Down Town Portland, Dawn and Dusk

I got out twice in the past at the end of August to shoot the beautiful down town Portland from the East Bank Esplanade, once at sunrise, and the other at sunset.  The East Side Esplanade is a popular location and an easy spot to take photos from.  I would like to continue to familiarize myself with the down town area by the Willamette River waterfront, as this is such a pretty location to take sunrise and sunset photos from of this beautiful city.

This first photo of the Hawthorne Bridge is taken about twenty minutes before sunrise on a clear day, yielding the dark blue sky that is just getting the day’s first light.  I really like these blues, and in this window very nice and evenly lit photos can be taken.

The second photo, this time of the Morrison Bridge, was taken about half of an hour or so after sunset, getting a balance of setting sunlight and city lights illuminating the underside of this cloud that was moving over the bridge.  This photo may just be my favorite photo that I have taken to date.  The thirty second exposure gave the silky look of the water and the traffic head and tail lights appearing as ribbons of light.  I took many photos on this evening, but the window of perfect light was only as it is shown here, even between the dusk light and the city lights, for about two minutes.  The secret is being in position for a nice composition and ready to shoot, prepared to get lucky and get great light as the sun sets or rises.  More often though, the best light is just before the sun rises or after it sets, so don’t pack up and leave too early!