As the nights are drawing out a bit I picked York for a recent dusk shoot, as it’s only half an hour from Knaresborough by train so I could do the shoot and still get back at a reasonable time!  I picked Exhibition Square as my location for dusk, as I’ve only done it once before and quite a while ago.

I arrived in York in the afternoon and shot a few other architectural subjects first, including Micklegate Bar, above, one of the gate houses in the famous city walls.

I had a walk round to the minster and along Precentors Court where you can get back a bit along the lane from the imposing west front of the cathedral and shoot it without severe converging verticals.  This looked like a good spot for a future dusk shoot but on this afternoon, as dark clouds rolled over but strong sunlight lit the west front it actually seemed to work best with the converging verticals from directly under the towers.

As the sun started to set it was time to head along to Exhibition Square and get ready for dusk at the fountain in front of the newly refurbished art gallery.  The last rays of the sun caught Bootham Bar and the minster very nicely.

After the sun had gone down, the underwater lights came on in the fountain and the view over towards the bar and minster looked perfect as the blue hour colours peaked (featured image, top).  I’d had my back to the art gallery for most of the time, but it looked splendid in the twilight, so it was worthy of a shot from the other side of the fountain to finish off the evening before the train ride home.