Tag Archives: rail

Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Central Station, Glasgow

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Central Station, Glasgow

“Central Station, Glasgow” — The Central Railrway Station and underpass, downtown Glasgow, Scotland.

The Scottish railway tracks reach this station via a nearby bridge over the River Clyde, and the tracks are still elevated here. Above we see a glass roof designed to light the interior, while below we see… an underpass between two sections of Glasgow’s downtown. Because rail transportation is common in the UK and Europe we see many more railway stations than we are used to in the US. There are some very modern stations, but many of them are more utilitarian and feature older architecture.

Although we arrived in and left from Glasgow by rail, we never made it inside this station. We came upon it near the end of a very long walk that took us from downtown Glasgow to the West End and then following the River Clyde. We turned into the city when we arrived at the railway bridge over the city.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting For Transit

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Waiting For Transit
People await their ride at a San Francisco light rail station.

Waiting For Transit. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People await their ride at a San Francisco light rail station.

Perhaps you already knew that I made this photograph a few years ago — it is in San Francisco, it is at a transit stop… and no one is wearing a mask! You wouldn’t find that combination today. (That’s one reason that the San Francisco Bay Area has among the lowest infection rates in the country, but I digress…) I made the photograph on one of my photography days in San Francisco, which tend to follow a familiar pattern: Up well before dawn, catch a train to the City, arrive around sunrise, spend the morning wandering on foot and photography, then take the train back home my mid-afternoon. San Francisco is a very walkable city, and you can cover a lot of ground there on foot.

Recently I had the pleasure of giving a talk on street photography to a somewhat surprising group, the photography section of the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club. That’s not your typical topic for this group, and I was aware that there might be some skeptics. My premise is that doing street photography (and other kinds of not-nature photography) can make you a better photographer, and that the benefits can accrue to your nature photography, too. I can’t recreate the entire talk here, but this photograph embodies a few key ideas. First, it takes advantage of a very local photographic opportunity, so I can photograph even when I can’t travel to lovely, far away, natural places. Second, it treats the street as a kind of urban landscape, occupied by “human wildlife.” In fact, I often construct photographs like this one by first finding the “landscape” and then waiting for passers-by to populate it. Third (and final for now) photographing these local subjects is good “practice” that keeps my ability to see photographically tuned up.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Urban/Street

Look

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Look
A “LOOK” sign at a light rail crossing.

Look. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A “LOOK” sign at a light rail crossing.

It seems to me that few photographers are able to resist at least occasionally photographing signs that catch their attention. (Not everyone will admit to it though!) I’m pretty sure I recall that my father collected them, and I’ve done it fitfully for decades. (Many years ago I was an avid cyclist, and I always used to get a laugh out fo a sign that I passed on one of my routes. It simply announced: “1/4 MILE AHEAD.”) Signs can be graphically interesting, funny or ironic depending on where they are found, or even useful for certain non-photographic purposes.

I had been looking (ironic, yes?) at this sign for months as I passed it along one of my pandemic routes for daily walks. For at least the previous month I had thought about photographing it each time I passed… but I didn’t do so. Most of the time I just didn’t bother, but the one previous time I did try there was an issue with the light. But finally the sign was in shade and I captured it. And it IS a good reminder to always look, especially if you are a photographer!

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Ship Yard Crane Structure, Night

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Ship Yard Crane Structure, Night
A huge, rail-mounted ship yard crane at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

Ship Yard Crane Structure, Night. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A huge, rail-mounted ship yard crane at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, on an island across the narrow bay from Vallejo, California, is a remarkable place. It has a long history, going back to the first half of the 1800s, when it was the first such ship yard on the west coast of the United States. It continued to serve in that capacity until the 1990s, when it was finally decommissioned. At first, much of the facility languished, gradually falling into disrepair. More recently, it has become the site of redevelopment, new construction… and efforts to arrest the decay and preserve some of the historic area.

Mare Island has also been a Mecca for Bay Area night photographers for a couple of decades. Ask almost any area night photographer if they’ve been there, and the answer will be “yes.” I got my start doing night photography at Mare Island about fifteen years ago, when I happened to end up at an introductory session run by the original “The Nocturnes” group, put on as part of the Pacific Flyway Festival. The subject of this photograph is one of the gigantic shipyard crane structures found along the waterfront, designed to facilitate moving huge ship components at the dry-docks. This crane sits on carriages that run on a short section of curving track, allowing it to move over a short distance.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.