Factory Ghosts Photo

Photographer’s Note

There is a part of San Francisco between Interstate Highway I-280 and the bay, centered around 20th Street, called Dogpatch. It is one of those up-and-coming "new" neighborhoods which is starting to get decent housing and some good restaurants. It is also an area, east of 3rd St (20th street crosses 3rd; don't ask), which is still industrial. Some of the factories and warehouses are in use, while others are abandoned.

A group of us went there in the early evening to see what we could photograph. It was really not the best time of day - the western light is blocked by Potrero Hill - but we found some interesting shots anyway. This one was probably a small manufacturing plant, on 3rd St., shot through one of the many broken windows. In the WS, I have posted a much moodier shot of a larger factory, also abandoned.

Technical: Perspective crop to fix the shift caused by shooting up. Minor levels work.

frostymon, Cretense has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mariandrea (973) 2009-06-04 19:50

Hi Daniel, good picture, with its own frame, well management of focus, and very neat given the light. Congrats, chau chau!

Maria

sevy (13376) 2009-06-05 0:10

Hello Daniel,

A strange photo than this one. In fact, independantely from the subject itself, it is strongly graphic thanks to the lines of the broken glass.
Moreover, there is an unity of the tones between the foreground and the background and a frame inside the frame with the window.
Finally this photo is really interesting and original.
I suggest only a little crop to remove the top of the photo and to have the border on the top of the window frame.

Yves.

frostymon (191) 2009-06-05 6:48

Love the abandonments! Nice capture of the late afternoon sunlight. I really like the color in this shot, it really sets a mood. I hope you had fun in there shooting all the interesting things one can find in such places.

I am curious what lays a little to the right in that room and maybe it would have made just as interesting a subject as what you've captured here. Also, and this is just my personal style, I would have made the window more in focus and either got more of the window frame and outside wall in the shot, or disregarded the frame all together and just kept the glass. Also would have maybe lowered the ISO (since I assume you were using a tripod).

gunbud (27819) 2009-06-07 17:29

Hi Dan,
I think the low light works well with the abandoment theme of this image.
The look through the jagged broken glass gives an idea of how this was once a vibrant busy place where people made a humble living.
Regards, Tom

pastadog (12821) 2009-06-19 4:19

You've been posting quite intriguing shots, Dan... Here you managed a couple of interesting moody shots, OV and WS, both technically successful too.. Maybe I would have chosen the WS for the main post, and this one in WS for a detail... Regards, Daniel

Cretense (55946) 2009-06-28 1:41

hello Dan!

Fantastic photo, you had a "special eye" for this one, great idea and realisation! Perfect tight framing, great composiion, excellent depth of field, and last but not least, perfect light managment! Very atmospheric photo! Congratulations!

Hercules

ManuMay (10770) 2009-07-16 10:23

Hi Daniel!!

Great concept, very well seen, providing an enigmatic almost poetic capture, could be a whole life resume??!!

Great tones and light management...yes, I like it a lot!!

Good work...

Have a nice day...

Manuel