The BLUE hour

Actually, it's NOT an hour but more like 20 - 30 minutes. It's that magical time right after the golden hour, just before the skies turn dark.

A couple of photographer friends and I decided to brave the slightly below freezing temperatures to see what we could come up with on this clear but chilly winter day.

Pictured above is the Seattle skyline as seen from a high bluff in West Seattle.

A Washington State ferry is seen headed westbound, most likely with a full load of commuters headed home to the west side of the Sound.

At the far right, with the green light on top, is the 42 story Smith Tower, once the tallest building west of the Mississippi. It was named for Smith... as in Smith Corona typewriters and Smith and Wesson guns.

Slightly to the left is the Columbia Tower, the tallest building in Seattle at 76 stories. Looks like two buildings, but is actually just one. The building on the immediate left is a separate building.

I may have told this story before... but the developer of the Columbia Tower was SO confident that there would NEVER be another building this tall, that he decided to install floor to ceiling windows in each of the women's restrooms in the private club at the top of the tower.

So far, no one has built a tower (and likely never will) as tall as this building :)