For anyone who has tried to photograph an architectural building at night, the first thing you have to commit to is shooting during the famed golden hour photographers are always talking about. Or I should say 15 minuets! That’s a more accurate frame of time when it comes to photographing buildings at night, and nailing that deep blue sky at just the right moment.
When photographing the above building I had several obstacles to work though. First of all, it was
9:00 pm, I was alone, and in a neighborhood that was less than desirable. Not the kind of place you leave your camera gear unattended. It wasn’t until dusk approached that I discovered my next challenge, the interior building lights were on motion detectors with fairly short timers. Having no one there to help, I was left with only one method of turning all the building lights on, so I threw my tripod and camera over my shoulder, ran through each and every room in the building and quickly ran back to the only location I could find, where I could mask the one soffet light that was glairing in my lens behind an entry columns. Five running trips though the building later, I was exhausted, and had that one perfect deep blue sky picture I was looking for.
