Tag Archives: buildings

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco Skyline, Pre-Dawn Sky

December 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pre-dawn sky begins to light the skyline of San Francisco, California.

While at San Francisco’s Crissy Field to photograph the lunar eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge I realized that this unusual celestial phenomenon was by no means the only worthy subject at this early morning hour. Meanwhile, there was a beautiful and mysterious sunrise developing in the eastern sky beyond the City and over the East Bay, enhanced by a lot of atmospheric haze. (This was the same haze that ultimately caused the eclipsed moon to fade to invisibility shortly after the sky began to lighten.) So, while 99% of the photographers were still pointing their lenses west, I (along with a few other folks) pointed east and toward this section of the San Francisco skyline in roughly the Knob Hill and Russian Hill areas, with the familiar shape of the Transamerica pyramid partially hidden behind closer buildings and some typical San Francisco neighborhood buildings and trees up close at the bottom.

Yet again, this scene reinforced the idea that it is always important to look around at the whole scene. It is so easy to become completely focused on the single subject that you started out with – and sometimes this is a good thing! – that you may overlook other worthy subjects in other directions. I still have to remind myself sometimes to look up and scan my surroundings to see what else might be worth photographing.

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

Old Brick Building and Remnants of the High Line

October 8, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Remnants of the old right-of-way of the High Line Railway run in front of and old and run-down brick building, New York City.

There is, no doubt, a lot of history in this scene that I’m unaware of – but the visual elements mostly caught my attention as we walked past this spot. On the final morning of our August 2011 visit to New York, we were walking from West Village to Chelsea when we passed this area. My son, who lives in Brooklyn and is obsessed (in the good way!) with walking around lots of areas of New York City and making photographs and noting what he sees, first pointed out the terrace in the lower part of the scene (bounded by the railing) and the steel structure at the lower left. He told me that this was part of the High Line Railroad that used to run through this part of Manhattan. A more famous section of the High Line has become a very popular “elevated park” in Chelsea, but in this area it is pretty much just abandoned and, in places, gone.

I don’t know what the tall and worn-looking brick building is, but I’d sure like to know. My hunch, given the appearance of a former white paint job and the proximity to the railroad tracks, is that it must have been some sort of industrial building at some point.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts when this page is viewed on the web. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

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

Reflections, Metal Wall, WTC Site

September 5, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A metal wall near the World Trade Center site reflects the colors of surrounding buildings and passers-by.

During our recent visit to New York City we spent some time at the World Trade Center site. This is the third time we have been there. The first was right around New Years 2000, when we did the typical tourist thing and went to the top of the WTC at night and looked over the city. It was an innocent time, wasn’t it?

The second visit was not until a year ago after our oldest son moved to Brooklyn and got a job working within a few blocks of the site. After nearly a decade of media coverage of the events of 9/11 and all of the associations connected with that event, walking up to the actual place was a powerful and sobering experience. At that time, there was nothing much to see other than what appeared as a giant empty space occupied by cranes.

This year things were different in many ways but the same in many others. The area is now a hotbed of activity, with impressive new buildings soaring skyward, construction workers and equipment everywhere. From the right vantage points, portions of the site are beginning to show signs of what the place will become when it is finished – we could even see an area where new trees are planted. As we walked a circle around the area though, reminders of what happened there are still to be found, both small and large. The memory of coming upon a nearby fire station with its poster filled with the photographs of scores who lost their lives on that date affects me even now as I write this.

This photograph was made as we walked along what I recall as the north side of the site, past the new tower that is rapidly becoming the tallest structure in lower Manhattan. A busy sidewalk travels through here, squeezed between the construction area and existing buildings. This metal wall was on one of those buildings, and it is colored by reflections of people passing by, buildings, and sky.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

High Line Park, Evening

August 21, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening along the High Line Park as thunderstorm weather approaches, New York City.

This was a fun photograph to make and a bit of a challenge. I decided to shoot with just a 50mm prime as we walked the Highline Park in New York City, trying to keep things simple and shooting quickly and handheld. Our plan was to be there a bit more than an hour before sunset so that we could see and photograph the evening light. That didn’t quite work out…

About the time we started walking at the south end of the Highline we noticed a big electrical storm developing over the water in New Jersey. While the giant storm to our west spoiled our chances of sunset light, it created other interesting opportunities as the sky darkened. In fact, it becomes so dark an hour or so before sunset that hand held shooting was becoming difficulty, even at ISO 800, f/2 or f2.8 and as low as 1/15 second! But because there was still some light, as streetlights and other lighting came on there was still enough illumination to register the unlighted or less lighted areas – it was almost like doing night photography without the need for the tripod or the super long exposures!

This shot was handheld, probably at the lower end of the range of my ability to shoot this way, but there was enough light to still make the sky and buildings visible, yet give the appearance that the scene was largely artificially lit.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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