Tag Archives: dark

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Nimitz Street with high fog and moonlight and ambient artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is probably one of the iconic scenes for night photographers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. This shot looks up Nimitz Street near the waterfront and across railway tracks toward some of the core old buildings and beyond to the smoke stack of the power plant. It includes some of the huge overhead structures that were, as I understand it, used to move large ship components such as engines from the shops in which they were assembled to the ships under construction.

As is typical at night at Mare Island, the photograph includes a wild range of types of lighting. The 3/4 moon is partially responsible for illuminating the high fog, but the fog also picks up a warmer glow from a variety of types of lighting on the ground at Mare Island and beyond. The buildings are lit by some of the same light sources, but also by local security lightning and some street lights including tungsten, sodium vapor and perhaps even florescent sources. (When composing such shots I have to be very careful to place the camera in a position where direct light from these many sources is blocked by buildings, towers, and so forth.)

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, shipyard, historic, abandoned, decommisioned, nimitz, street, avenue, tracks, scaffolding, structure, tower, industrial, brick, building, road, window, door, quonset, hut, truss, wall, room, smoke, stack, chimney, power, plant, fog, high, star, trails, glow, night, photography, nocturnal, reflection, dark, urban, stock

Redwood Shoot

Redwood Shoot

Redwood Shoot. Muir Woods National Monument, California. August 19, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A new redwood tree shoot emerges from the base of a mature tree, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This small, green shoot is the potential start of a new redwood tree at Muir Woods National Monument. Its bright green color contrasts with the browns and reds of the dark forest floor and the shaded bark of the tree.

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.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, marin, county, san francisco, california, usa, park, redwood, forest, tree, nature, landscape, stock, new, shoot, floor, litter, green baby, base, mature, dark, shade, bark, twig, branch

OS X 10. 6 “Snow Leopard” installed – and printer problems ensue.

I was actually on the beta test list for “Snow Leopard,” so I have been using it without problems for a while – but not on the computer I use for my photographic work but rather on a separate laptop. After the very trouble-free experience on the test machine I went ahead and installed in on my photography workstation yesterday.

Today I tried to print. Ouch!

The first problem I encountered was that the Epson 2200 sitting next to my computer no longer appeared in the the printer dialogs in Photoshop. Knowing that Snow Leopard supposedly will add new drivers as needed I tried to use the 10.6 preference panel to add drivers for the 2200. No luck – the system didn’t even see the connected printer.

I finally went to the Epson web site and followed their instructions which include:

  1. Install Rosetta from Apple install disk.
  2. Download the most recent pre-10.6 drivers for my printer and install.
  3. Download and run their updater for drivers under 10.6

Done. Now I can see the printer via its Firewire connection… but not, as far as I can tell, via its USB connection.

So, I fire up Photoshop and try to make a test print using a black and white image. Things seem to be going more or less OK as I work my way through the usual setup and print process: Photoshop manages colors and all. But the print emerges looking very green and way too dark. I attempt to download and reinstall the Epson profile for the Epson Premium Lustre paper I’m using at the moment. Installer downloads… but won’t run.

I do a restart and try the profile installer one more time – still no go. Since the photo was one that I had not previously printed I decide to remove one variable and instead print a color image that I had successfully printed right before installing the update to OS X. Again… very greenish and far too dark.

There is no joy here at the moment…

Update 8/31/09:

  • I will try to continue reporting on my CS4/Epson 2200/Snow Leopard printing issue as I continue to try to understand and resolve it. This may take a while, as I don’t have any urgent printing business to take care of.
  • As a – otherwise very successful – beta tester of Snow Leopard, I should not have allowed my enthusiasm for the new OS and otherwise good experience with it on the test machine to blind me to the standard practice of waiting a while to install on my production machine. Some of us never learn!
  • Other than this issue – serious to me, but probably a non-issue to most – the upgrade has otherwise been positive. One pleasant surprise was that the installation gave me back 125GB of space on my main drive!
  • I welcome any information about the printer issue that you may have. Please either leave a comment or send me an email.

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest. Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California. July 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lodgepole pines stand at the edge of the forest next to Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

I have photographed these trees before. They are found at the edge of the meadow along the left side of the road after you leave the forest near the Mono Trail parking lot and enter the meadow at Tioga Pass and approach the entrance station. Several things intrigue me about the trees in this area: they mark the edge of dense forest into which it is difficult to see, few people stop to look at them, they border the meadows, and they sometimes are illuminated late in the day by light reflecting from Mount Dana’s lower slopes to the east.

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.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: pine, lodgepole, tamarack, tree, forest, grove, trunk, branch, needle, meadow, tioga, alpine, thick, dense, grass, flora, pass, road, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, summit, crest, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock, green, edge, dark