Tag Archives: san francisco

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

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Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning
Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on a large parking lot near Pier 48, San Francisco.

Continuing with the “urban landscape” theme, this is a photograph of a parking lot south of the bridge next to ATT Park and near the buildings of Pier 48 in San Francisco. After getting off the train that arrived in San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. and wandering over to Townsend Street, I decided to cross the what I think must be the Mission Bay inlet and take a look through this area which was rather deserted at this early hour. (Come back here before a Giants game, and the parking lot will be completely full of the cars of people who are willing to spend exorbitant amounts to park here.)

While there were cars in other portions of this parking lot that are closer to likely destinations, at this far end there was a single lonely car, and that seemed like it could be an anchor for a photograph of the lot, the tall streetlight poles, the industrial-looking buildings of Pier 48 and other assorted waterfront things. Because it was so early, the sun rising across the bay was filling the air with brilliant light that created a sky that was more white than blue.

In addition to the obvious crop, this image required other kinds of substantial work in post. The first issue was controlling the very brightest parts of the sky and a second was the follow-up need to then lighten a few other areas to get some detail back into the image. Color balance was a tricky thing – this isn’t that far from what the raw file contained, though I did warm the colors just a bit. I also did something in this image that I rarely do, namely use semi-opaque blurred and desaturated overlay layer of the original image to do, well, some stuff that is a bit hard to describe in written form. Suffice it to say that this had an effect on the parking lot and on the brightness of the sky.

G Dan Mitchell 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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Pier, San Francisco Waterfront, Morning

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Pier, San Francisco Waterfront, Morning
Pier, San Francisco Waterfront, Morning

Pier, San Francisco Waterfront, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old pier along the San Francisco Bay waterfront, morning light.

When I take the train to San Francisco early on summer mornings, it is frequently the case that the sun is out as I walk along the Embarcadero waterfront, and the light greats a bright glowing atmosphere as the haze and light fog above the bay are backlit. It can be almost too bright to look at. Often the buildings of the east bay and the cranes of the Port of Oakland are faintly visible on the horizon, as they are in this photograph. There is actually a range of east bay mountains above these structures, but they are not quite visible through the glowing atmosphere in this photograph.

The Embarcadero, the road that runs along the waterfront of the bay on the east side of The City, is lined with many old piers. They range from those that have been restored and turned into tourist areas (think of Pier 39 with its souvenir shops), others that house businesses and even a museum or two, some that are primarily parking areas, and a few others that have been left to rot in the sun. In some ways, those in the latter group are the most interesting to photograph, though there are fewer of them now that the value of this waterfront real estate has once again been recognized. Originally, this was a working port with passenger and freight ships. Now most of that business has gone across the bay to Oakland. However, today the bay front properties are probably more valuable for other purposes anyway.

I have photographed this particular pier before, but this time I liked the very bright sky, barely visible structures across the bay, and the morning light that is just hitting the left side of the buildings on the pier.

G Dan Mitchell 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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Juxtaposed Buildings With Shadows and Reflections

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Juxtaposed Buildings With Shadows and Reflections
Juxtaposed Buildings With Shadows and Reflections

Juxtaposed Buildings With Shadows and Reflections. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The overlapping structures of downtown buildings covered with reflections and shadows, San Francisco.

I made this photograph while walking up Market Street in San Francisco on this early July morning, dodging fast-walking pedestrians and bunches of tourists. I wasn’t certain of what I would shoot here on this day, and I was actually equipped more for shooting street level scenes than this sort of thing, in that I was traveling light with only a few basic prime lenses. But when I visit here, I’m almost always fascinated by the juxtapositions of different types of architecture, patterns of shadows and reflected light, the effect of perspective when looking up from the street, and the odd similarities to some of the rugged landscapes that I also like to photograph.

I’m not good about paying attention to the identity of the buildings, so while I could certainly locate them again quickly I’m afraid I can’t name them! I’ve photographed both before, and I was already very aware of the reflection patterns that appear in the windows of the darker building on the left, creating a criss-cross pattern against the lines of its own windows. There are more subtle effects of light on the lighter surface of the building on the right. Reflections from windows above and to the right cast diagonal lines of faint light down and across this part of the building, and below that there is a faint pattern of darker lines which are shadows from the light reflecting through the horizontal structure at the far right margin. (Being a fan of such things, I also like the fact that this open structure creates dark shadow patterns beyond and to its right and lighter shadow patterns across the whole face of the building. Yet other buildings are reflected, slightly distorted, in the large windows set in the bright wall.

G Dan Mitchell 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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Saint Patrick’s Church

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Saint Patrick's Church
Saint Patrick's Church

Saint Patrick’s Church. San Francisco, California. July 8,2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of walls, windows, and roof lines of the side of Saint Patrick’s Church, San Francisco.

I don’t know the full history of this church in downtown San Francisco, but I do know that it is visually interesting. It has the appearance of an old cathedral, with the emphasis on old. Parts of the structure appear to be made of reinforced concrete, parts of brick, and a few sections of newer construction. Bits and pieces of all of that appear in this photograph, with some rather old and weathered materials in much of the structure, but with a much more modern-looking outbuilding at lower right.

While there is a large park (Yerba Buena Park) right across the street, much of the other surrounding architecture is quite modern for the most part. Most striking is the deep blue cubic structure of the Contemporary Jewish Museum right next door, but all around much taller and vastly more modern buildings are found. (Some of the light filling the shadows in this photograph is reflected from those buildings.)

I think that this photograph has a lot in common with a number of my photographs of mountains, especially the Sierra Nevada. In fact, I don’t think it is too hard to find parallels to some of the recent photographs of Mount Conness towering above the shorter Polly, Pywiack, and Medlicott Domes near Tenaya Lake along Tioga Pass Road.

G Dan Mitchell 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.