Tag Archives: industrial

Windows and Shadows, Building 101

Windows and Shadows, Building 101

Windows and Shadows, Building 101. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night black and white photograph of windows, corrugated metal, and shadows on the front of Building 101, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This photograph shows details of the facade of Building 101 at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California – mainly the large window at the lower left of the front of the building, but also including some shadows cast by various items attached to the building an nearby that caught the light from nearby security lights.

After looking at the gaudy coloration from the artificial lighting on this building I thought it might be interesting – or a relief! – to try a black and white version of the close-up view.

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: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, window, panes, frame, wood, corrugated, metal, wall, wire, broken, glass, pipe, conduit, shadow, fence, lamp, sign, front, artificial, light, illumination, asphalt, weeds, industrial, urban, black and white, usa, stock

Building 101, Night

Building 101, Night

Building 101, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph under artificial light of a portion of the front of Building 101 near the core of the historic shipyard at Mare Island, Vallejo, California.

I’ve been intrigued by the windows, doors, peeling paint, grafitti, and general appearance of Building 101 at Mare Island in the past, but this was the first time that I set about to photograph it apart from the surrounding buildings. Rather that try to place it in its surroundings in this shot, I decided to just shoot it straight on with a prime lens and simply “show” the front surface of the structure as it is.

Believe it or not, the color balance of this image is “as shot” – the front of building is starkly lit by sodium vapor lamps and the right side is even more strongly lit by the same sort of lighting. The “sky” is fog covered, and the fog is illuminated by a lot of artificial light, coming for the most part here from the town of Vallejo across the water. (As I worked on this image I thought about how different it would have been had the light at the upper right corner of the building been operating!)

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: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, industrial, old, historic, dilapidated, run down, defaced, grafitti, peeling, paint, metal, corrugated, window, door, frame, pipe, conduit, fence, chain, link, lamp, light, shadow, asphalt, sign, yellow, sky, peach, orange, brown, dark, pane, usa, stock, broken, glass

Ship Yard Structure, Night

Ship Yard Structure, Night

Ship Yard Structure, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A towering ship yard structure against fog lit by artificial lighting at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

An explanation of the colors in this photograph is probably in order. If you had been there next to me, looking up at the sky past this tall steel structure, you would not have seen colors that looked like this. It was, of course, dark out! You would have noticed a glow coming from the base of the fog clouds that were overhead, but it would not have seemed to have much of a color beyond a certain “warm” effect.

However, once I extend the exposure time so that I get a “normal” exposure in the camera (a bit more than three minutes in this case) light and color that are not visible to the human eye become visible to the camera. During RAW conversion I did not significantly alter the colors – these are what ACR refers to as “as shot” color balance. So we get this wild, luminous effect in the fog clouds and the brightness of the light on the structure becomes similar to that of daytime light… except the colors are different and many of the shadows come from sources that would be impossible in a daytime exposure.

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: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, structure, scaffold, steel, wire, industrial, equipment, beam, steps, ladder, rust, yellow, fog, sky, illumination, artificial, light, usa, tower, overhead, equpment, cage, platform, bolt, rivet, stock

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Nimitz Street with high fog and moonlight and ambient artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is probably one of the iconic scenes for night photographers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. This shot looks up Nimitz Street near the waterfront and across railway tracks toward some of the core old buildings and beyond to the smoke stack of the power plant. It includes some of the huge overhead structures that were, as I understand it, used to move large ship components such as engines from the shops in which they were assembled to the ships under construction.

As is typical at night at Mare Island, the photograph includes a wild range of types of lighting. The 3/4 moon is partially responsible for illuminating the high fog, but the fog also picks up a warmer glow from a variety of types of lighting on the ground at Mare Island and beyond. The buildings are lit by some of the same light sources, but also by local security lightning and some street lights including tungsten, sodium vapor and perhaps even florescent sources. (When composing such shots I have to be very careful to place the camera in a position where direct light from these many sources is blocked by buildings, towers, and so forth.)

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, shipyard, historic, abandoned, decommisioned, nimitz, street, avenue, tracks, scaffolding, structure, tower, industrial, brick, building, road, window, door, quonset, hut, truss, wall, room, smoke, stack, chimney, power, plant, fog, high, star, trails, glow, night, photography, nocturnal, reflection, dark, urban, stock