Tag Archives: dock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Abandoned Piers, San Francisco

June 18, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Abandoned piers along the waterfront of the San Francisco Bay

I found this wonderful dilapidated and weathered structure while walking along a somewhat out-of-the-way section of the San Francisco Bay waterfront. Technically, it isn’t all that obscure, as there is a lot of new development going in not far from here, yet this specific spot and a few others in this area seem like they have not been touched in quite a while.

I’m a fan of photographing the Bay Shoreline early in the morning, when I can shoot into the rising sun, often with backlit fog and morning haze and occasionally with distant objects on the bay or along its far shore making faint appearances in the photograph. In this shot there are several very large tankers anchored far out in the bay along the horizon line, and beyond that the thinning fog still sits over the east bay shoreline. There are other surprises in this photograph, too. Among them are the odd lawn chair sitting precariously on the wreck of this old pier. Also in the frame are a nearly submerged collapsed pier a bit further off, a small row boat with several people in it, and one of the ship yard cranes that are found along the waterfront.

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

Shoreline, Abandoned Dock, Morning

June 14, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An abandoned dock stands along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay in morning light

Things have been very busy recently, limiting my time to go out and shoot. For some time I’ve been looking forward to another of my periodic “personal photo walks” in San Francisco, and I finally had the chance today. My routine is to get up very early and catch a Caltrain to the City, arriving there no later than 7:00 AM. This is a bit before the crowds arrive, and early enough that there is still a lot of good light around. The good light is especially likely long the San Francisco Bay waterfront, where it shine toward the City from across the bay, often through mist or fog and always reflecting on the water.

This time I explored around the fringes of the Mission Bay area. This was formerly a pretty run down location, with lots of empty lots and some abandoned structures. However, recent urban development has come, and many of the formerly empty areas are now construction sites or the sites of very new and recently occupied buildings. I walked past these and looped over towards the waterfront, where some areas are surprisingly “unimproved,” at least so far. Here I found the remnants of several old piers that have been left to decay and gradually tumble into the bay. In this photograph I shot straight into the morning sun, silhouetting the rotting wood, and composing the scene to include a bit of a working pier to the left and a couple of tankers anchored out in the bay beneath the thinning fog bank.

Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Boats, Yaquina Bay Harbor

September 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Boats at anchor at the docks along the old waterfront in Yaquina Bay, Oregon

During our return from Seattle, Washington in late August (2013) we stopped on Portland and then headed over to the coast and took the long, slow, and scenic route back to California. We spent the first day of this drive along the Oregon coast, more or less driving though but stopping frequently anywhere we saw something interesting. For those who don’t know, the Oregon coast might in some ways remind one of portions of the California coast, especially in northern California, but the ocean seems a bit wilder up here and the towns perhaps even further apart.

The town of Newport is one of the larger ones along this route, and it sits next to the large Yaquina Bay, which is crossed by an impressive and old-school steel bridge consisting of a series of arches. We stopped to photograph the bridge and noticed that the old port was nearby, so we detoured down there to see what we could see. Being familiar with ports more devoted to pleasure and tourist pursuits (Monterey Bay, anyone?), it seemed to me that this little area was still more of a working port. We spent enough time here to walk along the waterfront and make a few photographs, mostly of the densely packed boats tied up at the docks alongside the bay.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Launch For Hire Building

July 14, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

The “Launch For Hire” building, docks, and Tomales Bay as remnants of morning fog drift above the water

I was in this area back in early February, attempting to make it out to Point Reyes by dawn – but various things delayed me, including distractions along the way, and I ended up along the shoreline of Tomales Bay at sunrise. The bay is long and thin and seems quite peaceful, but Californians often remember that it is there because it is the junction between the continental plate and the Pacific plate, otherwise known as the San Andreas earthquake fault. The land I stood on to make this photograph is gradually heading northward and out to sea relative to the more distant land across the bay in the upper part of the frame. Periodically, this must briefly be a distinctly non-peaceful place when that fault lets go!

But on this morning it was quiet. The winter season and cold (literally freezing) temperatures ensured that few other people were there yet, though visitors to Point Reyes National Seashore come all year long and would begin to arrive a bit later in the morning. The light was a study in contrasts. To my right from the camera position was the morning sun, barely rising above the Marin hills and shining from behind some thin and clearing fog. I also made some photographs in that direction and you would hardly guess they were shot from the same place at the same time, since the backlit atmosphere was so bright and luminous than only silhouettes appear. But in this direction only a bit of that fog is seen, in a thin layer just above the water near the far hills, and the foreground is completely clear. There is a group of these piers here, and they extend a good distance into the shallow waters of the bay. I cannot tell what, if anything, the building whose full sign reads “Launch for Hire” is used for today, though its form and the reflections underneath seemed like a good subject for a photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: dock

Abandoned Piers, San Francisco

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Shoreline, Abandoned Dock, Morning

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Boats, Yaquina Bay Harbor

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Launch For Hire Building

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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.