Tag Archives: sky

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

Ship Yard Crane

April 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

These towering cranes, remnants of the active period of ship building at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, are an iconic feature of the place. Among the many photographs of the locations, especially those by night photographers, they are among the features most often captured. Several of them tower along the waterfront, and their height and their retro-industrial appearance command attention.

Although I have photographed at Mare Island a lot, I have very few photographs of these objects. On most of the occasions when I have photographed there they have been parked too far away (they move on tracks), too poorly lit, or have been obscured by fences and other objects. Recently the ship yard has seen renewed activity as it is being used to partially dismantle some of the old ships of the “mothball fleet” that has long been anchored in the delta near the Carquinez Bridge. On my most recent visit to photograph here at night I found that several of these structures had moved to more accessible areas and that they were better lit. This one was behind a fence, but since I wanted to emphasize its height towering against the backdrop of the night sky I was able to shoot up at a steep angle and keep the fence out of the frame. The perspective distortion, the cut off upper portion, and the sense that the structure is leaning amplify, for me, the mysterious and other-worldly quality of these slightly anthropomorphic structures.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Clearing Storm, Panamint Mountains

April 17, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The remnant clouds of a spring storm clear over the snow-dusted peaks of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park

This was one of the most interesting and varied days I’ve spent in Death Valley, in terms of everything from the weather to photographic subjects. (It probably wasn’t the most varied day—that might be a story for another post sometime.) As is typical, the day began well before dawn with an early wake-up call and a long drive in the dark. In this case, the objective was to be at a high place with a panoramic view before sunrise. We arrived there in the early pre-dawn light to find that clouds were moving in. There was a brief moment of photographable sunrise light, and then the scene went relatively gray, though still with some interesting possibilities. As we left this spot we saw snow flurries on the peaks around us. We then photographed some old remnants of the mining activities in these mountains as the snow increased, at one point coming down fast enough that we decided to beat a retreat to a lower elevation. Intermittently things would clear a bit, and we took advantage of the soft light to make midday photographs of the abundant spring wildflowers.

Eventually the weather began to break up a bit and we had some sun. By this time in the afternoon what had been more or less universal cloudiness and snow in these mountains had transformed into scattered cells of precipitation, but mostly into beautiful blue sky interrupted by billowing, sunlit clouds, whose shadows raced across the high desert landscape. Here, as we returned from investigating what was at the end of a gravel back-country road and were about to return to the paved highway, we stopped to take one last look back towards the higher peaks of the Panamint Mountains.

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.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

April 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light, fog, and high clouds over the northern shoreline of San Francisco Bay

This early morning late-winter view of San Francisco Bay looks back to the east from the Marin Headlands. The morning had started with somewhat murky conditions—high clouds above, atmospheric haze over the bay, and for along the San Francisco waterfront and across the bay toward Oakland. I was hoping for color, but the moment of sunrise was a bit disappointing in that regard. The probably was some color, but it was muted by the high clouds and haze and it happened mostly behind that fog bank floating above the East Bay.

But soon the high clouds began to pick up some color, and this pinkish glow reflected down towards the water, the fog, and the haze, gently coloring the scene. I thought that I might break up the many horizontal layers of light and color by including a it of the foreground land, and I experimented with several compositions: one that centered Angel Island in the scene, one that caught a bit of the edge of Angel Island and a bit of the Tiburon shoreline, and then this one which just included a bit of the north bay shoreline instead. Having watched so many sunrises, I still am struck by how this visual beauty arrives without a sound.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fog, Tree, Marsh, Morning Sky

April 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter morning fog in bright morning light above a San Joaquin Valley marsh

I made this photograph, rendered here as a high key black and white image, in a wetland area of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Photography began on this morning before dawn, in very foggy conditions. Here, nearly two hours later, we had worked our way around to a different location where shallow ponds stretched into the distance, reflecting trees in the thinning fog that was brightly lit by the morning sun, and with high clouds above.

At the time when I looked across this water I was struck by how little of substance there was in the scene. Above was misty and faintly blue sky with thin clouds. Below there was water, but the water served primary to reflect that same sky. The only solid material in the scene is the faint trees, a few birds, some bits of grass, and a couple of thin strips of levee. Everything else is sky or fog or reflection of sky and fog. The photograph is one of a series that I have tucked away, yet to work on at the appropriate time, and in need of further thought: Do I work with the high key luminosity of the scene, or do I work with the color version in which everything is shades of blue?

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sky

Ship Yard Crane

Clearing Storm, Panamint Mountains

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

Fog, Tree, Marsh, Morning Sky

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.