If you are dropped into the universe right after recombination and somehow survive, no matter which direction you look, the whole universe would be a uniform brilliant yellowish white, whiter and more intense per unit area than the filament of a incandescent light bulb, although not quite as bright or white as the surface of the sun. It's not just some of the photons. Overwhelming majority of the photons zipping about the universe at that time would be within visible spectrum. Universe was by no means dark.
It won't red shift to the point where the background universe would appear dark to the human eye until several million years later.
It won't red shift to the point where the background universe would appear dark to the human eye until several million years later.