Tag Archives: reflection

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

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

September 23, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Nimitz Street with high fog and moonlight and ambient artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is probably one of the iconic scenes for night photographers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. This shot looks up Nimitz Street near the waterfront and across railway tracks toward some of the core old buildings and beyond to the smoke stack of the power plant. It includes some of the huge overhead structures that were, as I understand it, used to move large ship components such as engines from the shops in which they were assembled to the ships under construction.

As is typical at night at Mare Island, the photograph includes a wild range of types of lighting. The 3/4 moon is partially responsible for illuminating the high fog, but the fog also picks up a warmer glow from a variety of types of lighting on the ground at Mare Island and beyond. The buildings are lit by some of the same light sources, but also by local security lightning and some street lights including tungsten, sodium vapor and perhaps even florescent sources. (When composing such shots I have to be very careful to place the camera in a position where direct light from these many sources is blocked by buildings, towers, and so forth.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, shipyard, historic, abandoned, decommisioned, nimitz, street, avenue, tracks, scaffolding, structure, tower, industrial, brick, building, road, window, door, quonset, hut, truss, wall, room, smoke, stack, chimney, power, plant, fog, high, star, trails, glow, night, photography, nocturnal, reflection, dark, urban, stock

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

Raccoons and Brick Wall, Mare Island

September 20, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of nocturnal raccoons emerges from beneath a brick wall with boarded up windows and doors at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I’ll have to admit that wildlife photography was more or less the furthest thing from my mind when I was shooting this scene of an artificially lit weathered brick wall in the core of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near the end of August. The thing that interested me in this shot was the shape of the pipe attached to the outer wall of this building against the bricks, along with the way it snaked between various windows and doors. So I set up the tripod and made a couple exposures. While making the second one I suddenly thought I saw something move – which seemed completely unexpected. Although it was much darker that it appears in this shot, I eventually saw a furry shape emerging from a gap between the sidewalk and the building… and then another…and another. Eventually there may have been as many as a half dozen raccoons in this little cluster of critters.

It may be hard to see them in this reduced size version of the photograph, but they are the small fuzzy area near the lower right below the valve on the wall. On the full size image it is possible to make out a few paws and the vague outline of their faces.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: raccoon, animal, nocturnal, pack, group, emerge, hole, under, building, brick, wall, boarded up, pipe, sidewalk, concrete, panels, window, door, reflection, night, photography, pattern, structure, historic, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, vallejo, california, usa, abandoned, dilapidated, run, down, valve, industrial, wildlife, wood, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Runner and Tree

September 4, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A person runs past an urban tree and a building with steps, San Francisco, California.

This sequence – there are several other photographs with people walking past this building – started one way and ended up going in a different direction. Initially I was thinking of an “urban landscape” photograph with the natural shape of this sidewalk tree contrasting with the flat surface of the wall, and the rigid lines of the sidewalk/curb and the windows, fences, and stairway. However, as I shot people occasionally walked through the scene and it seemed more interesting with a figure than without. Then, because it was very early morning and quite foggy, I had to shoot at rather slow shutter speeds – too slow to capture distinct images of the people without motion blur.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, runner, run, parking, meter, sidewalk, curb, street, urban, tree, trunk, branch, leaves, steps, gate, wall, window, reflection, parking, downtown, blur

Photographs: San Francisco

Tasty Food – Utah Hotel

September 3, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tasty Food restaurant in the Utah Hotel, San Francisco, California.

This dilapidated old building is by now more or less a landmark on this corner on Fourth Street at the base of the freeway off-ramp. I figured it would have been condemned years ago when I first saw it while walking to downtown San Francisco from the train station, but it still stands and even appears to get a new coat of paint from time to time.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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