective, downtown, urban, new, design, shadow, texture, stock

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

Painted Brick Wall

August 30, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A painted brick wall with a grated alcove near Chinatown, San Francisco, California.

This is the person-less version of this scene that I was shooting when the man walked into it and I created the photo I posted earlier. I suspect that this interesting pattern is the result of someone painting out the rampant graffiti found all over Chinatown, but the color choice seems a bit odd for something so prosaic. The wall is just a few yards down a side street off of Grant.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, sidewalk, wall, brick, painted, orange, beige, green, olive, red, white, window, arch, alcove, grate, metal, fan, texture, structure, urban, city, street, chinatown, downtown, travel, landscape, detail, stock, building

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