Tag Archives: pink

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Industrial Building, Mixed Lighting

May 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Numerous sources of artificial light illuminate an industrial building from outside and inside

I like night photography for a number of reasons. I enjoy the very slow work, finding subjects and compositions in near darkness and then waiting patiently for long exposures to complete. “Normal” photography can be a slow and meditative process, but night photography must be. Given so much time to stand and wait, I cannot help but notice the stillness and quiet of the night, and to feel the cool and damp air. In fact, as a person who does night photography, these things are almost as much part of the experience as the visual elements.

In the visual context, there are a few things about the appeal of night photography that might not occur to a person who has not done it. When photographing in very low light, what we photograph is often very different from what we actually see. Often the subject is quite dark, even when lit by the moon or nearby lights, but the camera doesn’t care—a long enough exposure can collect more light that our eyes can, and a dim and drab subject can become bright. Also, the illusion that the camera stops time is not quite so strong when photographing at night. Over the course of a many minutes long exposure stars move, lights of cars appear and pass, clouds blur into soft streaks, and the edges of shadows from moonlight blur. In industrial areas such as this one, the lighting is a mixture of things glowing from within and lit from without, and the diversity of lighting—tungsten, fluorescent, sodium vapor, LED, mercury vapor, moonlight—paints the nightscape with wild colors. This building is an excellent example. The upper windows emanate a glow from yellow interior light. Relatively colorless light hits the upper walls, but the light takes on an odd blue/pink tone on the lower building, and the shadows head toward blue.

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.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

April 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light, fog, and high clouds over the northern shoreline of San Francisco Bay

This early morning late-winter view of San Francisco Bay looks back to the east from the Marin Headlands. The morning had started with somewhat murky conditions—high clouds above, atmospheric haze over the bay, and for along the San Francisco waterfront and across the bay toward Oakland. I was hoping for color, but the moment of sunrise was a bit disappointing in that regard. The probably was some color, but it was muted by the high clouds and haze and it happened mostly behind that fog bank floating above the East Bay.

But soon the high clouds began to pick up some color, and this pinkish glow reflected down towards the water, the fog, and the haze, gently coloring the scene. I thought that I might break up the many horizontal layers of light and color by including a it of the foreground land, and I experimented with several compositions: one that centered Angel Island in the scene, one that caught a bit of the edge of Angel Island and a bit of the Tiburon shoreline, and then this one which just included a bit of the north bay shoreline instead. Having watched so many sunrises, I still am struck by how this visual beauty arrives without a sound.

Photographs: San Francisco

North Tower, Dawn Fog

April 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

There are many associations with this location and scenes like this, at least for me. I am fascinated by the shapes, colors, and textures of this bridge, a structure that we take for granted here in the Bay Area. The location from which I photographed is also familiar and easily taken for granted, yet it is a spectacular place, sitting high above the bridge, the Golden Gate itself, the Pacific Ocean, and the San Francisco Bay spreading inland to the west. At this early morning hour, while the sound of traffic approaching the bridge is faintly audible far below, it is otherwise nearly silent. It is also typically cool and damp, most often with at least some fog around—occasionally so much that the view is completely blocked. The City is visible across the Bay, seeming like it is coming back to life at this early hour, with cars heading in to work and lights from the fading night still turned on.

The dawn light on this morning was, as usual, not exacty like any previous morning that I’ve seen here. When I left home well before dawn I thought that it might be clear over the entrance to the Bay, but as I got closer I encountered fog on the San Francisco side. But as I crossed the bridge, and a bit to my surprise, it was clear over the water—the fog seemed to be mostly over the south shore. There were high, thin clouds above the fog and the light haze. At first it looked like all of this cloudiness would kill any morning color, and that impression was strengthened as the sun came up behind the clouds to the east with only the subtlest color. But a bit later, some minutes after actual dawn, the rising sun’s colorful light began to clear that eastern fog and slant across the top of the thinning fog bank to my south.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Fog, Dawn

April 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First dawn light glows faintly through winter fog above a San Joaquin Valley wetland marsh

This was definitely shot during the morning blue hour, the pre-dawn light was here tinged with pink color from first sunlight striking high clouds far above the ground-hugging layer of thick fog. This is another photograph from my favorite Central Valley haunt, where I often go to photograph birds during the cool months of late-fall through very early spring.

The fog was thick but not deep, and as we drove to this area we were able to look up through it and see the predawn sky even though the murk was thick enough at ground level to force us to drive very slowly. Arriving at our destination, it was foggy and still, but as the first light of morning began to arrive, the pink color of high clouds illuminated the fog and created a glow of a somewhat unusual color. I had a few minutes along the edge of a pond to photograph in this fleeting light. The first photographs, like this one, were a combination of blue and faint pink/purple. A moment later the pink became even more intense, and then as the light increased the color faded and the fog became more transparent, allowing a view upwards through it to those higher clouds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pink

Industrial Building, Mixed Lighting

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

North Tower, Dawn Fog

Wetland Fog, Dawn

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