Mare Island

Mare Island, near Vallejo California, is the home of the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean (now closed). It’s also the home to many dilapidated buildings that I’ve been trying to photograph well for some time. Usually the light is too harsh and the sky too plain and boring to make interesting photographs, but last Monday we actually had some clouds in the sky approaching sunset, so I shot round there before it was too late.

This is the building I’ve been eying for some time. It always looks to me as though someone has sculpted the holes in the windows to be pictures of things: people, bats, sea lions, whales, a rabbit – but that’s really just pareidolia. I like the effect though.

About half a mile away is what looks to be a burnt out warehouse or factory. The wreckage and the light makes it look like a scene from a dystopian sci-fi movie.