Detail of weathered and distressed steel structure on the Steel Bridge, Portland, Oregon.
I made this photograph at about the same time as another one that I posted recently — it also featured a close-up view of the weathered structure of an old steel bridge with rivets, colorful stains, and lots of weathering.
Whether the specific location is all that important is debatable, but I made the photograph on the “Steel Bridge” (that’s actually its name), over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. This is an old and quite busy structure, and it is full of fascinating little vignettes.
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
An abandoned turnstile structure under security lighting at a closed industrial facility.
This 2012 day was completely full of photography, starting very early in the morning with coastal redwood forest and ending very late with night photography at this old, abandoned industrial facility along the San Francisco Bay shoreline. That might seem like a rather different pair of subjects, but in my view they all are connected.
Since I have photographed this location for years, I had probably walked past this scene quite a few times without seeing anything in it. But as often happens, on this evening something about it caught my attention. I imagine that this might have once been a busy place, with workers lined up to funnel through the turnstiles — quite a contrast to the scene on this night.
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
The shadows of windows in oblique lighting on a Berlin building.
You might regard this as “what happens when they let landscape photographers do street photography.” For me, street photography combines a bunch of possible components — the human element, the crystallization of a “moment,” the light and color and patterns, and the nature of urban landscape. I do think of the urban scene as a landscape, and in some ways — though not all! — I approach it that way. (Depending on how far you want to go with that thought… it does have “valleys,” and “faces,” and “peaks,” and even flora and wildlife.)
We had spent the day walking through parts of Berlin, starting at our hotel a way off from the central city, heading past the East Side Gallery area of the Wall, then walking back toward the central area of the Brandenburg Gate. As we got closer to this center we improvised a route that did not take the largest, most popular streets, and it a few places we ended up in rather non-touristy spots. I’d have to go back and consult a map to see precisely where this was photographed, but I was intrigued by the minimalist quality of the architecture, the shadows cast by the protruding window frames, and the contrast between the warm red-brown tones of the wall and the cool blue tones of the windows — and even a resonance with the landscapes of the American Southwest.
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
The base of a gigantic rolling crane structure, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.
I did my first real night photography at this location, the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, fifteen years ago. I more or less randomly saw an announcement for a free introduction to night photography at the Flyway Festival at Mare Island, and without giving it much thought I signed up. The session was organized by Tim Baskerville, a guiding-light (guiding dark?) of the San Francisco Bay Area night photography scene and the leader of a group called “The Nocturnes.” (Studio Nocturne SF, the night photography collective I work with today, is a direct descendent.) I had almost no idea what I was doing on that first night photography adventure, but I was taken by the genre (and by this location) and I’ve been photographing at night ever since.
This week a group of us met for a “Nocturnes Alumni Event” at Mare Island, and after sharing and pizza we headed out into the dark to make photographs. It is a bit of a strange experience for me by now. I am very familiar with many of the features of the place, but there have been many changes, too. Back in 2003 the site was almost entirely abandoned, and it was not clear what would become of it. Today portions are being redeveloped, for better or worse — mostly better, I think. So some of the old subjects are gone, others that were off-limits back then are now accessible, and new things have appeared. On this evening I was able to get up close to some of these remarkable and gigantic old shipyard cranes. In a Silicon Valley world of virtual industries, it is quite striking to stand beneath these very solid and very real machines — gigantic things that were used to move the components for building ships.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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