Tag Archives: night

Yellow Poles

Yellow Poles
Yellow Poles. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A barrier of yellow metal poles around transformer boxes under garish artificial light at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I thought I had finished photographing on the night of this shoot with a group of photographers from The Nocturnes. As I was about to pack up, on a whim I decided to wander around the other side of the Quonset building seen in the photograph, and I found this interesting arrangement of transformer boxes and poles illuminated by some of the most stark and garish light I had seen that night.

keywords: night, photography, nocturnal, yellow, poles, transformers, concrete, slab, block, building, structure, quonset, hut, shadows, blue, light, dark, mare island, naval shipyard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, industrial, urban, equipment, electrical

Crane and Building With Green Windows, Night

Crane and Building With Green Windows, Night
Crane and Building With Green Windows, Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night color photograph of an old shipyard crane and a building with green windows at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. Photographed during a full moon outing with The Nocturnes SF Bay Area night photography group.

Mare Island at night seems to provide an almost endless range of subjects and lighting. I’ve been there many times and hope to return frequently

Keywords: mare island, naval shipyard, historic, night, nocturnal, photo, photography, crane, structure, builiding, windows, green, light, star, trails, the nocturnes, san francisco, california, usa, vallejo, travel, urban, industrial, stock

Shop Buildings at Night

Mare Island Shops at Night
Mare Island Shops at Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

At least once a year I join The Nocturnes (the San Francisco Bay Area night photographers’ group led by Tim Baskerville) to photograph the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. This amazing historical site near Vallejo, California was the first US Navy shipyard on the west coast and dates to the mid-1800s. It was active until the late 1990s. It is a night photographer’s paradise with wonderful old buildings ranging form officers’ homes to dry docks to huge cranes to wonderful old brick factory buildings

keywords: night, nocturnes, mare island, naval shipyard, vallejo, california, usa, stars, artificial, lights, brick, quonset, door, road, street, fence, windows, smoke, stack, blue, yellow, brown, shadow, urban, landscape, travel, historic, stock

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. July 27, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I spent a few hours on this cold, clear July evening photographing the light of the full moon, star trails, and reflections on the surface of Thousand Island Lake.

When using a digital camera to make such long exposures one must adopt a very patient attitude. First, find the spot for your photograph and set everything up in the dark. Then make an exposure of perhaps 15 minutes. Because DSLRs are subject to noise on these long exposures, you then wait another 15 minutes while the camera completes a “dark frame” exposure to determine how to compensate for the noise in the original exposure. Yes, it takes 30 minutes (and lots of battery power!) to make a 15 minute exposure.

You could become impatient. Or you could, as I do, sit back and enjoy the peace and quite of a beautiful moonlit Sierra night.

keywords: thousand, island, lake, cove, shore, surface, reflections, ritter, banner, peak, mount, mountains, alpine, night, black and white, photography, backpacking, john muir, trail, backpacking, landscape, scenic, california, usa, outdoor, stock, ansel adams, wilderness