Raatri

“Raatri” means the night.

I am constantly fascinated with the night views of cities. Although I would any day prefer the natural starlit skies of the night; tall buildings, bridges and roads sparkling in the night charm me as much. I tried my hand at capturing some of these views near San Francisco.

This was shot from the marina under the Golden Gate Bridge at SFO. Don’t ask me how to get to this place. Someone drove me out there and I really should have noticed the way, as is obvious, I am not very good with directions!

This is probably the most photographed bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge. My first try at photographing it in the night.

I discovered that the Palace of Fine Arts in SFO gets lit up in the night and it looks absolutely stunning across the lake. I haven’t visited the museum in the exploratorium yet, intend to do so during the xmas hols. The place during day time would make for a wonderful location to shoot portraits. Wedding photographers were galore in the area around late afternoon when I visited.

I think this one was my favourite shot of the lot. Along the columns of the Exploratorium was this tree that looks almost ghostly. To intensify the effect, zoomed out during the long exposure to get an eerie effect.

One thing I realized about night photography is the requirement of a sturdy good tripod (well, this applies to any outdoor shoot). The winds can knock a flimsy tripod down so very easily. Also, the night chill along with a cheap ball head that refuses to co-operate contributes to increase in impatience during composition of a shot! Trying this during summer nights is an option, but I love the clear winter night skies…