People often wonder, “when is the best time to photograph?”.

Tourists and families tend to choose midday when the light is brightest, colors are boldest and when their automatic point-n-shoots can catch the action without blurring.  Pros and serious amateurs pick “the golden hour” — that magical time just before sunset when the quality of light is at it’s most magical and colors glow.  Nutcases and artists (synonymous?), on the other hand, choose to do their photography in the middle of the night!

Palace-Night

Click here to see the image in the gallery.

This month’s image was made at Chrissy Field in San Fransisco, down by the Bay, looking back at the top Palace of Fine Arts behind a line of houses mostly obscured by a row of trees. The time is just before midnight. So, no, it’s not really a UFO. Sorry.

The lights from the city and the floodlights on the monument illuminate the haze in the air, giving the scene an orange glow, and although the sky is clear, only a couple of the brightest stars can be seen. The  silhouetted trees isolate the dome of the palace while preventing the viewer from seeing why the base is not visible (just the bottoms of the intervening houses). All-in-all, a very “Close Encounters” sort of image!

Have a great 4th! …and enjoy the summer.