Tag Archives: cement

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

Shadow and Line Study

June 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Patterns of lines, curves, concrete and shadows

I have always been intrigued by and occasionally obsessed with patterns and juxtapositions and form. When I go back and look at my earliest photography from when I was in middle school or high school I can now see that even then I wasn’t just looking at things for what they “are,” but for the other things that they might also be — the aspects of them that are not immediately visible. This is simple (or so it seems) study of some lines and curves and perspective lines, made quickly while walking along the Embarcadero on San Francisco’s waterfront one morning.

Recently the discussion about realism and honesty and manipulation in photographs has crescendoed a bit, as it does from time to time. On one side are those who think that anything goes — not exactly my point of view, though I might be more “permissive” that you would expect. On the other side are members the “no manipulation” faction, who want to apply the supposed standards of photojournalism to all photographs — their job is to show truth and be completely objective and no “manipulation” is permitted. The problem with the extremes of the first position are obvious. The problems with the extremes of the second deserve a lot more thoughtful scrutiny then they have generally been receiving. All photographs lie, even those that tell truths. Some might imagine that a photograph like this one represents an objective truth, a straightforward (and straight photography) look at the true nature of a thing. But if you saw this subject, you would not likely see anything like this, and my choices (to make it black and white, to use a particular lens, to render the image in black and white, to look at this particular subset of the whole, and much more) are entirely subjective. In the end, this is still truth — but it is my very subjective truth about this subject and it most certainly is not an objective “record” of a thing.

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Another Corner, Night

December 7, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A meeting place between planes of concrete, night

The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, especially at night, is a visually compelling location with a lot of large eye-catching features. This include the towering ship yard structures near the dry dock, the tower of the old power station, the huge factory buildings, old officers’ housing, and the ships that are sometimes tied up here or in dry dock. It is easy to spend a lot of time photographing these subjects with wonderful results.

On this visit I was, at least initially, less interested in those things. Instead I slowed down and went looking for hidden surprises — textures, pools of light, juxtapositions, color, and quiet places. Before long I found myself in a small area near the front of a dark building where concrete formations were lit by security lights and by the glow from the town of Vallejo across the water, and I stopped here for almost an hour to quietly make quiet photographs.

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

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

Steps and Concrete Walls, Night

November 23, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A stairway in the dark, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

I made this photograph recently, on a night photography visit to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with my friends from the Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. We assembled for an “alumni” event, so almost all of us were veterans of night photography at this location. Many of us have photographed here for a decade or more.

Instead of beginning with the usual subjects, I needed out into the night with the goal of avoiding them, at least at first, and instead looking in unlikely places that I had not previously photographed. I spent more time that I would have expected in the area of this staircase. I first happened on it almost by chance. I was photographing this building from some distance away, and as I worked on that photograph I began to notice the potentials of some of the concrete structures near the front of the building. I wandered over there, slowly considered the possibilities, and was first drawn to this stairway. It took be a bit of work to finally arrive at this composition — my first thought was to use a vertical composition.

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

A Dark Corner

November 18, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pathway ends at a dead end and cement walls, night photography at Mare Island

Since I have photographed on this sprawling decommissioned ship yard for over a decade, I’m now more and more on the lookout for new subjects and locations there. Somehow I always seem to find them by poking around in (literally!) odd, dark corners. A first time visitor to the ship yard is most likely to be captivated by some of the larger and iconic subjects — the cranes, the old architecture, the tower at the old power plant, and more. But eventually one finds things missed on earlier visits.

I worked my way toward this odd little corner bit by bit. I first stopped to look at the front of a building that I not really spent much time with in the past. Near its front entrance I found a stairway leading up toward a dark terrace above. At first I spent some time making photograph of the stairs. Over the course of long exposures my eyes adapted to the darkness and I began to become aware of other shapes and textures and qualities of light nearby. The light in such places at night is often tremendously varied, coming from almost every kind of lightning imaginable. Sodium vapor lamps glow with an intense yellow color, led light can appear almost like daylight, fluorescent lamps can be greenish, and the glow of the city of Vallejo across the water has a reddish-brown quality. Here an overhead light sent beams of slightly blue-green light downwards, almost parallel to the surface of the concrete walls. That light from the town across the water found its way to these walls too, turning the close wall on the left an intense red-brown color and lending a faint glow to the back wall.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cement

Shadow and Line Study

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Another Corner, Night

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Steps and Concrete Walls, Night

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A Dark Corner

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

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