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Night Photography Exhibit: Mare Island Nocturnes – Artist Reception This Sunday

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The artist reception for “Mare Island Nocturnes,” an exhibit of night photography done at the iconic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard and featuring the work of  San Francisco Bay Area night photographers is this Sunday, August 14 at 2:00-4:00 p.m.  on Mare Island. The exhibit is sponsored by The Nocturnes and the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, and is part of the year-long celebration of the 20th year of The Nocturnes, the influential San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. I hope to see you there!

Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds
Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds

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

The Mare Island Naval Ship Yard is a remarkable historical and visual treasure. The place was the major west coast ship yard for the Navy since early in the 1800, and was decommissioned in the 1990s. While portions of the island have been and continue to be “redeveloped,” the historic core of historic ship yard buildings remains. This area has been a favorite of night photographers for some years and a lot of wonderful photographic work has emerged from this subject. I have photographed there many times during the past five years or so.

The exhibit runs through September 15 at the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation Museum, 1100 Railroad Avenue, Mare Island – see the flyer below for specific days and times of viewing.

The reception for the artists is on Sunday, August 14 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Five of my prints are in the show, including “Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds,” the image shown above. I’ll be at the reception – hope to see you there!

Press release follows:

"Mare Island Nocturnes" Night Photography Exhibit Press Release
“Mare Island Nocturnes” Night Photography Exhibit Press Release

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.

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Commentary, Events, Shows

Night Photography Exhibit: Mare Island Nocturnes

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“Mare Island Nocturnes,” an exhibit of night photography done at the iconic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard and featuring the work of  San Francisco Bay Area night photographers opened today on Mare Island. The exhibit is sponsored by The Nocturnes and the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, and is part of the year-long celebration of the 20th year of The Nocturnes, the influential San Francisco Bay Area night photography group.

Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds
Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds

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

The Mare Island Naval Ship Yard is a remarkable historical and visual treasure. The place was the major west coast ship yard for the Navy since early in the 1800s, and was decommissioned in the 1990s. While portions of the island have been and continue to be “redeveloped,” the historic core of historic ship yard buildings remains. This area has been a favorite of night photographers for some years and a lot of wonderful photographic work has emerged from this subject. I have photographed there many times during the past five years or so.

The exhibit runs through September 15 at the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation Museum, 1100 Railroad Avenue, Mare Island – see the flyer below for specific days and times of viewing.

The reception for the artists is on Sunday, August 14 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Five of my prints are in the show, including “Yellow Buildings, Shadows, Moving Clouds,” the image shown above. I’ll be at the reception – hope to see you there!

Press release follows:

"Mare Island Nocturnes" Night Photography Exhibit Press Release
"Mare Island Nocturnes" Night Photography Exhibit Press Release

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Morning, San Francisco Bay

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Morning, San Francisco Bay
Morning, San Francisco Bay

Morning, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. July 14, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog covers Oakland and the East Bay Hills as hazy sun illuminates sailboats and ships on San Francisco Bay beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.

This photograph was made from high in the Marin Headlands, after hiking up to the hill above Battery 129 near the high point on Conzelman Road, the scenic route that climbs this ridge above the Golden Gate. I had earlier shot a similar scene from a spot just a bit lower, but by now the morning fog and haze was clearing enough to allow a bit more sun to light up the waters of the Bay and to reveal a subtle blue color. (Later the blue would be much deeper, and earlier it had been nearly gray.) This particular shade of blue is one of the things I liked about this scene on this particular day.

The hill at lower left is part of the Marin Headlands and drops from the road almost straight down to the water. The small bit of land intruding into the frame on the left just above the wake of a boat is Alcatraz Island. Beyond that is Treasure Island and its companion, Yerba Buena Island. The latter is crossed by the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, leading to Oakland which is just barely visible under the fog over the East Bay hills. Near the upper right is a tiny bit of one of the piers along the San Francisco waterfront.

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.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

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.