Tag Archives: wall

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

Blue Shed, Evening

May 28, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A metal-walled blue shade beneath an abandoned industrial building in “blue hour” evening light, near Vallejo, California

This photograph belongs to a genre that might be called Almost-Night Photography. I was at this location to do night photography, in fact, but for once decided to also try shooting the area a bit before the daylight disappeared. So perhaps 45 minutes before sunset I stopped what I was doing (eating pizza, actually…) and drove around a bit looking for “golden hour” photograph opportunities in this abandoned industrial area. I started a good distance from the location of this shot and did my sunset shoot in a more open area full of run down and falling down ruined buildings. After that I headed back towards an area of less-dilapidated but also virtually abandoned buildings.

So I arrived here a bit after sunset as the so-called “blue hour” light was coming on. The structure was open to the west where the post-sunset sky was visible over San Francisco Bay. Some clouds near the horizon still had the bright and orange-yellow colors of sunset, but the larger part of the sky was transitioning toward deep blue. As a result, any place in this image that was in shadow was primarily illuminated by the very blue overhead sky, while the upper windows of the taller building still reflected some of those last bits of color, though they were distorted by the uneven arrangement of the windows to create interesting patterns that are perhaps better seen in a larger presentation of the photograph. There are three buildings in the shot. The foreground round-roofed shed seems to be some sort of storage or work space that might have been added later. Behind that and to the right is a lighter-colored building that seems like it might have held some offices or similar facilities. Beyond that are the mostly glass walls of a very large industrial building that seems to be at least a full block long. These giant old buildings intrigue me in many ways, but the number of windows seems remarkable. I assume that they were designed this way so that people could work inside with little or no supplemental electrical light, and the interior spaces of such buildings can contain beautiful light during the day.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cottonwood Tree, Sandstone Canyon Walls

May 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cottonwood tree set against the afternoon colors of shaded sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Utah

I photographed this tree, still too soon to have fall colors, in front of the huge sandstone cliffs above the Temple of Sinawava feature at the upper end of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. These trees grow here along the banks of the Virgin River, which makes some rather abrupt twists and turns in this portion of the canyon and flows right up against the canyon walls.

I should probably write something about the colors in this photograph. I actually held this one back for some time on account of the colors – which could easily be seen to be due to overly enthusiastic post-processing on my part. That’s not the case, but there have been a few other photographs that I have made that have evoked such responses, and sometimes I’d rather not have to explain. However, in this case I will explain! :-) The entire scene is in shadow, as the very tall cliffs are along the west rim of the canyon and completely block sun from this spot for a good portion of the day. The cliff face is extensively covered with a sort of “varnish” that is commonly seen on such walls, though it is much more extensive than usual here. This material normally is quite dark, black even, and is more reflective than natural sandstone. When it is in the shade it tends to reflect the blue tones of the sky – and that is where the intense coloration of this cliff comes from.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Leaves, Layered Sandstone with Diagonal Crack

April 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small plant with yellow autumn leaves grows from a diagonal crack in wall of layered sandstone, Zion National Park

I’ll start off by admitting that I now don’t recall exactly where I made this photograph on this day when we visited Zion National Park. I’m virtually certain that it in the high country along the Mt. Carmel Highway that crosses the park from east to west, but where on that highway I’m not certain. Of course, some crack in the rock with a bush growing out of it hardly is likely to be an iconic, named location!

What I do recall is that we spent a good portion of this first trip’s first day in Zion along this road, and to some extent driving back and forth along it a few times, watching for new subjects as the day’s light evolved. At times a cliff that had been in sun earlier in the day would be in shadow later, so we had a choice to photograph in soft light or harsh. All along this roadway there were the usual interesting subjects – sedimentary rock formations of all sorts and all colors – but also at this time of year the fall color show was beginning. I believe that this little vignette might have been down in one of the washes or slot canyons that we dropped into in search of this color.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Slot Canyon Tree

March 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A box elder tree stands against the vertical sandstone walls of a Utah slot canyon

Near the beginning of this late-October photographic trip in Utah, we visited a long canyon, slot-like in places, in the southern reaches of Utah in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Although I had been is small sections of little slot canyons before, this was actually the first time I ventured up a desert canyon like this one (with the exception of some in Death Vally) that had a creek running up the bottom, steep sandstone walls, and plenty of cottonwoods, box elders, and other typical plants. We started in a more or less flat area outside the canyon, waded up a section of the creek to enter the canyon, and spent the next few hours exploring and making photographs.

I have a thing about trees standing in front of rock walls, and among the mental images I was carrying as we went to the Southwest were several with that theme. I was actually thinking more about trees with fall colors, but in this particular canyon there was a still a lot of green foliage – and I liked the somewhat unusual combination of the leaves’ lime green and the pinkish, almost purple coloration of the rock in the soft reflected canyon light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wall

Blue Shed, Evening

Cottonwood Tree, Sandstone Canyon Walls

Autumn Leaves, Layered Sandstone with Diagonal Crack

Slot Canyon Tree

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