Tag Archives: MINSY

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

No POV Parking

April 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Glowing lights inside a shop building at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, reflected in a pool of rainwater

I have now been doing night photography at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California for perhaps a decade. Back when I visited for the first time I would not have expected that night photography or this particular location would still occupy me today, but they do. In many ways, photographing this location at night is an almost meditative experience. I’m long past the initial surprise to find such a place exists—with its long history and old structures in varied states of decay—and I now regard it as a familiar place. The photography itself is part of the attraction. I continue to find new subjects and to see old subjects in new ways and to watch how the place changes over time. But it is also about the slow, quiet, and methodical work of photographing at night. In many places I can barely see my subjects, and I have to wander around slowly and carefully, taking time to look in places that might initially not seem to offer anything of interest. When I think of this photography, the damp air near the waterfront and the deep quiet form as great a part of the experience as anything else.

This visit followed a week when several rain storms had passed over the Bay Area. (I had missed the actual storms, as I was away photographing in Death Valley.) As soon as I arrived at Mare Island I noticed that there were puddles everywhere, so I was on the lookout for reflections. This building is absolutely huge, but in other ways not all that exciting in daylight—but at night, with interior lights glowing, it can become a bit mysterious.

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Night Photography, Photographs: Architecture

Porch and Shadows

June 14, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ambient light, shadows, architecture and vegetation on a night photography shoot.

In November 2012 I joined my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group, for a get-together and shoot at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard. Since this was an “alumni night” event, there was a certain ritual to be followed. Folks who were new to Mare Island arrived early to tour the site – the first west coast naval ship yard, with history going back well over 150 years. A bit later, the “veterans” arrived to join everyone else for events that began with sharing of photographs, continued with pizza, and then led to a night of, well, night photography nearby.

The weather was not promising. We knew that a weather front was on its way, and we hoped – though we probably knew better – that it might hold off long enough to complete some photography. (Those of us with smartphones, checking the weather radar updates, knew better.) The tell-tale south wind was rising as we headed out, and within moments of starting to photograph an old wooden building the rain began. At first I continued to shoot under my umbrella, but soon it was just plain too wet to stay out. Fortunately, we had arranged for access to one of the historic officer’s quarters buildings and photographing inside and around this building quickly became the fall-back plan. I ended up on the front porch with Mark Citret and Tim Baskerville where we intermittently talked photography and made a few shots of things that didn’t require us to stand in the rain. At one point I parked myself near an end of the old porch and made this photograph of the shadow of my rig falling the wall of the building.

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

Blue Shed, Evening

May 28, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A metal-walled blue shade beneath an abandoned industrial building in “blue hour” evening light, near Vallejo, California

This photograph belongs to a genre that might be called Almost-Night Photography. I was at this location to do night photography, in fact, but for once decided to also try shooting the area a bit before the daylight disappeared. So perhaps 45 minutes before sunset I stopped what I was doing (eating pizza, actually…) and drove around a bit looking for “golden hour” photograph opportunities in this abandoned industrial area. I started a good distance from the location of this shot and did my sunset shoot in a more open area full of run down and falling down ruined buildings. After that I headed back towards an area of less-dilapidated but also virtually abandoned buildings.

So I arrived here a bit after sunset as the so-called “blue hour” light was coming on. The structure was open to the west where the post-sunset sky was visible over San Francisco Bay. Some clouds near the horizon still had the bright and orange-yellow colors of sunset, but the larger part of the sky was transitioning toward deep blue. As a result, any place in this image that was in shadow was primarily illuminated by the very blue overhead sky, while the upper windows of the taller building still reflected some of those last bits of color, though they were distorted by the uneven arrangement of the windows to create interesting patterns that are perhaps better seen in a larger presentation of the photograph. There are three buildings in the shot. The foreground round-roofed shed seems to be some sort of storage or work space that might have been added later. Behind that and to the right is a lighter-colored building that seems like it might have held some offices or similar facilities. Beyond that are the mostly glass walls of a very large industrial building that seems to be at least a full block long. These giant old buildings intrigue me in many ways, but the number of windows seems remarkable. I assume that they were designed this way so that people could work inside with little or no supplemental electrical light, and the interior spaces of such buildings can contain beautiful light during the day.

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

Building 106, Night

May 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white night photograph of Building 106 and surroundings, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

It has been a while since I have posted new night photography, much less work from this location. I’ve photograph this area extensively over a period of years, often working with my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. In fact, I was there with them once again on this mid-March night.

Atypically, some of us had begun the evening’s work by shooting in the daylight! Shortly before sunset someone came up with the novel idea, among night photographers anyway, of going out before it became dark to photograph in the golden hour light. So, I started early and gradually worked my way back to the familiar central core of old ship yard buildings. Some years ago when I first visited I was entranced by the most obvious subjects, mostly very large and impressive industrial structures. I still find them impressive and continue to photograph them, but as I returned many more times I began to push out the boundaries of what I know of the place. Eventually I looked for less obvious subjects, sometimes small and out-of-the-way things I had first overlooked, and I began to move beyond the familiar core area to look a bit more far afield. While the location in this photograph isn’t that far from where I started shooting, it is a bit less visited and it was probably the first time that I had explored this particular spot. I was first attracted by some nearby tall structures that look like they might be some sort of hoppers or collection equipment. Then I continued walking and turned up this side alley where nearby artificial lights illuminated the terribly weathered metal walls of old factory buildings, rising from the small one at right, past the taller building just beyond, and culminating that the much taller building near the upper portion of the frame, with its large pipe that must have carried smoke or gas away from its room.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: MINSY

No POV Parking

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Porch and Shadows

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Blue Shed, Evening

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Building 106, Night

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

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