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Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

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Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers
Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers

Yellow Wall with Door and Numbers. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. May 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 82mm
ISO 100, f/8, 8 seconds

keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, abandoned, dilapidated, distressed, decay, urban, industrial, number, letter, paint, metal, door, concrete, window, pipe, conduit, yellow, sodium, vapor, light, lamp, rust, stain, worn, old, historic, vallejo, california, usa, north america, stock, wall, structure, building, night, nocturnes, photography, bay, area, san francisco

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

Night Scene, Mare Island

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Night Scene, Mare Island
Night Scene, Mare Island

Night Scene, Mare Island. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. May 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of pipes, barricades, trash receptacles, and wall with alarm – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

I suppose this more or less qualifies as a photograph of nothing. What we have here are: a couple of barricade posts, part of a dumpster, some pipes and valves, a trash can, a textured concrete wall lit from above by a single lamp, a fire alarm, and shadows from various of these objects. I saw this as I walked along Nimitz street along the waterfront at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard and, for some reason, just felt that it was a picture waiting to be recorded.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 40mm
ISO 200, f/16, 13 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, pipes, valves, barricades, pole, trash, can, receptacle, dumpster, wall, fire, alarm, light, artificial, glow, asphalt, concrete, cement, industrial, urban, nocturne, stock

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

Alley, Mare Island

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Alley, Mare Island. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. May 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Artificial light illuminates an alley and an old industrial building at historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

On the second-to-last night of May I had a chance to do a bit more night photography at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard after Ivan Makarov contacted me to say that he was organizing a small group for a visit. We gathered before sunset near the “historic core” area of the island, and before long we all headed off to photograph the diverse and interesting subjects found here.

Having shot the “classics” at Mare Island many, many times I decided to start out with a different subject. Instead of heading for the old brick buildings and the immense ship yard structures, before it became dark I headed into a park like area where old cement bunkers sit among trees. By the time I finished there and walked back to where I had last seen the group… they were all gone! I went ahead and shot alone for the next hour and a half or so, mostly looking for detail shots of smaller subjects. Near the end of my shoot I happened to walk past this alley and decided to make one more exposure before packing up and heading home.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 45mm
ISO 400, f/16, 20 seconds

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, north america, historic, night, photography, minsy, artificial, light, glow, column, building, brick, window, wall, dark, sky, night, nocturne, alley, street, asphalt, shadow, drain, gutter, drain, perspective, industrial, urban, factory, stock

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

Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light

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Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light
Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light

Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light. Rhyolite, Nevada. March 27, 2010.© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The light of the rising full moon illuminates the ruins of the old bank building against a star-filled sky in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.

I have photographed the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada on several occasions in the past, but always in the very early morning. (I have a habit of hitting Rhyolite before dawn, shooting as long as the light allows, visiting Beatty for cheap gas and breakfast, then heading back to Death Valley via Titus Canyon.) I have wanted to try photographing the location both at sunset and under a full moon, and the timing for both worked out on my late March visit to Death Valley National Park. Late on my second afternoon I headed east out of the Valley and over the pass and arrived at Rhyolite before sunset.

I spent some time wandering around the familiar locations in the unfamiliar late-day light. In the end, my suspicion that Rhyolite is more of an early morning location than an evening location seemed to be confirmed. At this time of year the sun sets a bit too far to the “right” as you look west, and the the light is blocked by a low hill at just the time it would otherwise become interesting. I did make some photographs of the ruins of the ghost town in the fading light… then I settled in to make a few night photographs of the tall bank building ruins.

I’m thinking of this as sort of a practice run for a return visit for more Rhyolite night photography. I think that the full moon timing has potential, but I want to try again and think more about the placement of the structures relative to the North Star. One more thing… when I arrived there was essentially no one else there. Soon a couple other photographers showed up, but the place was still relatively deserted. Then, after dark, I was surprised when a number of cars showed up. There was apparently some sort of night photography workshop visiting the place – perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that they acted like they owned the place and that the rest of us didn’t matter. Most night photographers would know better than to drive into a shooting location with headlights blazing, and they might ask photographers who were already there if their light painting would interfere with shots underway. Just sayin’…

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 22mm
ISO 200, f/11, 432 seconds

keywords: death valley, national, park, nevada usa, north america, scenic, travel, nature, desert, full, moon, light, rising, rhyolite, ghost, town, ruins, abandoned, weathered, column, bank, building, wall, window, sky, star, trail, night, nocturnal, photography, shadow, historic, mining, stock