Stanley Park and Waterfront After Dark
Stanley Park is one of Vancouver’s major tourist attraction… so what does it look like when all the hustling & bustling dies down?
There were lots of interest generated when I posted “False Creek After Dark” so I thought I would make it a series called “Vancouver after Dark”! This photography project required a little bit more work but it is awesome to undertake challenges outside my comfort zone once in a while. I focused my efforts around Stanley Park and its surroundings on this outing.
My wife + kids were visiting family on Vancouver Island for 3 days (and I was scheduled to work all 3 days) = perfect opportunity to progress my photography project. I packed my photography gears in the trunk and I went off to locations straight after my 12-hour work shifts. I didn’t get home until 1 AM on both nights which effectively meant I worked from 7AM-7PM + 7PM-1AM = 18 hours days… but I enjoyed every moment of it!
On the first evening I wanted to capture the entire Vancouver skyline and the Lion’s Gate Bridge at night so Stanley Park was the natural destination. Traffic congestion forced me to adjust my plans a little because I didn’t want to waste the beautiful sunset sitting inside my car… so I got out of my car slightly before Stanley Park and I photographed Coal Harbor instead. The Coal Harbor Marina during sunset allowed for some tremendous photo-op that I stumbled upon serendipitously! I spent the next 4 hours (blue hour to midnight) on the eastern seawall in Stanley Park and it reminded me why I love Vancouver so much… despite its traffic congestion, housing crisis, and a plethora of other issues. (P.S. Mosquitoes were vicious that night!!! I think I can literally say that I poured my blood and sweat into making these photographs haha…)
On the second evening I had significantly less energy compared to the first night so I decided to be less ambitious with my photography locations: False Creek during sunset and Canada Place/Convention Center late into the evening.
I had way more locations for night photography planned initially… I guess we’ll have to wait for part 3 sometime! If you like my photos feel free to share it with your friends and help my photo blog grow by clicking that Facebook like button 😛