City Lights, Light Trails, and a few Raindrops

It can be hard to leave home in the evening when it’s dark and rainy outside. Most nights we find indoor activities much more appealing. It’s easy to go outside to take pictures when it’s sunny or snowy. When it’s rainy and gray……Not so much,

Eventually we feel the need to get out. So where do we go? Well, after getting our coffee, we go in search of lights.

Sometimes we have a destination in mind.

I had seen this viewpoint of downtown Tacoma many times when I commuted to work. I thought it could be interesting when it’s dark and the lights come on, coupled with the light trails from cars you would get between 5 and 6 when everyone leaves work for the day.

We found a good parking spot and a safe place to set up our gear while we tried various framings and camera settings. Eventually we got something we liked.

Sometimes we drive around drinking our coffee and looking for something that looks interesting to photograph.

This was one of those times. There was light spilling from the windows of the Tacoma Conference Center, along with the city busses passing by. Added to that was an artistic display fully lit up.

We walked around trying to find the best way to incorporate the light trails from the buses into our shots. We discovered some buses had more lights than others and found ourselves waiting for certain buses to pass to get the shots we wanted.

Sometimes when we go looking for lights, we get out of our car and walk around.

Things can look different from the sidewalk than they do from the road. I love how this view of the history museum was enhanced by the reflections in the rain puddles.

Sometimes we come back without any pictures worth sharing, but it always feels good to get out for a while.