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Building 101, Corner View

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Building 101, Corner View

Building 101, Corner View. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The corner of building 101 under artificial light and with fog overhead – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Like I said, I guess I’m not finished with this series yet.

This is the same Building 101 that I photographed from several different perspectives late in the evening of my August 30 visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California to do night photography with some other Flickr folks. The other photographs of Building 101 are straight on and explore various portions of the front of the building. For this one I shot straight at the corner of the building instead, for several reasons. For one, I wanted to include the different types of light striking the two visible sides of the building. Almost all of the light is artificial aside from a bit of moonlight, but the light striking the right side comes from a very close and bright – and very yellow! – sodium vapor light. It was all I could do to handle the saturated yellows on this wall. The front of the building is lit by lights that are a bit weaker, though they only appear less garish by comparison to the almost hallucinatory yellow light on the right side. Above this are some interesting converging angles of roof and walls and overhead the fog glows in the artificial light from sources below.

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.

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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, building, structure, 101, yellow, artificial, light, bright, window, door, roof, pipe, wire, metal, texture, rust, peeling, dilapidated, old, worn, out, shadow, reflection, grafitti, paint, urban, industrial, lamp, fog, overcast, sky, glow, stock

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A Bit About Mare Island and Night Photography

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Often when I post my photographs from Mare Island Naval Ship Yard I get email and comments from readers that generally fall into two categories. I’d like to make a brief comment on each of them:

  1. Several readers have written to tell me about their own connections to Mare Island. In several cases I have received messages from people who were brought up in that area and whose parents or other relatives actually worked in the ship yard. Thanks for sharing those stories – I did not “discover” Mare Island its history until fairly recently, and I’m more and more impressed with the stories behind this place.
  2. Others often ask about photographing at Mare Island, particularly at night. Since Mare Island is (mostly) a public place, you can simply drive out there and photograph during the day for the most part. (There are some areas that are off-limits.) Night photography may be a somewhat different thing. There are security patrols and they may well stop you. And you might feel a bit uneasy about trying night photography there for the first time on your own. I strongly urge you to get in touch with The Nocturnes the SF Bay Area night photography group headed by Tim Baskerville. My first experience there was through this group, and doing one of their workshops can be a great way to learn about Mare Island and night photography.
Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night

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Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night

Ship Yard Towers and Fog, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of tall ship yard towers and old buildings backed by glowing fog at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

OK, I lied. I do have more photographs from my late-August night photography shoot at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California.

This one includes the view up Nimitz Street past the main ship building area and the includes the huge overhead structures apparently used to move equipment from the shops to the dry docks and the waterfront. The scene is backed by the strange glow of the ground light sources illuminating the high fog coming in from the San Francisco Bay.

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.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic. brick, building, shop, window, door, roof, gable, smoke, stack, fog, cloud, overcast, glow, diffuse, rust, decay, old, dilipadated, steel, tower, structure, industrial, equipment, truss, steps, stairs, nimitz, street, road, rail, track, railroad, sky, metal, quonset, building, urban, stock

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

Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk

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Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk

Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The power plant and surrounding buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard, photographed at dusk as fog rolls in overhead.

While I mainly go to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard to do night photography, I like to start before dark when the evening light is still present. I have photographed this old power plant, with its iconic and widely visible smoke stack, in the past – both at night and at dusk. This building faces to the west and is open to the late light.

Previously when I have photographed it in these circumstances I’ve tried to include more of the surroundings – the neighboring buildings, the road in front, the railroad tracks that pass by and head into the distance. This time I swapped out the wide lens for a telephoto and decided to work for images that are more tightly cropped and which focus more on details of the building.

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.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, decommissioned, abandoned, smoke, stack, industrial, government, historic, building, brick, wall, window, antenna, pipe, reflection, ladder, fog, evening, dusk, light, corrugated, metal, cement, concrete, structure, vallejo, california, usa, tree, street, light, stock