Most of my trip out West this year was spent gawking at landscapes in remote areas. That’s what I live for, but hitting Seattle a week into the holiday was still a nice change of pace. For one thing, I could hike without much concern about being running into grouchy animals (at least of the four-legged variety). For another, I could behold a glowing skyline like this.
Seattle has a few places from which to gaze upon its architectural beauty. Obviously, the Space Needle is one, but when you’re on top of that, you naturally don’t see the Space Needle itself. Kerry Park, whence I took this picture, sits on a high point offering gorgeous views of the Seattle skyline with the iconic Space Needle included. The location is a hidden treasure; if more people knew what they could see from up there, I would have expected lines of people to get into the park. That said, it can get crowded relative to its small size as sunset approaches, so securing a good vantage point requires coming early.
And, I’ll tell you, I earned the spot I got. Before venturing to Kerry Park, I was walking the coast of Elliot Bay. Trudging up the hills from there to Kerry Park fostered an appreciation for just how high the park was. After finally reaching Kerry Park, I stayed planted in the spot I found as long as I could, watching the sun go down. A couple guys ultimately asked me when I might move; I told them after what I went through to get there, I was never leaving!
For all that, the sunset was nothing special. The sky was boring, and Mount Rainier wasn’t visible, as it sometimes is from the park. The scene when night took hold and the lights came on was more interesting.
I processed this image using Lightroom, as I do all my photos, and I used dynamic contrast in ON1 Perfect Effects to punch it up, as I have often done lately. But it was still missing something I felt when I was actually there. Adding glow effects to the lights using Perfect Effects helped with that.
