The Castle at Dusk

There are three ways to get an empty castle photograph at Disneyland:

1. Arrive at the park and get to the rope drop before official park opening, then quickly take a photo with hopefully no cast members in the shot.
2. Wait until well after the park has closed, and then take photos at leisure.
3. Wait for the area in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle to clear, and then take the photo (and stay for front row seats to the fireworks too).

Well, the photo below is from option three, and there are really only two times during the year where that empty shot can coincide with dusk.  This photo in particular was taken late this past April, when the sun had set after 7:00 in the evening, and the skies were darkening but not quite there.  Not quite blue hour, and well after golden hour, this is normally not a great time to shoot. But when the composition is a cool range of purple, blue, and magenta, the result can actually be sort of dramatic!

Sleeping Beauty Castle in a soft purple light during dusk.