Blog Archives
darkness, night one
I am going to assume that every one of you recall my post from the other day when I mentioned that the night lighting at the Gateway Arch is turned off every night in September.
And maybe when you read that you wondered, “So, what does the arch look like if you’re in that bar that’s on top of the downtown Hilton?”
This. It looks quite a bit like this.
Saint Louis, Missouri
photographed 9.1.2026
arch (with mesh)
I was in Saint Louis for a week; the hotel was across the street from the arch. I saw it many times every day and my challenge to myself was to photograph it from non-traditional angles.
This was made from inside the visitor’s center.
I want to note that my original plan was to spend time on the grounds of the arch doing street photography. That didn’t work out because it was SO HOT that people with any sense were inside an air-conditioned building. But the point is (I tell myself) that I thought about doing it and made the effort to accomplish it. Apparently I can not control the weather….
Gateway Arch
Saint Louis, Missouri
photographed 8.30.2026
night/vision
I didn’t know when I made this shot that the arch would be going dark every night for a month, starting the very next evening. I was so naive in those days, two weeks ago.
Gateway Arch
Saint Louis, Missouri
photographed 8.31.2026
flying buttress
As always when I visit often-photographed locations, I try to find different ways to capture it: I don’t like following the crowd.
I shot this because the arch pieces on either side of the building looked like flying buttresses. And as a bonus, the half-staff flag (RIP Dolly P.) is reflected as a series of broken rectangles.
(part of the) Gateway Arch
Saint Louis, Missouri
photographed 8.30.2026
shedding the light
Every September since 2002, the Gateway Arch goes dark every night in September. It’s a way to help keep fall-migrating birds from becoming disoriented by bright nighttime lights. The National Park Service estimates that 40% of the U.S.’s migratory waterfowl use the Mississippi River corridor for a migration route.
I was lucky enough that my visit spanned the end of August and the first of September, so I got to see the Arch both ways. Honestly, I sort of like the non-lighted September version better.
Also it was very hot while I was there (feels-like temperature one day was 109°) so it was hard to imagine that anything fall related was very close to happening. I mean, obviously it will because pumpkin spice everything is creeping onto menus which is the most certain way to tell the seasons are changing. I guess.
Gateway Arch
Saint Louis, Missouri
photographed 8.30.2026
