Vancouver is one of the most visually varied cities in the world — a dense downtown skyline on a peninsula surrounded by ocean, with 2,000 m peaks rising directly behind the urban grid. Stanley Park's old-growth forest sits five minutes from glass skyscrapers. Within a two-hour drive are turquoise glacial lakes, sea-to-sky mountain scenery, and coastal rainforest. Photography in Vancouver rewards both the patient landscape photographer waiting for perfect light and the street photographer who wants layered urban complexity.
Sunrise from the seawall's eastern section (Coal Harbour end) gives the downtown skyline reflected in the still water of the inner harbour with the mountains behind. The totem poles at Brockton Point catch warm morning light from the east and are best photographed in that first hour after sunrise before the cruise ship tourists arrive. The full 9 km seawall loop takes about 2.5 hours to walk.
The western side of the seawall at Second Beach looks out over English Bay and the mountains of Vancouver Island in the distance. Sunset here on a clear evening, with the golden light on the water and silhouettes of freighters anchored in the bay, is the best sunset photograph in the city.
Sunrise and blue hour. Walk east from the SeaBus terminal along the Coal Harbour waterfront path. The glass towers of downtown reflect in the calm inner harbour at dawn, with the floatplane terminal in the middle distance and the North Shore mountains behind. The Canada Place convention centre sails appear in the left of the frame at this angle.
Drive or bike to Prospect Point in Stanley Park for an elevated view of Lions Gate Bridge and the downtown skyline beyond Burrard Inlet. This is the best elevated city-with-bridge shot in Vancouver. Best in late afternoon when the sun comes from the west and the bridge and buildings are fully lit.
Overcast days and blue hour. Gastown is Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood — brick buildings, cobblestones, and the famous steam clock at the corner of Water and Cambie Streets. The clock releases steam every 15 minutes; the best shot is on a cool morning when the steam cloud is visible against the warm-lit brick of the surrounding buildings. Water Street at blue hour, looking east with the wet cobblestones reflecting the street lights, is one of the best night photography compositions in the city.
Overcast or early morning. The 137 m suspension bridge over Capilano Canyon is the most photographed single structure in Vancouver — 70 m above the river, swaying gently over the old-growth forest below. The Cliffwalk (glass-bottomed walkways bolted to a granite cliff face) offers an unusual perspective: looking straight down through the floor to the river and looking up at 200 m Douglas firs. Admission is expensive but the photography is unlike anything else in the city.
Mid-morning, June through September. Joffre Lakes is 160 km east of Vancouver (2 hours) and holds three glacier-fed lakes stacked up the mountain in increasingly vivid turquoise — the upper lake, at 1,370 m with a hanging glacier above it, is in some conditions even brighter than Moraine Lake in Banff. The 11 km return trail gains 370 m elevation.
The Joffre Lakes parking lot fills by 7:30 a.m. on summer weekends. Arrive at opening (7 a.m.) or take the Squamish-Lillooet Transit bus from Pemberton. Parking reservations are now required (book online via BC Parks).
Morning in all seasons. The Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99) north from Vancouver to Whistler is one of the most scenic drives in BC — the road clings to cliffs above Howe Sound with dramatic views down the fjord to the south. Shannon Falls Provincial Park (58 km north of Vancouver) has a 335 m waterfall visible from the parking lot. The Chief — a massive granite monolith above Squamish — gives a classic rock-against-sky photograph from the base trail.