Tag Archives: ship

Commentary, Tongue in Cheek

New Nikon Cameras – Should Canon Shooters Switch?

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I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz recently around the announcement of some very fine new cameras from Nikon. Among those who shoot Canon, there has been some angst about “jumping ship” and switching to Nikon. People are wondering – “Is it time to switch?”

Should you do it?

Actually, if you switch from Canon to Nikon, your photography will instantly achieve astonishing levels of beauty and effectiveness, and you will be able to print your photographs at least twice as large and with more 3D-effect, accurate rendering, and enhanced micro contrast. Viewers will marvel aloud at the lack of shadow noise banding and the remarkable freedom from distortion and aberrations in your work.

Golden hour light will become twice as golden. Pretty girls (or guys, depending) will gaze in compelling ways into your lens as soon as you lift your camera to your face. Your electronic flash will illuminate objects 2.7 times further from your camera position. Bald eagles will make at least three passes above the sunlit mountain when they see you at work, and the herd of moose will hold still in the beautiful meadow until the eagle has passed. Touchdown receptions will always occur at your end of the field and on your side of the field, with nice light from the side to highlight the handsome features of the receiver. Your children will be five times as photogenic and they will always be willing to recreate that wonderful expression that you missed the first time around – not that you’ll ever miss it if you switch! You will never miss an exposure or produce an out-of-focus shot again. The Ansel Adams gallery will be renamed: The [Insert Your Name] Gallery of Light. There will be a 3 pound 14-500mm f/2.8 IS zoom, and it will sell for well under $1000. (But it won’t come from Canon – you have my word!)

Just by asking the question, you have already set in motion a series of important events – National Geographic representatives are on their way to your door bearing contracts and generous travel expense vouchers. They aren’t worried that you’ll move pyramids in post – they know that the pyramids will move for you! At this very moment, thousands of people with expensive new gear and lots of free time are searching for your workshops on the web – you do have a web site, right? Photography companies are sending you free samples of everything they make. (Have room to store 18 tripods? Time to clean out that closet!) News of your upcoming solo exhibit at MOMA was just announced on their web site!

I’d switch if I were you. ;-)

Note: The coolest thing is that this works both ways!  Nikon shooters who think that a jump to Canon will improve their photography in wonderful and glorious ways can switch that direction and achieve exactly the same effects achieved by those Canon folks who switch to Nikon with the same goal! Except for that 14-500mm f/2.8 zoom, maybe… ;-)

(And… Thank you to 1001 Noise Cameras for sharing the link and the laughter over this one! ;-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Structures and Objects

Street Light, Yellow Walls

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Street Light, Yellow Walls - A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.
A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Street Light, Yellow Walls. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A street light attached to the exterior of dilapidated industrial buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

Given the number of times I have ended up photographing this building at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California, you might think that I’d almost be done with it by now. Apparently not. I was back at Mare Island in early March to do some photography with my friends from The Nocturnes (and to drag along photographer and friend David Hoffman). After shooting a newly-accessible area near the waterfront and not far from the Mare Island Museum, our wanderings took us past this building, also sometimes known as the UFO building. (I’ll leave the source of that name a mystery for now…)

These old buildings were part of a very active ship building facility until the mid-1990s when the area was decommissioned. Today many of the old buildings still stand, some kept maintained in their historical state and others now the homes of various industries. As far as I can tell, this weathered building is not occupied, and its exterior is a marvel of peeling paint, wild textures, boarded up windows, external electrical conduits, and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.

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

Pilings and Water, Night

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Pilings and Water, Night - Pilings along the waterfront photographed at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.
Pilings along the waterfront photographed at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

Pilings and Water, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pilings along the waterfront photographed at night, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California.

This is another photography from my nighttime visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard with friends from The Nocturnes in early March of this year. The subject here includes some old and worn pilings along the edge of a ship launching ramp and the still water smoothed by the long exposure necessary to photograph here at night.

This particular spot only recently became accessible (at least without jumping a bunch of cyclone fences or getting someone to open the gate) when waterfront access was created near the ship yard museum. An area that had formerly been off-limits was opened to provide a way to get to the edge of the water, and this path parallels this ramp and the extensive structures alongside. In this photograph I made a color balancing choice that is a bit unusual for me when it comes to night photography in general and shooting at Mare Island in particular. One of the things that I enjoy about the night photography environment at Mare Island is that there are many different types of lighting, each having different color characteristics. Some are merely warmish “tungsten” like colors, others are garish yellows and greens, a few are blue, and the wash of light from nearby Vallejo and even the natural light of the moon can enter the mix. Because of this, I often simply go with the wild colors of the environment here. This scene is lit by grossly yellow sodium vapor lamps, and the “natural” coloration of the scene is quite intensely saturated. For this image I decided to color adjust this much closer to what might be regarded as a more neutral light color.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.

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

Abandoned Turnstiles

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Abandoned Turnstiles - Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.
Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Abandoned Turnstiles. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Early this month I had the opportunity to join my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group, for (yet another) return visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard for an evening of nocturnal photography, along with a chance to share work and pizza! I have been photographing Mare Island at night for something like a half dozen years now, yet I still find new and interesting subjects every time I go there.

These turnstile structures are found throughout the facility, and they are a frequent topic of conversation and subject of photography among the night photographers I know. They are intriguing features and there is something compelling about them as potential subjects. Standing along at night they seem forlorn, perhaps in contrast to the knowledge that thousands of ship yard employees must have passed through them at one point. They also seem almost disconnected from the rest of the industrial landscape here. While it is obvious that they must have once been the only entry way to certain areas of the facility, not it is quite possible to simply walk around them. In addition, some mysterious electrical “stuff” has clearly been removed – time card readers? Something else?

It also turns out that they are a surprisingly difficult photographic subject, and I have had many discussions with other night photographers about this. Up close they present an amazing density of interlocking metal features… that are very difficult to assemble into a good composition. I’ve managed once or twice. Oddly, one of my favorite photographs of the turnstiles is almost the very first photograph I made at Mare Island, a black and white close-up photograph of a gate by the island’s museum. For this shot I decided to work from a bit of elevation, setting up on a raised landing in front of a nearby building so that I could look down on the structure and create a sort of surround out of the background area and further buildings.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.