Mare Island Naval Base, Vallejo, Ca at night

aktse

I spent a perfect (and I mean perfect) evening at Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINS) this past weekend with the The Nocturnes and have to thank a110p0 (Alvin) for the opportunity to explore and play.. He posted this thread and included info about an upcoming free workshop! I knew that I had to go! And as an added bonus, I would get to meet him! Yippee! :ivar

And the weather was utterly sublime. It rained the previous day and the forecast for the next day was for heavy rain, but for us --- a perfectly clear, moon-lit night! I don’t know how we got so lucky – a bright nearly full moon and a cloudless sky!

Amazing location + flash lights + 1 million candle watt light + gels + dgrin buds + flickr buds + cameras + tripods! Sweet heaven. :smo :smo :smo And the security guards were super nice! No arrests! :wink I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

For most of the night, I spent wander with tisun and two flickr people.

1. Brick + Windows + Blue Glow


2. 2001 Space Odyssey (actually, cranes, looking upward + moon-star); fish


3. Stairway to heaven, lit by moon


4. Belly of at AT-AT – four legged version Star Wars (as I’m told); fish


5.Attack of that AT-AT – Run photogs, Run!; fish


6. Red. I learned that a bike light works very well for painting objects. Thanks Anthony (tisun)


My only wish was that I spent more time with Alvin. :rolleyes I saw in when I first got there, and then never saw him again! Next time! Did you get some brownies?

Surprisingly, I got these photos processed pretty quickly because I didn’t take too many frames. Also, the exposures were decently SOC – these are almost all SOC without any layers adjustments

C&C welcomed!

My only question – when can I go back? And who wants to come with me? :ear

schmoo

Sign me up! Wow what great shots. I love night photgoraphy and I can't believe these are SOOC. Fantastic! I see the great Alvin strikes again

Awais Yaqub

Wow these are great !
The way you use Fish Eye is out of this world

Skippy

aktse wrote:

I spent a perfect (and I mean perfect) evening at Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINS) this past weekend with the The Nocturnes and have to thank a110p0 (Alvin) for the opportunity to explore and play.. He posted this thread and included info about an upcoming free workshop! I knew that I had to go! And as an added bonus, I would get to meet him! Yippee! :ivar

And the weather was utterly sublime. It rained the previous day and the forecast for the next day was for heavy rain, but for us --- a perfectly clear, moon-lit night! I don’t know how we got so lucky – a bright nearly full moon and a cloudless sky!

Amazing location + flash lights + 1 million candle watt light + gels + dgrin buds + flickr buds + cameras + tripods! Sweet heaven. :smo :smo :smo And the security guards were super nice! No arrests! I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

For most of the night, I spent wander with tisun and two flickr people.

1. Brick + Windows + Blue Glow
2. 2001 Space Odyssey (actually, cranes, looking upward + moon-star); fish
3. Stairway to heaven, lit by moon
4. Belly of at AT-AT – four legged version Star Wars (as I’m told); fish
5.Attack of that AT-AT – Run photogs, Run!; fish
6. Red. I learned that a bike light works very well for painting objects. Thanks Anthony (tisun)

My only wish was that I spent more time with Alvin. I saw in when I first got there, and then never saw him again! Next time! Did you get some brownies?

Surprisingly, I got these photos processed pretty quickly because I didn’t take too many frames. Also, the exposures were decently SOC – these are almost all SOC without any layers adjustments

C&C welcomed!

My only question – when can I go back? And who wants to come with me?

Freakin awesome April :ivar Sci-Fi whoohoo .... Skippy
.

Nikolai

Awesome stuff, April!
That fishy really works out for you!

grimace

Nikolai wrote:

Awesome stuff, April!
That fishy really works out for you!

I couldn't agree more!! Great looking photos!!

a110p0

Great Shots
Hey April,
It was nice to meet you, although it was a quick introduction, we had
to get to the task at hand, shooting.

I did get some brownies. The bag was passed around from photographer
to photographer. Thanks for that.

Looks like you were able to get behind the gate to shoot the cranes.
I wish I were around when the gate was unlocked. Oh well, next time,
maybe I'll shoot the Nocturnes Alumni event.

My buddy from LA came up for this, and I had a fun time shooting with
him. We didn't leave the place until around midnight. I think we
could have gone longer.

We really lucked out on the weather, fantastic color in the sky and
it was warmer than I thought it would be.

