City at Night

It's hard to miss the City and County Building this time of year. The Downtown Denver Partnership touts it as one of the largest holiday lighting displays in the world, with floodlights and nearly a million smaller lights. It's a colorful, chaotic sight to behold — and an official nightmare for bad photographers. I have a decent camera and know the makings of a good shot when I see one. But I never even learned the basics of the technology, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I keep my nice camera, with all its giant lenses, on "auto" — always. I run from lighting displays, because the blurs that come out are too disappointing and eerily ghostlike.

Related Content

• Zombie riot in Durango: At least guy with fake penis & upside-down flag wasn't busted (VIDEO)
  November 2, 2011
• The 16th Street Mall pianos return with fresh paint jobs and fresh inspiration
  May 26, 2011
• Colorado Business Committee for the Arts announces finalists for 2012 awards
  January 23, 2012
• Empanadas Argentinas has vacated the 16th Street Mall
  March 25, 2011
• The trucks stop here: Final Civic Center Eats of the season
  September 29, 2011

More About

• Sarah McClean
• Downtown Denver Partnership

But for anyone who's a braver amateur than I, or the real photographic deal, tonight's the night to make a framer. It's Photo Night, when the city turns off all the surrounding buildings' exterior lights so your focal point "really pops," says the Partnership's Sarah McClean. The city consulted with experts to get the lighting just right for its glamour shots, so there's no better time to see the spectacle than tonight — or January 11, when the next (and final) Photo Night takes place. The lights go on at 6 and stay on until midnight; visit www.downtowndenver.com or call 303-534-6161.
Tue., Dec. 4; Fri., Dec. 7; Fri., Dec. 21; Fri., Jan. 11, 2007