Tag Archives: historic

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

Building 631, Mare Island

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Building 631, Mare Island
Building 631, Mare Island

Building 631, Mare Island. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. February 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Building 631, with badly peeling paint and illuminated by garish artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

For some reason I often find myself down around the old power plant and in the alley next to Building 631 near the end of my nighttime shoots at Mare Island. The railroad tracks curve through this alley – though they aren’t particularly visible in this photograph – and the bizarre and garish light and grossly peeling paint on this wall seem different from many of the other subjects around here.

One of the fun things about this sort of night photography is that “white balance” is more or less impossible! This scene includes light sources ranging from some kind of bizarre blue-green lighting that I can’t identify (fluorescent?) to sodium vapor to tungsten to sky lit by the glow from Vallejo, across the bay from the island. When it comes to the right color balance… pick one! Or several! Or make one up! In the end, no matter what you choose it won’t really “look like” what you saw in the dead of night – but for me that isn’t really the object. Long-exposure night photography lets us reveal things that we cannot see with our own eyes and present them in ways that are imaginative and different from our usual reality.

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.

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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, building, 631, peeling, paint, wall, door, light, lamp, garish, artificial, window, road, track, sky, plants, old, abandoned, industrial, north america, conduit, boarded up, downspout, no parking, wire, perspective, convergence, stock

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

Museum Building, Reflection – Eighth and Nimitz

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Museum Building, Reflection - Eighth and Nimitz
Museum Building, Reflection - Eighth and Nimitz

Museum Building, Reflection – Eighth and Nimitz. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. February 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard – The museum building reflected in rainwater pools with shipbuilding equipment beyond.

One more in the series of night photographs made with The Nocturnes at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California during the first weekend of February. I made several photographs from this general location that feature the brick side wall of the museum building with the other ship yard structures in the background and the puddles from recent rain in the foreground.

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.

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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, eighth, nimitz, avenue, street, museum, core, brick, window, reflection, stop, sing, wall, roof, sidewalk, street, railroad, rain, water, pool, puddle, industrial, scaffold, equipment, sky, nocturnal, nocturnes, clouds, stock

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

Brick Wall and Fence, Railroad Avenue

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Brick Wall and Fence, Railroad Avenue
Brick Wall and Fence, Railroad Avenue

Brick Wall and Fence, Railroad Avenue. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. February 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of a night scene on Railroad Avenue at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with cyclone fence, brick wall, pipes and tank, window, and speed limit sign.

I was thinking about the Panocturnists group when I made this photograph at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard during the first weekend of February. The location is in many ways pretty mundane – one of the first areas that most first-time Mare Island night photographers shoot near the entrance to the so-called “historic core” of the site, and nothing that would warrant a second look during daylight hours. Not surprisingly, most photographers here are initially attracted to a nearby turnstile or to the massive steel structures overhead. I’ve shot here enough now that, while I’ll still shoot those subjects, I usually look for less-obvious subjects that I may not have tried previously. So while some new folks photographed right behind me I decided to see what I could do with the street light-illuminated fence, wall, and collection of pipes in this corner. (And, as the long exposure was underway I was able to help out the first-timers… :-)

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.

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

Brick Wall and Windows, Reflection

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Brick Wall and Windows, Reflection
Brick Wall and Windows, Reflection

Brick Wall and Windows, Reflection. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. February 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography of structures in the “historic core” of the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with reflection in a rain puddle – Vallejo, California.

A few times each year I have the pleasure of photographing at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group founded my Tim Baskerville and now an important resource for information about night photography, night photography workshops, and fine night photography. During the first weekend of February I joined a small group for a visit to “the dark side” at Mare Island. In contrast to typical shoots there, this time there was no moon. However, since it had rained earlier in the day the clearing clouds and left-over reflecting puddles provided special conditions that aren’t usually available.

This scene is probably familiar to almost anyone who has shot at Mare Island. The brick wall and windows belong to the museum located in the “historic core” of the facility at the corner of 8th and Nimitz, where the huge overhead structures were used to move heavy equipment and parts to the ship construction area along the waterfront.

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

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