NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

New York City sunset over the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan.

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I never really get tired of this view.

I know I have expressed that sentiment many times but it’s absolutely true. There’s something incredibly breathtaking that occurs when you are above the rooftops of the city. It’s as if the city shrinks below a vast sky in a huge universe and everything that once seemed impossible seems effortless and within the realm of possibility.

It’s so easy to forget that sort of thing when you live in a large city like New York City. When you are in the thick of it all, it can feel like the you are alone in a never-ending maze of cavernous streets as everyone else’s dreams and hopes fly past you at the speed of light. But when you take yourself out from the middle of everything and change your perspective, it’s as if the city holds its arms out to you beckoning you to come back and put your own dreams out there so they can spread their wings and fly up to the sky towards the horizon leaving a trail of hope in their path.

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This was taken from the top of Rockefeller Center (also known as Top of the Rock) with the Sony A99 and it’s probably one of the most popular views of the New York City skyline since it includes the Empire State Building and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The view is looking south towards One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower and 1 WTC) and the skyscrapers of the Financial District.

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The New York City Skyline and Central Park from above during sunset.

Summer evenings are when the city smolders

as the sun paints the clouds

and the night sky waits just another hour longer

to dance with the last remnants of the day.

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This is a view of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and Central Park from above looking north towards upper Manhattan. I took this at the end of August on a gorgeous, sweltering evening. I made it up to the top deck of Top of the Rock (30 Rock) just as this spectacular sunset was making its way across the sky.

It’s hard not to feel overcome with emotion when the summer sky puts on one of its late summer sunset shows. When it happens, the city is bathed in an other-worldly glow as the lights in the buildings twinkle on like stars and the sky and the impossible all seem to melt away into an infinite horizon full of endless possibility.

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New York City Skyline and the roof tops of Brooklyn Heights at sunset overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.

Summer evenings in New York City weave their own spell when summer night skies slide onto the city through the sticky-sweet haze.

The skyscrapers cling to the sunlight wrapped up in the glow and hazy anticipation of just one more kiss of light.

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This was taken at the peak of last summer from a roof top in Brooklyn overlooking the skyline of Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Bridge and a very hazy lower Manhattan skyline. I was shooting with a camera I wasn’t at all used to shooting with and the temperature was hovering near 80 degrees at night with nearly 100% humidity. The air was thick as molasses and the heat was unrelenting but it was an absolutely gorgeous summer sunset.

It’s usually this point of the winter when I start pining for summer evenings like this forgetting that on summer evenings like this, I am usually pining for winter :).

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New York City. Skyline cityscape at sunset.

There is something really extraordinary about the shift between day and night in New York City. It’s gradual and at the same time abrupt in its magnitude. The lights on the skyscrapers flicker on as the night sky pulls itself over the city while the sun is still dancing with the horizon. I love this time more than I love the moments when the sun disappears for the night.

It’s this sort of in-between time that seems to suit a city full of people who feed off the frenetic energy and constant shifts that occur on a momentary basis. New York City rarely dwells in absolutes. Its landscape and structures only seem to remain still.

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This is a 20 second long exposure taken with the Sony a99 from the highest desk on the Top of the Rock (also known as 30 Rock and the top of Rockefeller Center). The skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan sit in the foreground leading up to the Empire State Building and further in the distance sits the Freedom Tower and lower Manhattan.

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New York City. The skyline at sunset. Financial District.

New York City is magical
during the pause between night and day
when the sun dips behind the skyline
shining its light out through the twinkling eyes of the buildings.
This time of day is when
dreams roll off the tongue,
with a slow-motion exhale
at the end of a word
in a phrase
that trails off
without end.

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Winter in New York City isn’t the friendliest especially near the water when the wind-chills dip into the single digits and the wind whips across the waves. This is the result of a 30 second long exposure taken last night with the Sony a99 after a long-walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. The view is of the skyscrapers of the Financial District in lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty can be seen fading into the sun-streaked horizon. I have always loved the way the skyscrapers in this view just sort of abruptly break up the more open view on the left.

I love the moments just after sunset. The sky sinks into a momentary pause before the night sky pulls itself over the city. When everything is devoid of color on cloudy days, the tiny bits of color during these moments that come from the lights in the skyscrapers and the color that streaks across the bone-chilled-grey sky reach right into the heart.

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The New York City skyline and the Empire State Building. View from Top of the Rock. Midtown.

When the night pulls its cobalt blanket over the city
the lights flicker like stars
in a magnificent universe.
And the world pauses
for a minute or two
enthralled in a reciprocal gaze
of epic proportion.

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The hour right after the sun dips below the horizon is one of the most enchanting hours of the day. It’s not quite day and not quite night but it’s a blended mixture of the two. There is no better place to witness this transformation in New York City than 70 stories up in the air on the observation deck of Rockefeller Center (known colloquially as Top of the Rock). After feeling the elation that comes with watching the sun set over the city, all of the city’s lights come into view twinkling little by little until they all seem to build up to the most intense crescendo of illuminated splendor.