Your shots came out great. The fisheye stuff is really unusual.
Your gel lighting is really nice, just the right amount. I think I over
painted my stuff.

Alvin

bryanj87

OMG, these are fantastic!!! I love the fisheye stuff. Incredibly well done. I'd love to get access to a place like this to shoot. thumb

Cygnus Studios

Very cool shots. I wished that I had read that thread. I drive by Mare Island every couple of weeks and have wanted to shoot there for some time now.

ian408

I dig 'em all. Coolness.

tisun

Great shots! Is that me in shot #5? Spooky. I didn't take many shots either, especially with each exposure took up to two minutes. And the walk to the AT-AT was quite a trek. So many buildings I walked pass that I wanted to stop but didn't have time. I want to go back.

Ann McRae

April! Great stuff - you really rock that fish eye!

I love the belly shot!

I am so glad that you survived that killer week of yours to go out and do this shoot!

aktse

schmoo wrote:

...I love night photgoraphy and I can't believe these are SOOC. Fantastic! I see the great Alvin strikes again

I think you would just eat up this location. It doesn't have your beloved cogs, but there is just so much here! I can't wait to see Mare Island through your amazing eyes! One of my friends didn't leave until 3 am!

And yes... Alvin strikes again! I have so much to learn from him!

aktse

Awais Yaqub wrote:

The way you use Fish Eye is out of this world

I honestly believe that the 8mm fisheye is very hard to cox interesting images out from it and would rank it just behind the 24mm T&S in terms of difficulty. Other people might not have this issue -- I do!

It's just find it taxing find a scene that's interesting at 180 degrees wide.

aktse

Skippy wrote:

Freakin awesome April :ivar Sci-Fi whoohoo .... Skippy
.

The entire place was like a scary Sci-Fi film with a dash of the wild, wild west! During the few time we saw cars, they just flew by without any regards to speed, lane markers or laws.

I knew that I wasn't far away from the city (San Francisco), but it felt like I was in a different world that was constructed of metal, rust and cranes.

And, the there are some very old lights -- mercury vapors, sodium vapors, etc -- that cast the entire place in odd colors. Scary!

aktse

Nikolai wrote:

Awesome stuff, April!
That fishy really works out for you!

Thank you! I think I'm beginning to understand the fishy a bit more and have learned that it's best with things that are big! I usually feel very small and short, but standing next to these cranes, I felt like an ant. The cranes were huge!

aktse

grimace wrote:

I couldn't agree more!! Great looking photos!!

My question to you -- when are you coming back out here? You need to hit this location!

aktse

a110p0 wrote:

Hey April,
It was nice to meet you, although it was a quick introduction, we had
to get to the task at hand, shooting.
...
Looks like you were able to get behind the gate to shoot the cranes.
I wish I were around when the gate was unlocked. Oh well, next time,
maybe I'll shoot the Nocturnes Alumni event.
..
We really lucked out on the weather, fantastic color in the sky and
it was warmer than I thought it would be.

Your shots came out great. The fisheye stuff is really unusual.
Your gel lighting is really nice, just the right amount. I think I over
painted my stuff.

I just wished that I had more time to chat with you! And I'm glad that you found me because there was no way that I could have found you in the crowd in the dark! Thank you agian for posting about this event!

And we couldn't have asked for better weather! It was such a perfect night!

That specific crane isn't actually behind a fence, but it's about a mile down the road (Nimitz?) from our starting location. The security guard did check up on us and chatted with us for a bit, but they allowed us to shoot as long as we didn't climb on anything

I do carry the fish with me on a regular basis, but I tend not to bring it out and I'm glad that I did! As for the gels and lighting painting - i call it luck more than anything else.

And you did pretty well yourself! I wished that I painted with gels more and got some tighter shots!
We should shoot together more often! (and get your friend to post some of his photos). Are you going back on March 7?

aktse

bryanj87 wrote:

OMG, these are fantastic!!! I love the fisheye stuff. Incredibly well done. I'd love to get access to a place like this to shoot. thumb

Thanks! If you ever come to the bay area, let me know and I'll show you where this place is! Long exposure shots are so much fun!

aktse

Cygnus Studios wrote:

Very cool shots. I wished that I had read that thread. I drive by Mare Island every couple of weeks and have wanted to shoot there for some time now.

