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Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

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Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers
Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. May 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The wall of an abandoned building with a metal door and painted numbers and text at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Illuminated by gaudy yellow sodium vapor lamps.

It may be difficult (if not impossible) to make sense out of this image without some explanation. In a side alley off of Nimitz Street at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard I previously found a large abandoned building that is lit at night by bright and garish sodium vapor lamps. When I photographed the building the first time I shot at the end nearest to the main street, and I ended up toning down the intense yellow tones that this type of artificial lighting produces when it shines on a subject like this building. This time I went further back into the alley and near the back of the building found a strange area around an old metal door where the weathered wall and window had been covered by strange marking apparently made with spray paint – numbered squares along the lower part of the wall and, above and out of this frame, seemingly random bits of numbers and text – with all of this interrupted by crossing pipes, conduit, boards, and general decay. With nothing in the frame but the wall, here shot straight on, the bizarrely lit surface seems to me like an almost complete abstraction.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 82mm
ISO 100, f/8, 8 seconds

keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, abandoned, dilapidated, distressed, decay, urban, industrial, number, letter, paint, metal, door, concrete, window, pipe, conduit, yellow, sodium, vapor, light, lamp, rust, stain, worn, old, historic, vallejo, california, usa, north america, stock, wall, structure, building, night, nocturnes, photography, bay, area, san francisco

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

Sunlit Wall with Textured Glass

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Sunlit Wall with Textured Glass
Sunlit Wall with Textured Glass

Sunlit Wall with Textured Glass. San Francisco, California. March 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of a sunlit wall with textured glass windows along a street in San Francisco, California.

Yet another of the “it is sort of street photography and sort of urban landscape” photographs, this one made on a walking loop that took me through a good part of downtown San Francisco, and finally through the Tenderloin to the Civic Center. I made several photographs of the obscure glass windows of this street-level window along the sidewalk. In this one I wanted to work with the converging lines of the window frame and the vertical lines of the bits of wall between the windows.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/200 second

(Note: This was accidentally posted a day earlier along with another photograph. Reposting it today puts the block back on schedule.)

keywords: black and white, monochrome, perspective, converge, lines, frame, window, pane, textured, obscured, sticker, worn, distressed, bright, sunlit, sunlight, light, shadow, shape, structure, architecture, concrete, wall, ground, sidewalk, street, urban, city, downtown, san francisco, california, usa, north america, abstract, form, stock

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

Garage Doors, Virgil Street

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Garage Doors, Virgil Street
Garage Doors, Virgil Street

Garage Doors, Virgil Street. San Francisco, California. February 20, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Old and dilapidated garage doors and “no parking” sign in afternoon light on Virgil Street, San Francisco, California.

This seems like a photograph that most people would not identify with San Francisco. If anything, it first appears to be some sort of rural image, perhaps a rustic old barn on a ranch or similar. However, this shot was made along a narrow alley in the Mission District of San Francisco. (Again, as in the “yellow building” photo I posted recently, I suppose I could be accused of attempting to make the Mission not look like the Mission!)

The light was changeable and from time to time beautiful on this afternoon. While it was a cloudy day and mostly somewhat gray, the clouds were thin and broken enough that occasionally soft and diffused light would break through. Here that light brings a bit of relief to the complex and rich textures of this very old and very run-down garage wall and door – and that little bit of green at the lower left softens the whole thing just a bit.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
ISO 200, f/8, 1/60 second

keywords: virgil, street, alley, mission, san francisco, california, usa, north america, no parking, day, night, driveway, opposite, garage, sign, urban, street, wood, wall, door, window, hinge, rust, distressed, green, plant, afternoon, light, winter, structure, downtown, latch, lock, sidewalk, peeling, paint, panel, stock

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

Detail, Brick Buildings

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Detail, Brick Buildings

Detail, Brick Buildings. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Details of the walls, windows and roof of brick buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This may be the final photo in the recent Mare Island series for a while. (Or maybe not… ;-)

This photograph shows the details of some of the old brick buildings not far from the power plant. They were photographed in twilight as I was wandering around prior to beginning the real night photography work. Although it is difficult to see in this small jpg, there is some really wonderful light on the small structure atop the roof that comes from the open view towards the sunset to the west. Also a bit hard to see here – but perhaps visible in a larger print – are the puffs of fog that were just starting to blow in off of the water and which catch a bit of the reddish early evening light.

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: brick, wall, detail, window, roof, pipe, blinds, round, skylight, vent, distressed, old, historic, metal, frame, sill, mortar, broken, dilapidated, mare, island, naval, shipyard, minsy, building, architecture, industrial, sky, fog, cloud, evening, warm, light, angle, structure, california, vallejo, usa, stock