Ship Yard Buildings, Crane - a photo on Flickriver

Ship Yard Buildings, Crane. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

Weathered ship yard buildings illuminated by saturated colors of artificial lighting

I recently had a chance to return to this old ship yard facility near Vallejo, California to work on night photography. This is actually the place where I first tried out that genre approximately fifteen years ago. It was more or less on a whim — I read that someone was inviting photographers to come up to Mare Island, in conjunction with the annual Flyway Festival, and find out about night photography. I knew almost nothing about it, but decided to give it a try. Since that time I've been hooked. I've returned to photograph that locations often during the intervening decade and a half, and my night photography expanded from that beginning point to incorporate other subjects and places. (Most recently I have focused on night street photography done with small handheld cameras.)

This photograph is a prime example of several of the things that intrigue me about photographing at night. Scenes that might seem mundane in "normal" daylight are often transformed in the night. Not only do many distractions simply disappear, but the light itself, especially in areas with varied artificial illumination, transforms these subjects. In many places LED lights have replaced the wild mix of tungsten, fluorescent, sodium vapor, and other sources today — an unfortunate development in the visual sense, as LED light is more or less like daylight. But in places like this spot, the colors of the light become intense. Here it is the exceedingly green light of a large work light that predominates. Another appealing aspect of night photography is that it lets me make photographs of things that I really can't see with my own eyes. In the ambient lighting I could only barely see the details of this scene. But with a long exposure there is enough light to reveal features that I could not see at all, a pure example of "seeing what the camera sees."

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Taken on: March 17, 2018

Tags:

minsy

mare

naval

ship

yard

vallejo

california

usa

north

america

scene

crane

buildings

green

yellow

color

sky

night

saturated

artificial

light « less

Sets appears in: • Architecture • Northern California more » • Structures • Night Photography • California Coast « less

Groups appears in: • Nocturnes - Night Photography • Mare Island more » • Nocturnes 020307 and beyond • Nocturnes Alumni Mare Island 2007 • The Nocturnes • SF Bay Area Night Photography « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5DS R, f/8.0, 30 sec, 123mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5DS R
Lens:	EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	30
Focal Length:	123mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh)
Show full info

Stats: 1,394 views / 1 comment