Tag Archives: tower

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

Ship Yard Structures, Night

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Ship Yard Structures, Night - Night photography of steel towers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.
Night photography of steel towers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Ship Yard Structures, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography of steel towers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

It had been a while since I last shot at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, one of my favorite places to do night photography. But in early March the opportunity came up to join friends from the Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group currently celebrating its 20th year. We met in the afternoon for the traditional social stuff – tour of the island, sharing photographs, and pizza – and then headed out after the sun set. (Night photographers are probably the only people who look out the window and mutter, “Ah, it’s still golden hour. Let’s not go out yet…” ;-)

These giant steel towers are among the most iconic structures at the historic ship yard. As I understand it, they were originally part of a system used to move very heavy materials (such as ship engines) from shops to the water’s edge. Virtually everyone who photographs here indulges in photographing these towers and even after you have photographed the place as many times as I have they are still a source of interest. Recent work on the island has opened up a section of the water front that was previously off-limits, so it was possible to walk right beside these shell towers as they stretched out toward the water. Working from almost directly beneath them, I lined up a couple of the towers in night darkness, in which the towers were lit by nearby security lights.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco, Winter Evening

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San Francisco, Winter Evening - Downtown buildings of San Francisco, California stand beneath a winter sky at dusk.
Downtown buildings of San Francisco, California stand beneath a winter sky at dusk.

San Francisco, Winter Evening. San Francisco, California. January 1, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Downtown buildings of San Francisco, California stand beneath a winter sky at dusk.

On New Year’s Day 2012, we joined a group of “photo walkers” who were shooting some of the old military structures high in the Marin Headlands area across the Golden Gate and north of San Francisco. After meeting up with all of them and photographing these interesting old sites, we left them as they went off to photograph Rodeo Beach. (We realized that we would need to get back home a bit earlier since my plan was to leave for six days in Death Valley the next morning… and I had not yet packed!)

Since we were already in the area, we took a quick detour up to the Hawk Hill area high on Conzelman Road to check out that famous view across the Golden Gate Bridge toward San Francisco and points beyond. I don’t go here every time I’m in the area, but if I’m already there, it is about to be sunset, I have an extra half hour, and there is the potential for interesting light… what the heck! Once we got there I noticed that some winter haze was distinctly softening the light as the sun was just about to set, and this created a beautiful glowing gradient of colors in the sky and washed the City in pastel light. In this photograph I resisted the temptation to pump things (contrast and saturation) a lot, and intend tried to maintain the subtle coloration of the scene.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | 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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge

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Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge - A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City
Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge - A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City

Lamp Post, Brooklyn Bridge. New York City, New York. August 23, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Brooklyn Bridge lamp-post stands against a backdrop of several iconic lower Manhattan structures, New York City.

I was surprised to find that I apparently never posted this photograph after our August trip to New York City. We had taken the subway over to Brooklyn very early in the morning to meet our son, and then wandered around some areas of Brooklyn near the waterfront where there is a view of lower Manhattan. Eventually we worked our way over to the Bridge with the plan being to walk back to Manhattan.

As we walked along I noticed several things that seem to characterize this bridge. Some of the features are pretty obvious to the point of being iconic – the pattern of the support cables for example. But these lamps kept distracting me, so I decided to see how I could photograph them. At this point, it occurred to me that I could actually leave out most of the bridge except for the lamp post (and a bit of the top of one of the towers) and then line it up with a bunch of other recognizable stuff on the lower Manhattan skyline. I chose to desaturate this image quite a bit in post, which explains the somewhat unusual color palette.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | 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.

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

Golden Gate Bridge and Lunar Eclipse

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Golden Gate Bridge and Lunar Eclipse
Golden Gate Bridge and Lunar Eclipse

Golden Gate Bridge and Lunar Eclipse. San Francisco, California. December 10, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The moon, in full lunar eclipse, passes behind the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is the second of two photographs of this week’s full lunar eclipse that I will share. The earlier one was a horizontal format version of roughly the same subject. Here the fully eclipsed setting moon passed behind the upper portion of the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, as seen from the San Francisco Bay shoreline in the Crissy Field area. There was just a bit of pre-dawn light in the sky at this point, and within a few minutes of making this photograph the combination of increasing ambient light, the generally hazy atmosphere, and the moon dropping into high, off-shore clouds brought the show to a fairly quick conclusion.

I was stunned by the number of other photographers out at this very early hour, even considering that it was within the city of San Francisco. I had originally tried Treasure Island, in the bay between San Francisco and Oakland. There were quite a few photographers lined up there at 5:00 a.m., but I did not like the potential positioning of the moon relative to likely foreground features near the horizon, so I didn’t stick around. Instead, I made a guess based on my knowledge of the area that there was a good chance that the moon might line up with the Golden Gate Bridge from vantage points in the Fort Mason, Crissy Field, and Fort Point areas. I drove over there quickly and was surprised to find the parking lots were nearly full and tripod-laden photographers walking about or already set up. I grabbed the first decent parking space, loaded up my gear, and started walking west, figuring that I could get to the likely spot on foot quite quickly.

A second surprise was that the ideal location, which wasn’t hard to find at all, was far less crowded than the areas closer to the parking lot. I was even able to find a spot or two where I could set up apart from other photographers and wait – for only a few moments by this time – for the moon to intersect with the bridge.

Another view of this subject in landscape orientation is posted here.

An interesting side note: Photographer Florian Kainz later shared his eclipse shot with me and asked if I might be the photographer standing in front of the bridge. Yes. That’s me! With Florian’s permission I have included a small version of his photo here – follow the links back to see his full-sized post at Flickr. He has given me permission to share his photograph here. Thanks, Florian!

Lunar Eclipse - just before Sunrise
Photograph © Copyright 2011 Florian Kainz. Used by permission of the photographer.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | 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.