Tag Archives: stairs

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

Moonlit Stairway, Wall, and Window

Leave a comment
Moonlit Stairway, Wall, and Window
“Moonlit Stairway, Wall, and Window” — Night photography of a moonlit stairway, wall, and window at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

Compared to most of my night photography, especially the work from Mare Island, I think this photograph has more of a noir quality. I made it in extremely dark conditions at the bottom of a dark stairway next to a dark building in a dark corner of the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard using only moonlight. Oh, did I mention that it was very dark? :-)

Making this a bit more of a technical challenge, in order to get the composition I had in mind (more or less, since it was impossible to really see the scene fully) I needed to shoot from a position very close to the bottom of the stairway and close to the window at lower right. Since I didn’t want to lose sharpness on the far section of the wall that is lit by moonlight I had to use a small aperture of f/16. But in order to maintain image quality I didn’t want to raise the ISO too far. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! So the exposure ended up being very close to eleven minutes long, and even this was barely long enough. (And, using the camera’s long-exposure noise reduction, this meant waiting around for well over 20 minutes to expose the shot and then do the follow-up dark frame exposure. For obvious reasons, I only made one exposure of this subject!)

This was a challenging photograph to print! It really needs to go all the way to black in portions of the lower left, but I need to retain at least a small amount of near-black detail – and it takes a bit of work to get the right color/detail in the shadow at the upper right.

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

Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Central Courtyard, Rain, Curved Window – Getty Center

Leave a comment

Central Courtyard, Rain, Curved Window - Getty Center
Central Courtyard, Rain, Curved Window - Getty Center

Central Courtyard, Rain, Curved Window – Getty Center. Los Angeles, California. December 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The central courtyard of the Getty Center on a rainy day as viewed through a curved window from the entrance rotunda.

The typical arrival at the Getter Center is via the tram from the parking area, and after leaving the tram and walk up the shallow stairs most people first enter this round, glass-enclosed space from which I made this photograph during my rainy and foggy visit to the Center near the very end of 2009. I shot this view into the wet and almost deserted courtyard through the curved windows using a wide angle lens. I was thinking about several things as I made this photograph: the angular vertical shapes of the outdoor buildings, the perspective lines of the balconies and the pool receding toward the very foggy distance, and the dissonance of the curved window and especially the curving and sweeping “lines” of the window frames.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: getty, center, los angeles, california, usa, museum, winter, travel, urban, art, rain, cloud, fog, wet, reflection, column, window, pane, curve, floor, tree, table, chairs, umbrellas, mist, building, architecture, structure, balcony, railing, stairs, person, fountain, water, sign, stock, rembrandt, his, pupils, exhibit

Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections – Getty Center

3 Comments

Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections - Getty Center
Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections - Getty Center


Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections – Getty Center. Los Angeles, California. December 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

View through curved windows into the central rotunda at the Getter Center with stairs, people, and reflections.

This and a few of my other recent Getty Center photographs are at least partially “about” complexity of several sorts. This isn’t a simple image. I saw quite a few things here when I made it. I may have first been drawn to the reflections on the curving windows of this central building at the Center – it is the first building you enter as you come up from the tram, here photographed from the inner courtyard on the other side of the building. The reflections become almost as solid as some of the other elements since these “other” things are distorted both in shape and color by the windows. I also liked the zigzag pattern of the interior stairway and the two figures at the top balanced by the single sitting figure at the bottom and perhaps the walking figure near the right side. The light was interesting. It was a cloudy and rainy day. (In a full-size image you can see the raindrops on the foreground window.) Besides the odd green cast – more on that in a moment – because the light was diffused and coming from all directions in these misty and rainy conditions, I had a better chance to balance the exposure between the inside and outside areas. There are curves everywhere in the scene – starting with the curving windows, including the curving staircase, the outline of the round interior space, the far curved windows seen clearly in the upper part of the frame, and so on. Finally, as I thought about what to do with the narrow triangle of outside sidewalk at the lower left, it occurred to me that having it there enhanced the odd quality of the green-windowed interior space, and this space even began to remind be a bit of a giant aquarium.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: getty, center, los angeles, california, usa, museum, winter, travel, urban, art, rain, drop, wet, curved, window, frame, architecture, structure, building, rotunda, stairs, steps, railing, people, man, woman, reflection, silhouette, sky, complex, green, light, travel, stock, walk, stand, sit, bench, column

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California

Columns, Wall, and Walkway

Leave a comment
Columns, Wall, and Walkway
Columns, Wall, and Walkway

Columns, Wall, and Walkway. The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California. December 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Columns, wall, and walkway on a rainy day at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.

I have photographed this spot before, and it is a bit strange that I shoot it regularly when I visit the Getty. It is not exactly a prominent location at the Center – it is at the bottom of the stairs near the entrance to the cafe. I’m sure most people would just walk right past it, and I wouldn’t blame them given all of the obviously spectacular settings at the Center. However, I’m attracted to the three light colored poles, the reflective floor (especially in light rain), the angles of the walkway, and the way the far wall is lit.

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.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.