Tag Archives: door

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

Tire Shop and Palm Tree

June 18, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

An old and dilapidated tire shop with a single palm tree.

And now a break for something completely different from the Yosemite photographs I’ve posted for the better part of the past two weeks. Last weekend I had a couple hours of free time during the middle of the day – the toughest time for light, especially so close to the summer solstice. So I decided to go out for an urban walk and see if I could make some photographs that took on this bright and harsh light instead of trying to avoid it.

I have photographed this building before. It is an older garage that is now a tire shop. The building is, despite being painted and so forth, quite dilapidated – window and door frames don’t line up, the stucco is cracked and patched, and walls and roof lines intersect at odd angles. The paint job on the building couldn’t be more, well, boring. The building is roughly gray, with some blocky black lettering and the painted image of a tire. There is no vegetation and a plain sidewalk runs in front of it. The whole thing just seemed perfect for a harsh, midday light photograph.

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.

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

Bunker Entry Door, Mare Island

June 4, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Entry door to old bunkers at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

I was surprised to find this bunker door open. Typically this area of old cement bunkers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard seems to be sealed up tightly – in fact, most of the doors (or what I presume to be doors) have been covered with metal plates. Although this images has the look of soft daylight, perhaps that of an overcast day, the effect is the result of shooting during very late twilight when there was a combination of diffused light from the sky and some artificial light spilling into the scene from nearby.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 73mm
ISO 200, f/16, 30 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, bunker, door, concrete, cement, entrance, sign, main, entry, point, authorized, personnel, only, frame, paint, worn, weathered, dilapidated, historic, structure, military, urban, industrial, stock, black and white, monochrome

Commentary, Photographs: Night

Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

June 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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.

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

Wall, Door, Handrail, and Shadows

March 19, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photograph of architectural elements and shadows at Union Square, San Francisco, California.

This is a photograph of an interesting (to me, anyway!) juxtaposition of the texture and lines of the concrete wall, the smooth surface and slight coloration of the metal door, the angled shadows from a trellis structure above, and the countering angle of the shiny hand rail. I just happened to notice this as we briefly walked across busy Union Square on this weekend afternoon.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/800 second

keywords: San Francisco, California, USA, north america, union, square, downtown, urban, abstract, street, cement, concrete, metal, wall, texture, line, diagonal, shadows, hinge, door, handrail, pattern, shape, structure, street, light, stock

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