Tag Archives: fog

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

Shipbuilding Yard Towers, Night

September 19, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

High fog across the night sky above towers at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I’ve had the good fortune to be able to do night photography at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California on a number of occasions over the past few years – largely because I discovered The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group run by Tim Baskerville. (If you are looking for night photography events, workshops, and general information – you would do well to visit their web site.) The Nocturnes photograph regularly at Mare Island (also known as “MINSY”) and I got my first, ahem, exposure to night photography via one of their events.

This visit, on the final night of August, was the first time I’ve shot there when it wasn’t an event sponsored by The Nocturnes, and it seemed a bit odd to be the person most experienced at shooting here. This event was more or less organized by SF Bay Area photographer Ivan Makarov who contacted me ahead of time for some information about shooting at MINSY and invited me to join his group if I could. I could, so I did.

After shooting there a half dozen times or so, it starts to seem a bit too easy to keep shooting the same Mare Island icons in the same way, so this time I decided to try to shoot a few things that I had not shot before and to shoot some of the familiar subjects in somewhat different ways. One decision I made was to – for the most part – avoid the usual super-wide-angle shots that seem so obvious in this environment. I started out using a 70-200mm zoom instead and later moved to shooting with normal to slightly long primes. (I did fall back on the UWA approach for a few shots – heck, if it works I’m going to do it!) Another factor was that we did not have the totally clear full-moon skies that I’m more familiar with from previous MINSY shoots. We had a softer but earlier 3/4 moon, and at times there was quite dense high fog. The fog obviously obscures the sky and reduces/eliminates the star trail photographs, but it also picks up and then spreads a wonderful diffuse light from the many natural and artificial light sources found at MINSY.

The photograph shown here was made with the long zoom and includes nearly complete fog coverage of the sky. The lighting is a crazy combination of light from nearby Vallejo reflected in the clouds, garish sodium vapor lighting coming from beyond the scaffolding, and some “natural” light from the moon on the front of the metal building. (One of the things I enjoy about night photography in a location like this is that with so many wildly different light sources there is no correct color balance – so I get to pick!

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, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, tower, steel, truss, equipment, industrial, bridge, star, trail, fog, light, building, shack, loading, dock, door, window, stairs, steps, asphalt, wire, rust, worn, abandoned, stock, tall, shadow, night, photography, nocturnal, metal, concrete, cement, glow, yellow

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress, Allan Memorial Grove

September 12, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Beneath the canopy on a foggy afternoon in the Monterey Cypress forest at Allan Memorial Grove, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

(Since this is simply the black and white version of the photograph I just posted earlier, I’m including largely the same text here that I included with the color rendition.)

I am always intrigued by the patterns of the trunks and lower branches of the Monterey cypress trees when I walk through the Allen Memorial Grove at Point Lobos. I’m also intrigued – and challenged – by the nearly monochromatic nature of the scene, especially when fog mutes the light as it did on this afternoon. On the other hand, the fog also softens and diffuses the light and decreases the contrast between the light parts of the trees and the shadows.

It was in such conditions that I made this photograph in August on a very foggy – and getting foggier! – late afternoon. When I made the exposure I was pretty sure I would make a black and white print from this scene but I also kept open the option of a color version. When I worked up the two versions later I was surprised that to find that I liked the color version more than expected, so I made prints of both the color and black and white versions and lived with them a bit.

In the end I decided that this black and white version works best as a print… I think. (I also have to point out that this photograph relies a lot of the inclusion of a ton of fine detail that just plain isn’t going to be visible in the small jpg version I can post online. Ah, well!)

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: monterey, cypress, tree, forest, grove, trunk, group, branch, afternoon, fog, pattern, point, lobos, state, reserve, california, usa, peninsula, big sur, carmel, pacific, coast, ocean, nature, flora, park, allen, memorial, trail, hike, walk, landscape, travel, scenic, stick, twig, stock, black and white

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress, Allan Memorial Grove

September 11, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Beneath the canopy on a foggy afternoon in the Monterey Cypress forest at Allan Memorial Grove, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

It was in such conditions that I made this photograph in August on a very foggy – and getting foggier! – late afternoon. When I made the exposure I was pretty sure I would make a black and white print from this scene but I also kept open the option of a color version. When I worked up the two versions later I was surprised that to find that I liked this color version more than expected, so I made prints of both the color and black and white versions and lived with them a bit.

In the end I decided that the black and white version works best… I think. I’ll post it next. (I also have to point out that this photograph relies a lot of the inclusion of a ton of fine detail that just plain isn’t going to be visible in the small jpg version I can post online. Ah, well!)

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
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Cypress Trees in Fog #2

September 10, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cypress trees and rocks in fog, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

Once I finally admitted that the sun was not going to come out before sunset – which would have been obvious to anyone who did not arrive at Point Lobos with my incorrect preconceptions about the day’s weather – I set about making photographs of subjects that were made more interesting by the fog.

This tree is one that I’ve walked past many times while shooting along the northwest portion of the park just to the “right” of the Punta de los Lobos Marinos and in an area of trails along the bluffs and through Monterey Pine groves. Usually the scene right here is pretty complicated, with many trees, lots of rocks and so forth – but on this evening the fog simplified things, fading all parts of the scene except for this one closer tree growing on top of the rocks.

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: monterey, cypress, tree, fog, mist, cloud, pinnacle, point, hill, cliff, rock, bluff, shore, seascape, pacific, ocean, peninsula, california, usa, carmel, sea, rugged, point, lobos, state, reserve, park, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock, stump, snag, water, foam

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