Travel & Photography

Basking in the Richness of Golden Hour

The best time of day to capture your travel memories

The sun casts golden light over an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. All photos credited to the author: Alex Marie White.

“Whoa! Look at that!” I exclaimed to my spouse.

Off in the distance, the sun flooded an offshore wind farm with golden rays of light. This energy-harnessing technology is uncommon where I live. I found the scene inviting.

I want to capture that! is all that ran through my mind.

What ensued was a photography problem as old as time itself; a frantic fluster to grab the camera, switch out lenses, fumble with settings, and attempt to capture the scene before it vanishes.

I made my way outside to the balcony of our cruise cabin and started clicking away. Capturing the perfect photo is a dopamine chase I will never get tired off.

I successfully wrangled the shot, despite the facts that I was on a moving cruise ship, fought Baltic Sea winds, and used the entire range capability of my telephoto lens.

A regional cruise ferry seen in the distance.

A time of day I love to photograph is golden hour, the period of time right before sunset when light takes on golden hues.

This past May, I cruised through the Baltic Sea and had the opportunity to capture photos during the extended golden hour period each evening. Despite its name, golden hour isn’t defined by a precise length of time. Sometimes it can be twelve hours long in the northern hemisphere as the year approaches the summer solstice.

The Magic

Golden hour is adored by photographers like myself because it transforms light into an alternative version of its normal self. It makes light more dynamic and creative to use as an art medium. It puts a special aura around everything its golden ray's touch. Building facades are accentuated and oceans shimmer like liquid gold.

Light is warmer and softer at golden hour, which makes it more appealing to the eye. If you open the photo album on your phone, I guarantee that you’ll find more than a few photos that you’ve taken with family and friends near sunset. The lighting is flattering and makes smiles shine.

When I looked out across the water, I saw a fuel tanker. Its silhouette looked exaggerated by the direction of the sun.

The gold hue of the sunlight and the blue hue of sky make natural, aesthetically pleasing complimentary colors. Blue and orange are considered opposites in color theory, when they are combined they maximize contrast, which in turn is highly attractive to the human eye.

As the sun sets closer to the horizon, light becomes more directional and casts longer shadows. This offers unique opportunities to experiment with silhouetting.

A Puzzle Piece that Fits Travel Planning

In my experience, golden hour compliments travel planning quite well. It fits as easy as a puzzle piece. It makes for a great evening activity after a long day of exploring. Golden hour makes it easy to capture picture perfect memories.

There are three simple things a traveler, like you, can do to enjoy golden hour:

1. Pick a place of interest. A landmark, a vista point, or city center are great options.
2. Check what time sunset happens and be at the place of interest 1–2 hours ahead of that time.
3. Sit and observe how golden hour magically changes everything around. Sometimes a little walk around a place provides a change in perspective that can reveal interesting viewpoints to enjoy.

It doesn’t matter if you have a DSLR camera or a phone, I guarantee that you’ll find the scene before you easy to capture. Golden hour does all the heavy lifting to make your photos beautiful.

A lighthouse off the coast of Norway.

On my recent cruise, the ship sailed through the Stockholm Archipelago right at the height of golden hour. It was supposed to leave earlier in the day, but a storm had delayed our departure from port.

As a photographer, the timing of this situation was a gift. I got to enjoy one of the best evenings of scenic cruising I’ve ever experienced because of the magic of golden hour.

I strolled up and down the ship’s outside pool deck for over an hour taking in the beautiful scenery. Almost everyone else on the ship was inside watching a theatre show and it felt like I had golden hour all to myself. By being mindful of golden hour, I experienced the opportunity of a lifetime.

Snap shots of the epic scenery through the Stockholm Archipelago.

Midas Touch

For me, photography and travel go hand-in-hand. The world is visually curious and dynamic. It’s hard to resist capturing it all with a fancy light sensor.

I can’t easily recreate the sensations from my travels in day-to-day life, like the warmth of beach sand through my toes or the sweet taste of cardamom pastries from a Swedish coffee shop.

However, a picture evokes the feelings I had in that moment. Golden hour puts a Midas touch on those travel memories, making them all the better to reminisce on.

This non-fiction essay was written for Globetrotter’s July 2026 monthly challenge. Thank you to the editors of this publication for this opportunity. If you’d like to enjoy this topic further, I recommend the following articles that highlight how beaches are a great place to enjoy golden hour:

Lani (Myk) Domaloy wrote about the perfect sunset in the midst of winter blues, her beach explorations resulted in a beautiful set of golden hour photos.

[embed]Chasing Light — Capturing the Perfect French Beach Sunset Then the sky stole the show…medium.com

Kelly Benson wrote a classic write up on the joys of long summer evenings at the beach with a thought-provoking twist.

[embed]Dark Skies Are A Stunning Warning Blazing summers in Australia come with hazardsmedium.com