Tag Archives: island

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

Abandoned Turnstiles

March 17, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Early this month I had the opportunity to join my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group, for (yet another) return visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard for an evening of nocturnal photography, along with a chance to share work and pizza! I have been photographing Mare Island at night for something like a half dozen years now, yet I still find new and interesting subjects every time I go there.

These turnstile structures are found throughout the facility, and they are a frequent topic of conversation and subject of photography among the night photographers I know. They are intriguing features and there is something compelling about them as potential subjects. Standing along at night they seem forlorn, perhaps in contrast to the knowledge that thousands of ship yard employees must have passed through them at one point. They also seem almost disconnected from the rest of the industrial landscape here. While it is obvious that they must have once been the only entry way to certain areas of the facility, not it is quite possible to simply walk around them. In addition, some mysterious electrical “stuff” has clearly been removed – time card readers? Something else?

It also turns out that they are a surprisingly difficult photographic subject, and I have had many discussions with other night photographers about this. Up close they present an amazing density of interlocking metal features… that are very difficult to assemble into a good composition. I’ve managed once or twice. Oddly, one of my favorite photographs of the turnstiles is almost the very first photograph I made at Mare Island, a black and white close-up photograph of a gate by the island’s museum. For this shot I decided to work from a bit of elevation, setting up on a raised landing in front of a nearby building so that I could look down on the structure and create a sort of surround out of the background area and further buildings.

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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Morning Clouds, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay

March 13, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light shining through layers of morning clouds over San Francisco Bay silhouettes the hills of Angel Island near Richardson Bay.

I can be a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to shooting in certain locations that I’m very familiar with. But the habit isn’t so much shooting the same thing – though that can be part of it – as it is being attentive to how the familiar thing might present itself in ways I have not previously seen. This photograph is a case in point.

I was on my way to a location north of the Golden Gate where I frequently photograph, so I know the route well and have a routine that I frequently follow – it involves where I’m heading, what time I plan to get there, and the route I typically follow. Along the way there are several places where I almost always pause long enough to look around and see if a familiar scene might look different. At a location where my route follows a short ridge line, I often stop and look back across Richardson Bay towards Angel Island and, beyond that, the waterfront of Oakland and then the East Bay hills. On this recent morning, a weak weather front was washing out as it arrived in the Bay Area and, as a result, there were many layers of clouds stacked up to the east. While the sun was able to shine through and light the surface of San Francisco Bay beyond the boats anchored in Richardson Bay, there was haze in the atmosphere that obscured details even on relatively close Angel Island, and in the sky above and beyond there were layers of fog, lower clouds, and the highest clouds of the weather front.

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

Ship Yard Structures, Night

March 9, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photography of steel towers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

It had been a while since I last shot at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, one of my favorite places to do night photography. But in early March the opportunity came up to join friends from the Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group currently celebrating its 20th year. We met in the afternoon for the traditional social stuff – tour of the island, sharing photographs, and pizza – and then headed out after the sun set. (Night photographers are probably the only people who look out the window and mutter, “Ah, it’s still golden hour. Let’s not go out yet…” ;-)

These giant steel towers are among the most iconic structures at the historic ship yard. As I understand it, they were originally part of a system used to move very heavy materials (such as ship engines) from shops to the water’s edge. Virtually everyone who photographs here indulges in photographing these towers and even after you have photographed the place as many times as I have they are still a source of interest. Recent work on the island has opened up a section of the water front that was previously off-limits, so it was possible to walk right beside these shell towers as they stretched out toward the water. Working from almost directly beneath them, I lined up a couple of the towers in night darkness, in which the towers were lit by nearby security lights.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

December 27, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

The Pacific Coast Highway crossing Bixby Bridge above the rugged Big Sur coastline of California.

Bixby Bridge is one of the iconic sights along the rugged terrain of California Coast Highway (highway one) in the Big Sur area south of Monterey. Although it is not the only bridge of its type along this route – and, in my opinion, not necessarily the most visually impressive – it is no doubt the best known. Many people drive to this spot and stop to take in the view from high above the ocean and to photograph the bridge and this scenic section of the highway.

I have photographed this bridge before, and I’ve spent a bit of time scoping out alternative points of view. These include some locations visible from “behind” the bridge, up higher in the coastal hills, and from other nearby locations along the highway. While I have photographed the bridge from the backside in the past, the idea of photographing it in black and white from this vantage point was triggered by a photograph by Chris Morrison that I saw in an online photography forum. When I saw it, I almost immediately “saw” a slightly different composition of the bridge and the steep headlands and cliffs running south along the coast.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: island

Abandoned Turnstiles

Morning Clouds, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay

Ship Yard Structures, Night

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.