Pont de Pierre and the Garonne quays at blue hour

The Pont de Pierre was Bordeaux's first bridge, built under Napoleon, and its seventeen arches of brick and pale stone run low across the Garonne between the old city and the Bastide bank. From the quays on either side it gives the longest sight line in Bordeaux, and the curve of the eighteenth-century river frontage — the port of the moon — runs away behind it.

The best position is on the right bank, looking back at the city: the bridge leads the eye from one corner of the frame to the facade line and the cathedral spires behind. From the left-bank quay you can shoot along the arches instead, using the repeating shapes as a rhythm behind a couple. Both work; the right bank is quieter and gives you the city as backdrop rather than as ground.

Blue hour is the frame. The bridge and the quay facades are floodlit and come on while the sky still holds deep colour, and the Garonne — wide, brown and tidal — takes the light as long streaks rather than a mirror. Twenty to thirty usable minutes. Daytime is honest but plain; the river is not pretty in flat light.

Practical: the quays are wide, public and level, with a tram line and a busy cycle path behind — keep off the cycle path, which is used at speed. The Garonne is genuinely tidal and runs fast; the lower quay steps are slick with river mud and are not a place to pose. The bridge itself carries trams and pedestrians; the footway is narrow, so wide compositions are better taken from the bank.