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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
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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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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stairs, Person Walking

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Stairs, Person Walking
Stairs, Person Walking

Stairs, Person Walking. San Francisco, California. July 15, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A person walks past the bottom of a stairway along Stockton Street, San Francisco.

When I posted a color version of this photograph a week or so ago I mentioned that there was also a black and white version – and that I was up in the air about which I prefer. I’m still not certain, though I’m leaning more towards this monochrome version. While there are some aspects of the subtle colorations in the other version that I am hesitant to give up, I think that the angles and forms and masses of dark and light may be more the focus in this version.

Since I told the story on the original post I’ll keep it short here. I was in the Stockton Street area of Chinatown in the morning and had crossed the “bridge” at the termination of a dead end alley that sits above Stockton. There were two stairways down to the street level where Stockton emerges from a short tunnel. As I went down the stairs I thought that the angles and the light in the stairwell looked interesting as forms and was working out a composition or two when the figure walked through the frame and I reacted quickly to make a photo that is quite a bit different from what I was thinking of when I started.

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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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stairs, Person Walking

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Stairs, Person Walking
Stairs, Person Walking

Stairs, Person Walking. San Francisco, California. July 15, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A person walks past the bottom of a stairway along Stockton Street, San Francisco.

On this mid-July morning I was walking through sections of downtown San Francisco, on my way from Market Street up through parts of Chinatown and heading toward North Beach. It was early enough that the bulk of the tourist crowd was still sleeping in or having breakfast, though people were out and about. My plan was to walk up the first block of the main tourist section of Chinatown to grab some storefront photographs, and then to head a bit west to Stockton Street or thereabouts, where things are oriented (much) less towards the tourist trade.

There is a place where there are essentially two layers of streets. Busy Stockton ducks into a tunnel and the street that is right above it ends on a short spur that is mostly parking. I walked to the middle of the sidewalk at the end of this little street, from which I could photograph straight up Stockton. Finishing that I looked for the stairs down to Stockton and happened to pick the one to my left. As I entered the stair well I looked for photographs since I like the angles and the lighting in some of these areas. One landing up I could look down to where the sidewalk coming up through the tunnel met up with the stairs and then emerged into the light beyond. I made an exposure or two of this “urban landscape,” and then as a person walked across the scene I had a moment to channel my “inner HCB” and photograph her blurred form.

Speaking of channeling HCB, there is also a BW version of this image that probably has more of the classic “street” look. At the moment, thinking that I’m in danger of trying to look old school if I go the other way and also enjoying the brown and tan and similar tones in the color version, I’m going with this one.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning

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'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning
'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning. Sierra Nevada, California. May 7, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view toward Yosemite and the High Sierra from the ‘Rim of the World’ overlook above the Tuolumne River canyon along highway 120.

‘Rim of the World’ is the name given to a scenic overlook above the deep valley of the Tuolumne River along route 120, the northern route into Yosemite National Park. It is something of an odd place. It is a fairly pedestrian traffic pullout, though it overlooks the immense and impressively deep canyon of the Tuolumne. But the view is at least partially obstructed by things like power lines. However, it is a view that on clear days can extend great distances to very high Sierra peaks.

I most often simply blow past the spot on my way to or from the park. However, on this morning as I passed I thought the low morning light looked interesting so I found a spot to turn around and drove back. There was a bit of high cloudiness, and the light was coming across the folds of these foreground hills from the right, lighting up various bits of ridge and trees and illuminating the morning haze enough to amplify the effect of distance. If I’m not mistaken, the further ridge with its faintly seen snow fields is in the area of Mount Hoffman.

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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.