Mare Island: Second Visit

tisun

On my second visit to Mare Island with other Nocturnes alums, we began with a tour of the south end of the island, which is off limit except for one Saturday of each month (www.mareislandpreserve.org).

1. A sculpture at this location



2. Dog tags with the names of ships that were either built or repaired at Mare Island




Of course, the main reason we went to Mare Island was night photography at the historic core of the naval shipyard.

3. Smoke stack



4. Metal structure and building



5. Cranes



6. Painting bomb shelter with red light



7. This place was so dark, I could barely see. No light painting because it would wipe out subtle colors on buildings.



8. The view through a dirty window into building 680 was even darker. It was too dark to focus through the viewfinder, so I focused to infinity and backed up a bit. I learned this trick from Steve (Cygnus Studios) earlier and found it was a lot quicker than trying to shine a flashlight on a spot and focus on it, which may trash someone else's shot.



9. Reflection



Thanks for viewing.

Cygnus Studios

That shot through the window is great. By far the hardest of the shots taken while we were walking around that night. I like the star trails in the photos. Number 2 is my fav in this series. It is well shot and cropped perfectly .

It was a real pleasure hanging out with you guys.

Cuong

What, no ultra-wide lens this time? Still much better results than the month before. The window-view-inside-bldg-680 shot is awesome.

Cuong

justME

Like them all but 8 is the best for me.
What a great place to go shoot. Awesome.

schmoo

You always bring back such great sets! I love this one as much as the first. Thanks for sharing and hope to catch you out there so you can share your techniques

a110p0

Nice shots tisun. I was there at the alumni event as well.

M.Is. is a pretty awesome place.

Alvin

Allan FG

Cool shots, I love shooting at night.

tisun

Cygnus Studios wrote:

That shot through the window is great. By far the hardest of the shots taken while we were walking around that night. I like the star trails in the photos. Number 2 is my fav in this series. It is well shot and cropped perfectly .

It was a real pleasure hanging out with you guys.

Steve, thanks. It was a blast hanging out with you. Your D3 was perfect for previewing how the shots would turn out. I wouldn't have attempted the shot through the window if I didn't see how it turned out in your amazing LCD screen.

tisun

Cuong wrote:

What, no ultra-wide lens this time? Still much better results than the month before. The window-view-inside-bldg-680 shot is awesome.

Cuong

I wished I had an ultra-wide lens. April (aktse) offered to drive from her workplace to home to fetch the 10-22mm and bring it to me at a train station. Sadly, I had to take an earlier train home and missed that opportunity. I used a 17-85 f/4-5.6 for shot #4 and #7 when wide angle was needed. The problem with that lens was that I couldn't see a thing through the viewfinder because the scenes and that lens were both too dark, making focusing through the viewfinder impossible. I had to rely on Steve's advice on focusing to infinity and backing off a bit. The rest of the shots were taken with the 24-70mm f/2.8. I could manually focus with it, but it was not wide enough in some cases.

tisun

justME wrote:

Like them all but 8 is the best for me.
What a great place to go shoot. Awesome.

Justine, thank you. You have some great shots in your galleries.

tisun

schmoo wrote:

You always bring back such great sets! I love this one as much as the first. Thanks for sharing and hope to catch you out there so you can share your techniques

Thanks, schmoo. Once you are settled down, we should explore the bay area.

tisun

a110p0 wrote:

Nice shots tisun. I was there at the alumni event as well.

M.Is. is a pretty awesome place.

Alvin

Ack! I wished I had looked for you in the crowd. Thank you for sending back my wireless remote that I had left on the island during the first visit.

I like how you used blue-geled flashes in your shots in your gallery. You are a master of light painting. I was inspired by many of your shots.

tisun

Loud Al wrote:

Cool shots, I love shooting at night.

Loud Al, thanks. I spent a summer a number of years ago near your neck of the woods, in Hillsboro. I love the Portland area.

a110p0

tisun wrote:

Ack! I wished I had looked for you in the crowd. Thank you for sending back my wireless remote that I had left on the island during the first visit.

I like how you used blue-geled flashes in your shots in your gallery. You are a master of light painting. I was inspired by many of your shots.

No problem mailing back the remote, glad to help a fellow dgrinner.

Thanks for your compliment. I didn't come back with as many keepers as
I hoped, that just means I'll have to return.

Alvin