There’s a place in Seattle I’ve been wanting to shoot as long as I can remember.  It’s a view I’ve seen many times from other photographers of the city with I-5 running in the foreground and Elliott Bay of the Puget Sound in the background.  The local photography club scheduled a trip to Dr. Jose Rizal Park, which is just up the hill from the bridge, to shoot this scene.  I took the opportunity.

Seattle Skyline from the 12th Ave. Bridge

There were a couple challenges, the first being that the sun sets pretty late at this time of the year.  It dipped below the horizon at about 9:00 but wasn’t dark enough until nearly 10:00.  Here’s a wide angle view of what the scene looked like when I first showed up.

View from the 12th Ave. Bridge

You can see the stadium where the Seahawks play on the far left (the Mariners’ Safeco Field is even further to the left, out of this frame) and the railing from the bridge in the bottom right corner.  That was a bit of a challenge too – shooting over the railing without it being in the frame.  Other challenges included jockeying for position with the other photographers there (but they were all very friendly), keeping an eye out for the locals (friendliness status unknown) and the constant rumble of cars and buses over the bridge on which we were standing.  Here’s a view of the other direction, away from the city.

From the 12th Ave. Bridge, Facing East

The special effects in the above image are courtesy of two buses that passed in front of me during a 13 second exposure.  All in all it was a great trip, and I will definitely be going back.  There are some other vantage points to explore and an incredible brick building that, at one time, housed the headquarters for Amazon.  It looks amazing from down on the freeway and spectacular up close.