Tag Archives: roof

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

Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds

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Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds
Night photograph of two large yellow buildings, shadows, and streaks for clouds moving across the sky above the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. February 26, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of two large yellow buildings, shadows, and streaks for clouds moving across the sky above the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

This seems to be the week for photographs that result from a combination of preparation and serendipity. I made an attempt to photograph these specific buildings a year or so ago. I was not successful, and I managed to get spooked and learn a little lesson in the process. Most of the time night photography at Mare Island, and at many other places, is an incredibly quiet and peaceful and slow experience. There are often very few other people about, and in the darkness you can believe that you are entirely alone. Much of the work is done very slowly – wandering around looking for compositions in the near darkness first, and then patiently (or not so patiently!) waiting for long exposures to complete, sometimes more than once. On that first try here I had set up in an abandoned parking lot next to these buildings on a very quiet evening and was standing quietly by my tripod when I heard the sound of a car moving a somewhat fast. A sixth sense told me to pay attention… and a moment later a car came speeding around the corner of a near by building and into the parking lot! I don’t think I’ve ever grabbed my gear and run so fast! (The resulting photo is sort of funny and captures my panicked escape after perhaps 2/3 of the exposure had completed – the image of the buildings is there, but superimposed on it is a wild pattern of light formed as I spun around carrying the camera without even taking time to close the shutter.)

However, since then I have wanted to try shooting these buildings again. Late in the evening of this most recent shoot I noticed that some translucent clouds were passing overhead. When such clouds are lit from below and have a chance to move during a long exposure they can form very interesting patterns. I quickly wandered over toward that same notorious parking lot… and this time found a safer spot on a raised sidewalk along the front of some buildings… which also gave me a better angle on the buildings. The clouds were moving away and to the right, so I had to work quickly to get set up and start exposures. The first one (not shown here) was a slightly wider shot. Then I thought about the zig-zagging angles and shapes of the buildings roof lines and corners and noticed that the same shapes were mirrored in the shadow cast by a nearby building. With this in mind I decided to try a tighter crop on the buildings, and I ended up with the photograph seen here.

More Night Photography

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

Shack with Red and Green Interior Lights

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Shack with Red and Green Interior Lights
Shack with Red and Green Interior Lights

Shack with Red and Green Interior Lights. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. February 26, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small shack with interior lit by red and green lights at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

At last weekend’s night photography shoot with The Nocturnes at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard I wandered a bit further afield than I have on some previous visits, eventually ending up in an area where I have only photographed once before when I unsuccessfully shot a couple of large barn-like buildings. (I think I have a shot of these buildings from this trip that I like, and I’ll post it later on.)

While spending nearly a half hour photographing a light post against the backdrop of a very dark brick building (which amounted to two photographs, given the long exposure times and the follow-up “dark frame exposures) I kept thinking I saw a faint red glow inside a small nearby building. At first I thought that one of my fellow night photographers might be doing some light painting, but the light seemed awfully dim. Eventually I noticed that it was also quite constant – and light painting virtually always involves moving the hand held light source around in order to get a smooth lighting effect. Once I finished shooting the light pole (unsuccessfully, it turns out) I decided I would go over and see what was creating this light.

The buildings appears to be a small “guard shack” or similar, a very old and very dilapidated one room structure. Inside, as best as I could tell, there is a small table, a few chairs, a digital clock of some sort with green letters, and some kind of very dim red light. Intrigued, I decided to see if I could photograph it. One technical problem was going to be the very large difference in lighting between the bright light on the clock and the extremely dim exterior, made worse by the dark color of the building. I figured that I could probably put enough extra light onto the building’s exterior using a very small key chain LED light than I happened to have with me, and that is the major source of light on the front of the building and on the yellow foreground curve – I simply walked around on both sides of the building and moved the small light over its surface.

In the end, I think this is another example of night photography as a source of a certain kind of “fantastic” lighting. The actual scene was very, very dim, and the the intensity of the colors here is almost entirely the result of the very long exposure and a bit of improvised lighting on the yellow curb behind the fence – a photograph of something that cannot be seen with our own eyes.

More Night Photography

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

Yellow Building with Weathered Windows, Night Sky

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Yellow Building with Weathered Windows, Night Sky
Yellow Building with Weathered Windows, Night Sky

Yellow Building with Weathered Windows, Night Sky. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. February 12, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Weathered windows below the eaves of a dilapidated yellow building at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with star trails in the night sky.

This is another building that I have photographed a number of times when I’ve visited the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard to do night photography. Typically I have focused on the lower walls of the building, which are interesting due to the presence of garish yellow sodium vapor lighting, the interesting texture of corrugated metal walls with peeling paint, dilapidated and broken doors and windows, and the odd presence of a UFO-shaped shadow from a lamp hanging on the exterior. (A recent photo I posted featured that oddity.)

Here I wanted to shoot something a bit less complex and graphically simple – so I aimed the camera almost straight up from a position right in front of the building. Though they are difficult to see in this small jpg, the sky is filled with faint star trails from the two-minute exposure, and I like the way its inky blue-black color contrasts with the very warm colors of the yellow walls that are lit by sodium vapor light coming from multiple directions. The terribly weathered window frame, the bit of conduit attached to the wall, and the broken window panes break up the wall.

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

Flooded Field and Farm Structures

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Flooded Field and Farm Structures
Flooded Field and Farm Structures

Flooded Field and Farm Structures. Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Agricultural facilities and Central Valley sky reflected in the surface of a flooded field.

This area turned out to be fun place to shoot. It is along a fairly nondescript road that branches off from Interstate 5 midway between Stockton and Sacramento and eventually dead-ends against a levee lining the Cosumnes River. I had been told that it is a good place to look for migratory birds – and, indeed, it is. Although it was hard to see them due to the very thick tule fog when I first arrived shortly after dawn, when I came back in the early afternoon the sky had cleared and the many fields, vineyards, and ponds along the road were filled with waterfowl.

I first saw this set of “structures” (silos? Being a “city boy,” I’m not certain of the right way to describe cylindrical storage facilities like this) as I drove out from Interstate 5 towards the river. They make for quite a striking sight – they are quite large, they are tall and the tower above is even taller, the brick colored roofs stand out against the other colors, and they are reflected in the still water of surrounding ponds. It was on my way back past them that I saw the view over this pond. I had just stopped to make another photograph of the ponds and I thought I was finished for the day – my thoughts were getting back to the highway and heading home. But I decided to walk down to a levee that let me place the structures and their reflections across the water and surround the image of the building and the thin horizon line with sky above and below.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | 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.