Earlier today I mentioned my disappointment at missing the announcement of this weekend’s night photography shoot at Mare Island sponsored by The Nocturnes, and my hope that I might still be able to join them. Luck was with me and I have confirmation from Tim Baskerville and Susan Nichols that I can take part – so I’ll be there doing the night photography thing tomorrow.
Tag Archives: historic
Cannery Building, Poles, and Shuttered Windows
Cannery Building, Poles, and Shuttered Windows. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Old brick cannery building with metal shutters, utility poles and wires, sidewwalk and street in San Jose, California.
Just west of downtown San Jose, near the Los Gatos Creek, is the site of the old Del Monte cannery. For many years, back when Santa Clara Valley was still an agricultural center, this was a thriving area centered around the very busy cannery. The cannery is gone now, replace by new condos with more under construction. However, on a few side streets in the area some of the old cannery buildings still stand, including this brick building with the interesting metal window shutters.
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: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, brick, cannery, building, old, historic, metal, doors, arch, utility, pole, wire, red, curb, street, sidewalk, cable, usa, stock
Tree, Brick Wall with Window and Pipe
Tree, Brick Wall with Window and Pipe. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A very old brick wall with a pipe and boarded up window and an adjacent tree catching late afternoon winter light – San Jose, California.
This shadowed wall, terribly weathered, covered with moss, and growing plants where the downspout has leaked is on an old cannery building that is rapidly being “redeveloped” west of downtown San Jose, California. Given that nearby buildings of the same vintage have largely been boarded up and many knocked down to make room for condominiums, I am very surprised that this one still stands and may even still be in use – though not by a cannery. The texture and form of the shadowed wall caught my attention, along with the bit of direct light (and light reflected from the unseen left wall of the building) striking the tree.
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: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, brick, wall, old, dilapidated, worn, weathered, moss, plant, pipe, downspout, window, boarded up, texture, pattern, structure, historic, tree, light, branch, leaf, sky, blue, california, usa, cannery, abandoned, industrial, urban, street, stock
Sign, Fabers Bicycles
Sign, Fabers Bicycles. San Jose, California. December 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Brightly painted red, yellow, white, and black wall on the old Fabers Bicycles building in San Jose California.
The next few photographs are going to represent something a bit different from what I’ve posted recently – e.g. not natural landscape. Today my son and I went out for a two or three hour urban walk in San Jose, California, wandering through some interesting areas around the downtown area including some old neighborhoods and some very old industrial areas that were originally clustered around long gone railroad tracks. To add to the “sport,” I shot only with a 50mm prime. This photograph is a detail of a brightly painted wall on a very old bicycle shop near the downtown area. It is locally famous for its “bicycle mountain” – a huge pile of probably hundreds and hundreds of old bicycles that used to fill the small fenced yard behind the shop. I understand that the city finally made them do something about this rather interesting eyesore, and today there are still lots of old bicycle frames, forks, wheels and other detritus in the yard but it is now more or less organized on tables and hung overhead.
If you are familiar with my landscape photography and this seems a bit jarring, I think of this sort of thing as “urban landscape.” Although it may seem a bit odd to some, I approach this stuff in a way that is not all that different from how I do landscape photography.
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: fabers, bicycles, bikes, shop, schwinn, chicago, yellow, red, white, black, paint, sign, wall, wood, panel, siding, old, historic, downtown, urban, street, california, usa, pedal, wheel, spokes, frame, chain guard, stock