We had very little choice on the actual location of the structure, so our primary view points NW. The resulting pro's and con's:
1) When the sun comes up in the morning, it is behind our backs and bathes the view beyond. Because we have tall trees all the way around, the first couple of hours as the sun starts to top the trees behind us creates fairly dramatic shadows as it hits the trees at the other end of the pond. As the sun rises, the morning light show fills in the pond as the shadows shorten. This has turned out to be a great vantage point decision. The downside is that we do not have the bath of light in the morning that some people desire inside their homes in the main living space.
2) During the warm months, when the sun rides higher across the sky, the afternoons - early evening pour the sun into the main living space. When it's hot outside, we will likely want to filter or even curtain this heat and UV element. This, in turn, will directly affect the view by covering or masking it. I am still uncertain how to properly handle this one.
3) We pulled the house back from the shoreline about 100 feet or so. This was done for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, our primary view is happening from the second floor (our main living space is upstairs, the garage and shop are down). Being elevated, we did not want to lose the "big picture" by looking across the top of the near shoreline. Pulling the view back gives a much more full view of the entire picture. Also, pulling the structure back gives us a front yard area; a nice element between the house and the pond. Also, having this front yard, we have bird feeders and a blue bird house that become part of the view. Very cool to include; watching wildlife with the backdrop of a pond view....even the deer when they work the shoreline, ultimately walking across the front yard at dawn and dusk.
4) The real unintended bonus; a view from the second floor. We put function before form in this arena by designing to meet our needs. We were concerned, tho, about putting the living space on the second floor. I was worried how the view would wind up. We are absolutely thrilled with the results. By pulling the home back a bit from the shoreline and elevating the vantage point...and adding a bank of 5 x 5 picture windows, the resulting view could not be better.