Sydney Harbor at Night

Created by Daly Photography

This photograph was taken during our second trip to Australia. The first trip was during our honeymoon. I had not yet begun taking photographs at that time and did not own a DSLR during that trip. You could say that this first trip to Sydney started the desire to shoot photos. This is the scene I envisioned on that trip and I knew one day I would have to return to take this shot.

Fast forward several years later- we arrived in Sydney several days before our cruise around New Zealand was to begin. On one of those nights, I left the hotel around midnight (I love to shoot during the late evenings and early morning hours when I have the city to myself). I had used Google maps to find the exact vantage point that would give me the angle for this shot. I walked several miles from the hotel, over the bridge, scouted the other side of the harbor and found my spot. During the course of this walk with all of my gear and a light jacket, I was caught in three different torrential downpours of rain. My gear was protected by the rain sleeve that comes with my photo backpack. I, however, was soaked. Undaunted and committed to this shot, I kept going.

As I set up at my location, the weather broke with a few wispy clouds lingering. This long exposure photograph at f-22 aperture captures the Sydney Harbour Bridge in crisp detail, with starburst light effects, and reflections of the bridge and lights in the water.

When I was satisfied with the resulting photograph, I packed up my gear and was rained on one last time just before making it back to the hotel. I paused in the lobby at a remote table to dry off a bit before going to our room. I was then approached by the hotel security and asked if I was staying at the hotel. Apparently I looked homeless in my rain-soaked state. This wasn't the first time I have had that asked of me while shooting, but that's for another story...

If you would like to see this photograph in our online gallery, click on the photo above