Tag Archives: wires

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

Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign

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Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign
Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign

Sidewalk, Brick Building, Hotel Sign. San Francisco, California. July 14,2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of a street scene in San Francisco containing slanting sidewalk, brick and other buildings, and a hotel sign.

The geometric forms of this scene caught my attention as I walked up a street where many art students seem to hang out. The image is obviously full of all sorts of tall rectangles of varying sizes and colors, ranging from the small windows to the white column of the far building in the center to the bulky and dark form of the brick building on the right side of the frame. A couple of little elements also intrigued me: the juxtaposition of the parking meter and surrounding shadows and fire valves on the wall, and the parallel and slightly diagonal lines of the curb and the streetcar wires overhead.

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

Reflection Patterns, San Francisco

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Reflection Patterns, San Francisco

Reflection Patterns, San Francisco. San Francisco, California. September 16, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Many layers of reflections on windows of downtown towers in San Francisco, California.

I’m crazy about the “reflections of reflections reflections…” that you can find in urbanized downtown areas when the light is just right. While the shapes and forms of the buildings are, I think, somewhat interesting, what intrigued me about this scene were the almost psychedelic shapes and colors of the warped, bent, and oddly juxtaposed reflections covering almost all of the shiny surfaces of the buildings. (Of course, all of that is a bit hard to see in this small online jpg version.)

This is definitely one of the photographs in my “urban landscape” category. I have to think about the light and the shapes and distance in much the same way I might if I were photographing in a natural canyon or deep valley. However, unlike “real” landscape photography, shots are these are almost always done hand held and shot fairly quickly while wandering around on foot.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, architecture, building, tower, skyscraper, structure, form, shadow, column, sky, cloud, angle, wires, windows, walls, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Borch’s Iron Works and Machine Shop

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BorchsIronWorks20090104.jpg

Borch’s Iron Works and Machine Shop. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Borch’s Iron Works and Machine Shop – old metal shop building in the downtown area of San Jose, California.

This spare old metal-sided shop building is in a light industrial area in downtown San Jose, near the arena. In early January I wandered past here while on foot photographing city subjects. I liked the very simple shape and yellow color of this building, and the contrast with the intense blue of the late afternoon sky.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, structure, industrail, street, shop, metal, corrugated, roof, trees, blue, yellow, sky, clouds, parking lot, asphalt, sign, borches, iron works, machine shop, wires, sun, light, usa, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building 65 and Alley, Night – Mare Island Naval Shipyard

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Building 65 and Alley, Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Building 65 lit by garish sodium vapor lamps, with a dark alley in the background and stars above.

This photo prompts me to post something about night photography and color that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. A scene like this one is lit by a variety of light sources – some natural light from moon and sky, tungsten lights, sodium vapor lights, and a gentle wash of mixed light sources from a nearby city. A question might be: “How do you accurately render the lighting of the scene?” My answer is, “You don’t.” Even if you could achieve an “accurate” rendering it would look nothing like what your night vision affected eyes “saw” since your eyes do not see the same way the camera does.

For me, one of the fun things about night photography – especially when artificial light sources are part of the scene – is that I can render to colors in whatever way makes the most sense for me.

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