Tag Archives: oakland

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Travel

Bay Bridge, Morning Fog

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Bay Bridge, Morning Fog
The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, with morning fog bank above Treasure Island

Bay Bridge, Morning Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, with morning fog bank above Treasure Island.

On the day I made this photograph I headed up to San Francisco to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where a special Andy Warhol exhibit is soon coming to a close. I’m close enough to San Francisco that I can take the train up for these visits, and that also affords me the time to do some walking around in this city, which of course involves photography. Because I had a specific schedule for the MOMA exhibit, I took a familiar walking path along the Bay waterfront to the Ferry Building before turning inland to get to the Museum.

The early morning light along the bay is often special — the atmosphere often glows in the backlight. Somewhat to my surprise, given the recent warm temperatures, there was a fog bank out in the bay, laying across Treasure Island. I paused at this familiar spot to photograph the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge near where it comes ashore, and the very bright sky and fog created a dramatic silhouette.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Tugboat, Dawn, San Francisco Bay

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Tugboat, Dawn, San Francisco Bay
Tugboat, Dawn, San Francisco Bay

Tugboat, Dawn, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tugboat traverses San Francisco Bay in foggy dawn light

As I often do when heading north across the Golden Gate Bridge for early morning photography, I stopped to photograph the bridge, the bay, and the City as the day began. Arriving there perhaps almost a half hour before sunrise, we drive up a ways into the hills of the Marin Headlands and walked to a popular overlook to see—and photograph—whatever the rising sun might bring.

I’m tempted to write that “it was an unusual morning,” but after photographing here many, many times I’m catching on that there is perhaps no such thing as a “typical” morning on the bay. The diversity of light and atmosphere and weather and subject is unending. On this morning there was fog, but it wasn’t too thick and, perhaps surprisingly, was mostly not at the Golden Gate itself, but over parts of San Francisco and the inner bay. The water was visible below and the sky above, but that sky was partially obscured by the patterns of high clouds from a passing weather front. All of these clouds made things rather gray and murky for a time, though as the sun rose behind the fog bank far to the east, a subtly rose-colored glow briefly colored the water of the bay. Using a very long lens I focused on the wake of a tugboat beginning its trip towards and beyond the entrance to the bay, with a bit of the San Francisco shoreline, the western span of the Bay Bridge, and the reflection of a brighter portion of the bay near Oakland beyond.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Two Bridges and Fog, San Francisco Bay

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Two Bridges and Fog, San Francisco Bay - Morning fog floats above the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and Yerba Buena Island.
Morning fog floats above the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and Yerba Buena Island.

Two Bridges and Fog, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. July 14, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog floats above the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and Yerba Buena Island.

This is certainly not a unique viewpoint for photographing the Golden Gate (and the bridge named after it) and the rest of San Francisco Bay… but I keep returning anyway. While the principal physical elements of the scene – Marin headlands, bridge, the City, bridges, Yerba Buena Island, the East Bay – the conditions of light and atmosphere change constantly. The variations in the fog alone could be the subject of a book, I’m sure! It can come from the west (summer) or the east (winter), it can be high or low (or both at once!), thin or thick, opaque or luminous, static or moving quickly, illuminated by sun or by artificial light at night, and more.

On this morning it was a combination of several of those. There was a sort of thin fog/haze at the lower levels, but the thicker fog was quite high, above the bridge towers and even a bit above my position in the Marin headlands. The fog was beginning to break up, starting to the east and gradually moving westward toward the coast, and when I made this photograph large beams of diffused light were coming through the fog deck and lighting areas around the San Francisco waterfront and even on the bay waters. Lining up the elements of the photograph wasn’t terribly hard once I found the composition I liked, but then I waited for boats for move into or out of the frame (see a large freighter passing between towers of the distant Bay Bridge) and for the light to appear in (as close to) the right places (as one can hope for).

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

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Pier, San Francisco Bay, Morning

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Pier, San Francisco Bay, Morning - An old pier along the Embarcadero, San Francisco Bay, with structures of the Port of Oakland, California across the water.
An old pier along the Embarcadero, San Francisco Bay, with structures of the Port of Oakland, California across the water.

Pier, San Francisco Bay, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old pier along the Embarcadero, San Francisco Bay, with structures of the Port of Oakland, California across the water.

I wonder how long it will take for me to feel that I have exhausted the possibilities of this walk along San Francisco’s Embarcadero? Here is (yet another!) morning photograph made it this area, once again with what is perhaps my favorite light in this location – the early morning glow of backlit fog/haze over the waters of the Bay.

I made this photograph on a very calm summer morning when there waters of the Bay were almost completely smooth, at least until a bit of boat traffic began to come by and a breeze came up. Interjecting itself into the left side of the frame is one of the old piers along this section of the waterfront. In the far distance, all the way on the other side of the bay and muted by the morning haze, are giant cranes used at the Port of Oakland.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.