Victoria SunsetAnd in the evening, the hotel balcony is a great place to watch the sun set.

We recently made a trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Every place we stayed was on the water, every night for two weeks. I thought that this would give me ample opportunities to photograph at least one good sunset on the water. So, where ever we were spending the night, I would start to watch the sky in late afternoon, try to predict if necessary conditions for good color were coming together, and plan where I wanted to be with a good subject for the foreground. Of course, I drove my wife crazy with this. I would basically say, "I don't know what you want to do for dinner this evening but, I need to be at this location a few minutes before sunset". It can complicate a relaxing dinner, timing is everything you know. There were a couple of times I dragged my tripod and camera gear into the restaurant with us, only to run out before finishing dinner, leaving my wife to pay the bill, because the appointed time was quickly upon me. I did get a few decent sunsets among the many nights that were a bust because the sun dropped from a clear blue sky. On this night in Victoria, I had plans for a couple of spots around the Inner Harbour if a sunset presented itself (being at the Hotel was not one of them). We had been seeing the sights in town throughout the day and arrived back at the Inn at Laurel Point early evening. The skies did not look promising. A low cloud layer had moved in, too low, I thought, for the setting sun to illuminate them. We had settled back into our room for the evening. I looked out to the west from our balcony and was startled to see the clouds breaking and a beautiful sunset developing. Knowing peak color only lasts a couple of minutes, I had no time to go anywhere. It was either shoot it from the balcony or not at all. I was thinking, "Here is the best sunset of the trip and I'm stuck in the hotel". After getting home and processing the photos, I realized, this is the best sunset of all; the rich color, the clouds reflecting in the hotel pond, and the silhouetted couple raising a cellphone to capture the beauty (click on image for larger view). I love it when a plan comes together. Yeah, right!

Stay tuned for more BC photos, I will get them posted soon!