Tag Archives: dock

960 Loading Dock

960 Loading Dock
Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

960 Loading Dock. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

As life trends slowly back towards a more normal world, I was recently able to join my Studio Nocturne friends (a group of San Francisco Bay Area night photographers) for the resumption of our annual fall “open studio” events in conjunction with the ArtSpan San Francisco Open Studios. The group and its ancestor, The Nocturnes, has shown night photography during this event for a couple of decades. Things were more or less suspended last year, for reasons I hardly need to explain, but this year we were able to offer a very successful open studio event in North Beach, followed by a “pop-up” event in Dogpatch.

So, for the first time in a couple of years, I spent the better part of several full days in San Francisco, showing art, working with my colleagues, talking to visitors about our work. This return to something feeling a bit like the old normal was wonderful. It was also great to once again feel like the life of this city was returning — masked and socially-distanced, yes, but still. The photograph includes the “view” from my location at the pop-up event. As an aside, its composition reminds me of the ubiquitous “chyron” displays on television…


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Fisherman’s Shed

Fisherman's Shed
A shed used by fisherman at the historic China Camp, San Pablo Bay.

Fisherman’s Shed. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A shed used by fisherman at the historic China Camp, San Pablo Bay.

The subject is a small building on a pier at the historic settlement of China Camp, on the San Pablo Bay lobe of San Francisco Bay. Beginning in the 1800s this area was the home to many immigrants from China and the location of a thriving shrimp fishing and drying operation. Today it is an unusually quiet location along the edge of the very busy San Francisco Bay Area.

This is not a new photograph. In fact, an earlier version of it sits somewhere in my archive with a different title. Over the past few months I have been revisiting my extensive raw file archives, mostly to find images that I originally overlooked, but in a few cases to rethink my original reinterpretation of previously shared photographs. One of the changes here came from a conversation with my friend David Hoffman, who suggested a better way to crop the photograph.


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.

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Pier, China Camp

Pier, China Camp
An old pier at the historic China Camp State Park, San Pablo Bay.

Pier, China Camp. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

DeAn old pier at the historic China Camp State Park, San Pablo Bay.scription

China Camp, along the shores of the San Pablo Bay lobe of San Francisco Bay has a remarkable history, one that I was unaware of until perhaps a decade ago despite living the Bay Area almost my entire life. The name recognizes that the location was a settlement of Chinese immigrants in the 1880s, and there was a substantial village here that developed a shrimp fishing industry. Although that began to fall apart early in the 20th Century, the last resident was still there late in the 1900s before the area became a park, saving it from industrial or suburban development.

Today it is a remarkably quiet place in the midst of a very busy Bay Area. Buildings and other elements of the earlier village still exist and have been restored, and it is interesting to ponder the lives of the people who lived there. This photograph features an old pier that extends out into the bay from the area of the remaining buildings.


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.

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Pier, Low Tide

Pier, Low Tide
A pier extends across tidal flats at the edge of Tomales Bay, Inverness, California

Pier, Low Tide. Inverness, California. July 23, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pier extends across tidal flats at the edge of Tomales Bay, Inverness, California

In late July I took a day to visit Point Reyes. My main goal was a long hike over the barren bluffs above Drakes Estero, with my plan being to follow a route all the way to the coast at Drakes Bay, hopefully arriving at just about the time the fog cleared. It was a wonderful hike, with some clearing early on, but ultimately it never did clear at the coast. On a day when merely a few miles inland the temperatures rose into the 90 degree range, here in the fog and wind it never got out of the fifties, and it was almost like enjoying a winter day in July.

Before I began my hike I drove along the shore of long, narrow Tomales Bay, where the road mostly travels right along the shoreline, often only feet from the water. This bay is very sheltered, with a narrow entrance and then a long distance from there to its inner reaches. At the upper end the tides regularly turn the bay into a mudflat. I always am on the lookout for photographs as I drive this route, and as I passed this spot I caught a glimpse of the stark backlight and the brilliant reflections on the mudflat — so I turned around and headed back to make a few pictures of this pier and the building out over the way.


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