I am a big fan of water front photography; it falls in the middle of my passion for landscape photography. Water front photography (in my opinion) is best at sunrise or at dusk. This time is known to enhance all type of photography as it has the best light for photography.
San Diego holds a special place in my heart for photography, next to Southern Thailand and Eastern Australia. This is a simple sunset captured while walking on the San Diego beach not too long ago.
To emphasis my “shot in the dark – shot at night” point I present you with this shot of the Saint Peters Square – Vatican Rome. This shot was taken at 10:20AM (see the clock tower) which is about three hours from “opening time” and as you can see the square is flooded with tourists posing or standing in line (which by now wrapped from the entrance all the way around right side of the square) to enter the church.
Since my interest, like most photographers in this case, is to take a sharp photo with the most details and for sure with the least hassle and harassment why would I want to be here at this time.
I would rather sit the midday sun and poor quality light until the late evening and capture the structures at my pace. Also, the late evening hours gives a chance to inspect the area for photo ops. You will be surprised what is hidden from view down the alley or around the corner.
Here is the evening shot of the same area, can you spot the difference 
?
I am a firm believer that night shots bring new life to structures and in my opinion sharpens its beauty. Take for example this shot of the Coliseum in Rome Italy, it is vibrant it has clear lines and definitions, it has a golden hue to it. Compare it to my day time shot (late afternoon) of the same structure below.
Now, do not take my comments the wrong way, day time shots are also beautiful and have its charm; just the night shots seem to add some additional focus to the subject. It also help in avoiding the masses (tourists) when you are trying to frame the entire structure without been blocked.
On my first day in Rome I planned to visit the major sites, the Coliseum, the Vatican, the piazzas etc. Reaching St. Peters square in the Vatican was easy, only a short subway ride from the “Termini”. But once I arrived and I tried to setup my camera on a tripod for a HDR shot I was quickly getting blocked by the “Vatican police” while shouting and pointing at my setup (No, no something was the common shout) but not a word in English.
But when I folded the tripod to a mono-pod the shouting seem to stop and they left on their speedy golf cart. This was my introduction to “let us play cat and mouse” with security and site guards. I learned as long as you fold the camera gear and move just few feet from your first location they (local police and guards) seem to not care about you anymore. So I learned the quickest way of folding and unfolding my gear and “run away” from the spot.
The “tripod chase” also forced me (and I am happy it did) to work near dusk time or later or at sunrise. I found that in most cases the same group that chased me earlier in the day did not care one bit about me or my gear later in the evening or very early morning.
My first night I spent it around the St. Peters fountains shooting long exposures and HDR and browsing around the columns. This shot is the first of many that I will share online. The golden color left by the fountain and columns is magical and I loved chasing the light.
– Daniel Westen
During the day the Rialto Bridge is jam packed with tourists trying to frame themselves on this famous land mark. I tried several time to setup for a shot from the bridge and all I got was getting stumped on by the wave of visitors not paying attention or caring about the person next to them.
I found like with the Grand Canal it is easier to capture this famous landmark once the sun sets. Once the shops are closed and street vendors gone for the day, Venice like Cinderella turns to be a lovely city and espouses some nice features to us to capture.
