Tag Archives: mare

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

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

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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

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

Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night

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Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night

Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography of a convoluted assemblage of pipes at the base of a ship yard construction tower at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

This is a closer view of some of the old and somewhat mysterious industrial equipment and structures at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California – again shot at night during my visit to this historic location on August 30. This mass of pipes and valves and wires and what not is at the base of one of the tall structures that cross the roadways around the center of the shipyard along Nimitz Avenue.

When I made this exposure I was not sure whether it would end up as black and white or color, but when I saw the intensely yellow color of the light on the painted surfaces of the metal it was, well, too much – so I have gone with the black and white rendition.

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
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, night, nocturnal, photography, black and white, monochrome, pipe, valve, wire, hose, bolt, nut, steel, tower, support, cement, concrete, block, metal, corrugated, building, wall, roof, vent, truss, base, tower, mechanical, industrial, historic, old, usa, shadwo, door, stock

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

Towers, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

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Towers, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

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

Shipyard towers and other structures against a background of fog illuminated by artifical light along Nimitz Street, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Another “ship building towers at Mare Island in the dark” photograph. Indeed. This was one of the last photographs I made during my recent late August visit to this historic site to do night photography. By this time the fog was really moving in and covering much of the sky – and with long exposures the overcast picks up the light from all around and diffuses it in some pretty interesting ways.

The location of this shot is near the museum in the core of the old ship-building area along Nimitz Street next to the waterfront. The large structure was, from what I understand, used to move very large components to the ships in dry dock or at the waterfront. The railroad tracks in the foreground run along much of Nimitz Street and you can see some of the towering cranes along the waterfront beyond.

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
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, nimitz, street, track, rail, railroad, tower, gantry, structure, truss, steel, industrial, equipment, building, asphalt, manhole, cover, lights, fog, clouds, shadow, artificial, light, glow, usa, stock

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

Raccoons and Brick Wall, Mare Island

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Raccoons and Brick Wall, Mare Island

Raccoons and Brick Wall, Mare Island. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of nocturnal raccoons emerges from beneath a brick wall with boarded up windows and doors at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I’ll have to admit that wildlife photography was more or less the furthest thing from my mind when I was shooting this scene of an artificially lit weathered brick wall in the core of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near the end of August. The thing that interested me in this shot was the shape of the pipe attached to the outer wall of this building against the bricks, along with the way it snaked between various windows and doors. So I set up the tripod and made a couple exposures. While making the second one I suddenly thought I saw something move – which seemed completely unexpected. Although it was much darker that it appears in this shot, I eventually saw a furry shape emerging from a gap between the sidewalk and the building… and then another…and another. Eventually there may have been as many as a half dozen raccoons in this little cluster of critters.

It may be hard to see them in this reduced size version of the photograph, but they are the small fuzzy area near the lower right below the valve on the wall. On the full size image it is possible to make out a few paws and the vague outline of their faces.

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
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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