Are you free March 7? They're having an alumni night and I bet you can come and shoot with everyone else.

This was my first trip to Mare Island and I can guarantee you that it won't be my last!

aktse

ian408 wrote:

I dig 'em all. Coolness.

Cool describes the entire place!

a110p0

aktse wrote:

That specific crane isn't actually behind a fence, but it's about a mile down the road (Nimitz?) from our starting location. The security guard did check up on us and chatted with us for a bit, but they allowed us to shoot as long as we didn't climb on anything

We should shoot together more often! (and get your friend to post some of his photos). Are you going back on March 7?

I think I know where it is. I haven't explored that part of the island.

So far in two visits, I haven't had time to walk all the way down to that
end. I get so interesting in Bldg 680 that I stop there.

I may go on March 7.

There were some shooters behind the fence by the dry docks, someone
had a key to the gate. By the time I got there, they were done shooting
and locking up.

I almost had a disaster. I accidentally hit my tripod with my camera
bag and my camera fell over like a freshly cut tree. Luckily the lens
hood and my quick release clamp knob softened the blow. The camera
and lens were unscathed.

Alvin

aktse

tisun wrote:

Great shots! Is that me in shot #5? Spooky. I didn't take many shots either, especially with each exposure took up to two minutes. And the walk to the AT-AT was quite a trek. So many buildings I walked pass that I wanted to stop but didn't have time. I want to go back.

So many buildings... so little time!

And I love your work with light painting!

For shot #5, i think it's either you or Gerry, but I think that it's you! I honestly didn't know that you were in the frame and was more concerned about security driving over my camera gear! I shouldn't have left it on the floor!

Thank you so much for coming with me and walking to the AT-AT! I still can't believe we somehow missed the other people while walking! We need to go back!

aktse

Ann McRae wrote:

I love the belly shot!

I am so glad that you survived that killer week of yours to go out and do this shoot!

I think the belly shot is my favorite of the evening!

And I survived my insane week (barely) and am now paying for it because I'm fighting off a cold/flu and stuck in bed. :cry

When you come back (and I"m healthy), we have to go to Mare Island!

coscorrosa

Awesome! Those fish-eye shots are great! I need to dust off my fish-eye, I bought it, used it a few times, and usually don't end up taking it with me (annoyed that I can't use a polarizer on it - but for night shots like this, I wouldn't need one).

Anyway, these are really cool unique shots, great job!

dlplumer

Love those fish eye shots.

tisun

aktse wrote:

So many buildings... so little time!

And I love your work with light painting!

For shot #5, i think it's either you or Gerry, but I think that it's you! I honestly didn't know that you were in the frame and was more concerned about security driving over my camera gear! I shouldn't have left it on the floor!

Thank you so much for coming with me and walking to the AT-AT! I still can't believe we somehow missed the other people while walking! We need to go back!

I think I was closer to the belly of the beast (I think I see another camera in photo #5), taking this shot:

Cygnus Studios

aktse wrote:

Are you free March 7? They're having an alumni night and I bet you can come and shoot with everyone else.

I have a shoot that morning, but my evening looks free. Where do I sign up

kdog

Outstanding set, April!

That's some of the most creative use of a fisheye I've seen. I love the sunset colors in the reflection of the first shot as well. Great work all around.

-joel

aktse

a110p0 wrote:

I think I know where it is. I haven't explored that part of the island.

It's at the end of Nimitz and there are lots of interesting things along the way from our meeting point. We just didn't stop for any of them, but saw people at various buildings!



I may go back on March 7 and the guy with the keys to dry docks might be there as well!

And i'm so glad to hear that your camera made it through the evening. My heart attack happened the security guard came driving up and I slowly realized that my gear was on the ground, without anyone near it! In the darkness, the guard would have missed my bag and could have easily driven over it!

aktse

coscorrosa wrote:

Awesome! Those fish-eye shots are great! I need to dust off my fish-eye, I bought it, used it a few times, and usually don't end up taking it with me (annoyed that I can't use a polarizer on it - but for night shots like this, I wouldn't need one).!

Thank you so much! I've been carrying my fisheye with me lately since it's such a tiny lens, but rarely bring it out because I have so many issues with the composition.

I ended up using it for this trip because when I got there, I realized the enormity of the metal structures. I figured the fish would be a good way to fill the frame and lot lucky with the exposure + light painting.

I would love to see some of the north west skyline in a fish