Taking photographs of downtown Denver in the evening is an activity that one is relegated to during the dog days of summer. Cooler fall temperatures will be welcomed, but the evening photography in downtown Denver creates some unique images.

Sundays evenings are a great time to be downtown with free parking meters, a limited amount of chemically altered knuckleheads in LoDo, and in general a more relaxed and subdued environment as the thoughts of Denverites begins to shift towards the workweek.

The first picture shows Denver’s second tallest skyscraper 1801 California on the left, 1999 Broadway in the middle, and One Lincoln on the right.

A narrow window exists after the sun has gone down and there is still a touch of blue in the sky. This window is known as “Blue Hour,” but in my opinion it is closer to Blue Half Hour.” This being the case, a plan is needed to maximize this ephemeral lighting. I usually start with a plan and then about half way through I end up scrapping it and start pointing the camera at whatever catches my eye.

Next is an image of the Byron White U.S. Courthouse at 18th and Stout Street.

The intersection of 14th Street and Market is captured. Two cranes can be seen- the one in front of the Four Seasons belongs to the 22-story 1401 Lawrence project that is currently under construction. The crane to the left of the Four Seasons and Brooks Tower belongs to the 40-story 1144 Fifteenth Street project.

With the fleeting light of urban night photography, a person may feel compelled to dash to new spots in downtown Denver as fresh ideas percolate in the photographer’s mind. Cutting through scarcely traveled alleys while jogging past restaurant staff on their smoke break where mutual head nods and howdy’s are exchanged seems oddly within normal urban activity. The restaurant workers don’t seem to be phased by a person running down an alley on a Sunday night with a camera and tripod.

The below photo was taken near Blake Street on the 16th Street Mall. The white building is the middle of the image is the re Barclay Tower, and for years was one of the few residential options in downtown Denver. The second photo was snapped while an RTD Mall Shuttle drove past.

Next are a couple of photos of the fountains adjacent to Denver’s Union Station.

On the left hand side of the next photo, one of the construction cranes for the Z Block project can be seen.

The below photo was captured at the train platform at Denver’s Union Station and looks towards the Millennium Bridge. With all of the current construction and development, this part of Denver is becoming a top notch location for urban night photography.

Above, if you look closely at the base of the Millennium bridge mast, just to the left of it is a glowing light blue object. This is a new piece of art that was recently installed on the plaza of 1601 Weatta. The sculpture slowly changes color from yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green.

Here is a closer look:

No more vestiges of daylight are left, so time to head home. Here is one last photo of I-25 looking towards Sports Authority Field at Mile High home of the Denver Broncos.