Tag Archives: door

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

Landscape of Brick and Glass

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Landscape of Brick and Glass

Landscape of Brick and Glass. San Francisco, California. May 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Urban landscape black and white photograph of brick buildings in downtown San Francisco, California.

Another photograph from AT&T Park, and again right around sunset. In this case I am shooting towards the downtown San Francisco skyline, which at this time of the day is intensely lit by the setting sun – hence the high key effect on the buildings in the distance and the sky gone all the way to white. With a bit of pondering it becomes apparent that this scene containing many different (mostly brick) walls and odd sized windows on buildings topped with skylights and ventolation systems is almost as complex a landscape as you can find. I like the glow inside the upper window of the closest building.

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.

keywords: brick, building, wall, roof, vent, skylight, peak, window, gutter, door, light, air conditioner, interior, arch, old, dish, antenna, glow, skyscraper, tall, distant, high key, sky, white, bright, san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, street, downtown, landscape, cityscape, skyline, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise

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Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise

Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise light on the ruins of the bank building and other old structures in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada with the Amargosa Range and snow-covered Telescope Peak beyond in Death Valley National Park, California.

I was very lucky to get almost (more on that in a moment) perfect conditions for photographing the ruins of Rhyolite, Nevada when I visited there at dawn on April 1 this year. I’ve visited twice, and both times high thin clouds were in the sky before sunrise. On the previous trip the clouds interfered with the sunrise light, but time beautiful warm light came beneath the clouds right at a dawn and washed the old ghost town with color. Better yet, this same light also illuminated the Amargosa Range across the valley and even snow-capped Telescope peak, the highest point in Death Valley National Park at over 11,000′ elevation. And there is more – the high clouds added a slightly dark texture to the early morning sky. There were only two of us there to witness this beautiful morning at Rhyollite – and I regret not getting the name of the other photographer. (I think he may live in the area. He started out shooting a Nikon SLR system and soon moved to a MF system. I’d love to see the photos he got of this scene!) So, what made it almost perfect as opposed to just plain perfect? In a word, “wind.” The wind was howling on this morning, to the point that camera shake was an issue even on the tripod!

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.

keywords: sunrise, dawn, rhyolite, nevada, ghost town, ruins, bank, building, wall, tower, brick, door, window, rock, wall, abandoned, amargosa, range, mountains, desert, valley, panamint, telescope, peak, snow, capped, sky, clouds, blue, gully, light, death valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, travel, scenic, historic, stock

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

Abandoned Building, Night

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Abandoned Building, Night

Abandoned Building, Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building photographed under artificial light at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is another photograph from the early March visit to historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard with The Nocturnes for a round of (almost) full moon night photography. I’m not actually sure what this building is or was. I just happened to look up a deserted alley while walking down Nimitz Avenue, and I saw  it lit up by lurid sodium vapor lighting. For that reason the colors of the original photograph are a bit much. I had to make some subjective decisions about how to best tone them down. The brightly lit area at the lower left of the building was almost blown out in the red channel from this wild light. I decided to keep a bit of the yellowish tone but reduce it to a more “normal” looking level.

This highlights one thing I enjoy about working with night photography images made in the presence of artificial light. The whole notion of “accurate” is fairly meaningless. First, you almost never make a final photograph that is as dark as the scene actually was – in truth, you cannot “see” a scene like this at night in the way a camera can. Once you realize this, concerns about coming up with  “accurate” color rendition seem sort of pointless – and I just use my judgment and work toward a rendition that seems right to me.

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.

keywords: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, abandoned, industrial, structure, building, window, door, perspective, sky, steps, ladder, wire, railing, distressed, old, architecture, artificial, light, urban, historic, shadow

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

Stairs, Shadows, Door

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Stairs, Shadows, Door

Stairs, Shadows, Door. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows from artificial light and from the moon fall across the metal wall of a building, a rusty stairway, and a door at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

Another photo from the early March 2009 visit to Mare Island Naval Shipyard for night photography with The Nocturnes, and also another photograph in which I paid attention to some of the smaller details of this historic and very interesting site. Here the weathered door and stairway of this old industrial building are illuminated by the light of the nearly full moon and by nearby artificial light, creating interesting shadow patterns.

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.

keywords: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, shadows, artificial, light, moon, moonlight, metal, wall, building, rust, stairway, steps, railing, door, window, pattern, architecture, urban, industrial, historic