Tag Archives: rust

Garage Doors, Virgil Street

Garage Doors, Virgil Street
Garage Doors, Virgil Street

Garage Doors, Virgil Street. San Francisco, California. February 20, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Old and dilapidated garage doors and “no parking” sign in afternoon light on Virgil Street, San Francisco, California.

This seems like a photograph that most people would not identify with San Francisco. If anything, it first appears to be some sort of rural image, perhaps a rustic old barn on a ranch or similar. However, this shot was made along a narrow alley in the Mission District of San Francisco. (Again, as in the “yellow building” photo I posted recently, I suppose I could be accused of attempting to make the Mission not look like the Mission!)

The light was changeable and from time to time beautiful on this afternoon. While it was a cloudy day and mostly somewhat gray, the clouds were thin and broken enough that occasionally soft and diffused light would break through. Here that light brings a bit of relief to the complex and rich textures of this very old and very run-down garage wall and door – and that little bit of green at the lower left softens the whole thing just a bit.

This photograph is 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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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
ISO 200, f/8, 1/60 second

keywords: virgil, street, alley, mission, san francisco, california, usa, north america, no parking, day, night, driveway, opposite, garage, sign, urban, street, wood, wall, door, window, hinge, rust, distressed, green, plant, afternoon, light, winter, structure, downtown, latch, lock, sidewalk, peeling, paint, panel, stock

Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings

Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings
Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings

Nimitz Avenue, Tower and Buildings. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. February 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tower, buildings, and power plant smokestack along Nimitz Avenue, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

One more, and perhaps the last, in the current series of Mare Island night photographs made with The Nocturnes during the first weekend of February. This scene is one that is well-known to Mare Island night photographers – a row of industrial buildings in the “historic core” of the old shipbuilding facility where huge overhead steel structures run between the machine shops and the old docks. In this photograph I decided to more or less shoot through the base of one of these giant towers. The scene is illuminated by bright and colorful artificial light and the photograph required an exposure of about a minute and a half. (I cheated and shot the 5D2 at ISO 200.) Though they may be hard to see in the small jpg, some star trails are visible in the sky near the smokestack of the old power plant.

This photograph is 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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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, nimitz, avenue, street, railroad, track, puddle, water, reflection, tower, steel, yellow, ladder, industrial, rust, core, brick, wall, window, door, roof, asphalt, north america, sky, star, trails, cyclone, fence, smokestack, power, plant, stock

Building 101, Corner View

Building 101, Corner View

Building 101, Corner View. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The corner of building 101 under artificial light and with fog overhead – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Like I said, I guess I’m not finished with this series yet.

This is the same Building 101 that I photographed from several different perspectives late in the evening of my August 30 visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California to do night photography with some other Flickr folks. The other photographs of Building 101 are straight on and explore various portions of the front of the building. For this one I shot straight at the corner of the building instead, for several reasons. For one, I wanted to include the different types of light striking the two visible sides of the building. Almost all of the light is artificial aside from a bit of moonlight, but the light striking the right side comes from a very close and bright – and very yellow! – sodium vapor light. It was all I could do to handle the saturated yellows on this wall. The front of the building is lit by lights that are a bit weaker, though they only appear less garish by comparison to the almost hallucinatory yellow light on the right side. Above this are some interesting converging angles of roof and walls and overhead the fog glows in the artificial light from sources below.

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: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, building, structure, 101, yellow, artificial, light, bright, window, door, roof, pipe, wire, metal, texture, rust, peeling, dilapidated, old, worn, out, shadow, reflection, grafitti, paint, urban, industrial, lamp, fog, overcast, sky, glow, stock

Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night

Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night

Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of tall ship yard towers and old buildings backed by glowing fog at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

OK, I lied. I do have more photographs from my late-August night photography shoot at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California.

This one includes the view up Nimitz Street past the main ship building area and the includes the huge overhead structures apparently used to move equipment from the shops to the dry docks and the waterfront. The scene is backed by the strange glow of the ground light sources illuminating the high fog coming in from the San Francisco Bay.

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
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic. brick, building, shop, window, door, roof, gable, smoke, stack, fog, cloud, overcast, glow, diffuse, rust, decay, old, dilipadated, steel, tower, structure, industrial, equipment, truss, steps, stairs, nimitz, street, road, rail, track, railroad, sky, metal, quonset, building, urban, stock