Tag Archives: glass

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

Room in Abandoned Building, The Embarcadero

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Room in Abandoned Building, The Embarcadero - The interior of an abandoned waterfront building on the Embarcadero, San Francisco.
The interior of an abandoned waterfront building on the Embarcadero, San Francisco.

Room in Abandoned Building, The Embarcadero. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The interior of an abandoned waterfront building on the Embarcadero, San Francisco.

This interior is a room in a building located on one of the piers along the Embarcadero on San Francisco’s waterfront. This one is located not far from the South Beach Harbor. It seems to be one of those old structures that was recently adapted for use by companies that had the “look” of being part of the tech boom in the city – perhaps design firms or similar. I have walked past it many times, occasionally photographing the exterior windows and other features, but otherwise not noticing it all that much.

On my last walk past this spot things had changed, to say the least. There were signs along entrances that declared that the pier had been closed, ostensibly for safety reasons, and that no trespassing was allowed. No one seemed to be inside the building, and most of the businesses appeared to have left or been abandoned. Though one set of windows I could see stacks of boxes labelled with intended mail recipients, but that mail wasn’t going anywhere! Near the north end of the building I could see into this sun-filled room, with its tall windows facing the bay and the morning sun. Almost everything was removed from the building, giving it almost the same abandoned feeling that I often experience when shooting at Mare Island. I managed to push my camera up against a window, block reflections from the street behind me with my hand, and make a few perhaps final photographs of this space.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Railing, Stairs, and Window – Museum of Modern Art

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Railing, Stairs, and Window - Museum of Modern Art
Railing, Stairs, and Window - Museum of Modern Art

Railing, Stairs, and Window – Museum of Modern Art. New York, New York. August 21, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Edge of an upper landing with a railing, stairs, and windows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

I think I have visited, at least briefly, the Museum of Modern Art every time I have been in New York City. (As a “west coaster” that isn’t all that often, but still…) My secret is that photographing inside and around the museum is, for me, almost as interesting as viewing the exhibits. There is a ton of interesting subject material to work with: the people, the interior (and to a lesser extent, exterior) architecture of the place, details that can be found by looking around a bit, the surrounding neighborhoods, and juxtapositions of any and all of these things.

We visited a wonderful show of photography when we were there this year, and at the end of a hallway outside the entrance to this show I saw this translucent wall of windows with a glow enhanced by, if I recall correctly, some cloudiness outside. Shooting quickly with the 50mm prime that was on my camera, I first grabbed some shots mostly of these windows. Then I tried a few that focused more on the stairway seen here at lower right. Finally, I narrowed it down to just this bit of curving railing and floor, throwing the rest of the scene out of focus by shooting at the largest aperture.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Staten Island Ferry

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Staten Island Ferry
Staten Island Ferry

Staten Island Ferry. New York, New York. August 19, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Details of the Staten Island Ferry in black and white.

This photograph may need a bit of explanation. Though it might be fun for you to try to parse out what you are seeing first. Go ahead. I’ll wait…

We did the cheap thing on this afternoon after walking around parts of south Manhattan – we wandered over to the Battery Park, saw a ferry approaching, figured we had just enough time for a scenic round trip, ran to the terminal, and did the free over-and-back on the Staten Island Ferry. The price is certainly right, and the ferry provides interesting views of the Brooklyn shoreline and the south end of Manhattan.

This is a photograph of… not much. The only in-focus element is the vertical metal bar near the left side of the frame. There are windows in the frame as well, and they provide several layers of reflections along with some other “stuff” from the glass itself. (The fence-like object at lower right is actually behind my camera position.) I shot this with a very large aperture to get a narrow depth of field, so everything beyond the metal column is out of focus – the sliding windows, the portion of a person at the right edge of the frame, the water and horizon, and the barely visible bit of the Verrazano bridge in the right window.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue and Green Receptacles, Yerba Buena Gardens

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Blue and Green Receptacles, Yerba Buena Gardens
Blue and Green Receptacles, Yerba Buena Gardens

Blue and Green Receptacles, Yerba Buena Gardens. San Francisco, California. July 15, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Blue and green waste receptacles next to a glass wall at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco.

I’m tempted to not say much about this photograph, beyond the basics of where and when and what. The “where” is along the wall of the performing arts center at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center. The when is on a morning with high fog that produced some nice, diffused light. The “what” is, well, a couple of trash cans in front of a large window, behind which there are a couple of other trash cans in the same color scheme, a drinking fountain, and some yellow walls. Profound, no? :-)

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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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