I was excited on my first day in St. Petersburg to see the famous "White Nights." Unfortunately, the persistent sunlight from the night before screwed up my sleeping schedule. By the time I got out of the apartment, it was 3 p.m.
Around 5 p.m. the light started to change. The sky was clear and the sun bright and hot overhead, but the buildings began to cast deep shadows on the walls.
The hours between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. were very similar, with slight changes in the angle of the sun. It was like the sun had nowhere to disappear to. This is around 6 p.m.
It was 7 p.m. and people were still lounging in the park as though it were high-noon. At least, the city never gets too hot because of how far north it is. It felt like warm autumn day.
Around 8 p.m., the sun began to cast its first hints of ‘golden hour,’ the time before sunset when everything is blanketed in a golden glow.
Golden hour during White Nights should probably be called "golden hours." It lasts a long time. This is what it looked like a bit after 9 p.m.
The drawn-out sunset produces spectacular colors in the sky on a clear day, as well as regal shadows upon the city’s buildings. This was about half past 10 p.m.
By 11:30 p.m., the sun was disappearing behind the horizon with a few last gasps of light. St. Petersburgians take advantage of the long nights. At least a dozen fishermen were casting their lines into the Neva River as the sun set.
Things were much different a few nights earlier, on the night of Scarlet Sails — the city’s summer festival marking the end of the school year and the longest day of the year. The sun hadn’t even set at a quarter past midnight.
Scarlet Sails is the biggest night of the year in St. Petersburg. Everyone comes out to the banks of the Neva River to watch a grand display of fireworks, a water show, music, and the sailing of a replica 1700s-era boat with red sails. Just after 1 a.m., it became clear why it is called “White Nights.”
A couple of days later, when I was outside a bar deeper into the city around 2 a.m., I snapped this shot. While the sun isn’t directly visible, you can see light reflecting off the building. It never gets fully dark.
About 45 minutes later, just before 3 a.m., the sun was rising over the horizon. You know that feeling where you start to see the sunrise and realize that you’re going to get a bad night of sleep? I had that all week.
By 4 a.m., it’s light out. The sun is blocked here by the buildings outside of the apartment I was staying in, just off the banks of the river.
When I walked outside a bit after 6 a.m., it looked like it was nearly noon. It’s a disorienting feeling. I was only awake for the hours between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. — once. It’s like having jet lag that won’t go away.
This photo was taken around 7: 30 a.m.. The light is so vexing for the human body that the soccer teams that had to train near St. Petersburg for the World Cup had special curtains installed in their hotels and were required to close them a few hours before bed. If you don’t shut out the light, you won’t feel tired.
Source: The New York Times