This view is looking south towards lower Manhattan past the Empire State Building. I took this photo last night bundled up in layers of winter gear since the temperatures have been rather arctic here in New York City as of late. I wanted to take the Sony a99 up to capture this time of day specifically. This is the result of a 30 second exposure completed by placing my camera on one of the ledges (while tethered to a very, very still me with gloved hands in pockets barely breathing for fear of moving the camera/camera strap). The Top of the Rock and Empire State Building are rather strict about their no tripod policy. Sometimes you can catch a kind security guard who doesn’t mind a gorilla pod but for the most part, you have to get creative if you want to take super long exposures. In this case, since it was so ridiculously cold, there weren’t many people on the deck and I staked out my ledge during the pre-sunset time period (the sunset was stunning!) taking photos while waiting for this particular moment.

There is a special clarity that comes with this time of year. While this spot is a popular vantage point in the summer, there is also a lot less visibility due to the thick summer haze that hangs over the city in the warmer months. In the dead of winter though, it’s crystal clear if you catch a clear day (another rarity!).

Locations of interest in this shot include: The Empire State Building, One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower or 1 WTC, the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan Bridge, the New York Life building (one of the buildings with a gold top), Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.

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The New York City skyline at sunset.

Late summer sunsets over New York City are the most intoxicating.

The bubbles from the wake of boats in the river go right to the head.

And the sun’s trail of gold kisses on the water

lead straight to the heart of the city.

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It’s this time of year when I start to miss late summer sunsets like this in New York City. This was taken near the end of this past September with the Sony a77 and Zeiss DT Vario-Sonnar 16-80mm lens (that lens, that lens! is pure love).

When I need to clear my mind, I head to the water. Sometimes I go to the beach to listen to the waves and sometimes I go to the river to gain perspective on everything going on in my life. I don’t know what I would do if I lived in a land-locked area.

On the day that I took this photo, I rode the East River Ferry for 4 hours straight (the day-pass is incredible) watching the light stretch across the sky and cityscape changing subtly every hour until the sun burst over the city like a supernova. The waves were perfect that day.

The East River Ferry stops in both Manhattan and Brooklyn going from 34th Street in midtown, down to Wall Street’s Pier 11, passing under each of lower Manhattan’s bridges and then across to stops in Brooklyn and Queens connecting at piers in DUMBO, Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Long Island City.

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The Williamsburg Bridge at sunset. New York City.

When the sun sets in the winter, its light pours over the city like the glow from a distant bonfire with scattered light illuminating the grey, steel edges like embers strewn about in the wind.

I took this image yesterday with the Sony a99 while walking over the Williamsburg Bridge. The Williamsburg Bridge is a favorite of mine in lower Manhattan. It tends to be overshadowed by the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge when it comes to popularity. This is probably because its pedestrian walkway is completely enclosed by a metal gate and because it isn’t in super close proximity to the other two bridges (although one could argue that the pedestrian entrances to all three bridges are in walking distance to each other).

However, it definitely lives up to its National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark status. Its architecture is incredible and the views of the New York City skyline and Brooklyn that can be glimpsed from either walkway are stunning.

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Flatiron Building sunset. Autumn. Madison Square Park. New York City.

Late autumn in New York City has its own brisk beauty. Cold air sharply punctuates the end of every wind gust and the sun retreats earlier and earlier every day. Autumn clings to December in the brief moments before the trees drop their leaves to the ground for good and every afternoon sunset reaches through the sharp cold with its lighted fingers in one last dramatic attempt to bring warmth to the city.

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This particular view is of the Flatiron Building, one of New York City’s unique and classic skyscrapers, as seen from inside Madison Square Park during autumn.

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The New York City skyline at sunset.

At the end of this past summer, I rode the East River Ferry alone one day for four hours. I find it really relaxing to be near or on the water.The ferry has an all-day pass and at times it was only me on the deck watching the bridges and skyline fade in and out of view as the sun danced across the sky.

There is a moment at the beginning of sunset when the sun begins to drop from the sky when it almost appears as if it is trying to catch its reflection in the water mirror below. I wish I could have bottled this moment up to have forever because it was as if the entire city was wrapped up in an intensely intimate embrace with the sun.

Isn’t that what is so great about photography?

Moments can last a lifetime.

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Seen in this photo: The Manhattan Bridge is in the foreground and the Brooklyn Bridge is directly behind it. The skyscrapers of the Lower Manhattan skyline are off to the right including the Woolworth Building, New York by Gehry and One World Trade Center (formally known as the Freedom Tower). To the left sits the borough of Brooklyn and the neighborhood of Dumbo.

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Autumn sunset. Central Park, New York City.

In autumn, sun drips down like melted gold on tree limbs decorated in the finest foliage.

The earth, chilled by the memory of winter, holds onto the sun’s light with hands outstretched as each ray slips through its fingers like fine sand.

As bitingly cool air brushes past flushed faces, every bit of sunlight clings to the earth like embers fallen from a powerful fire.

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I love the brisk quality of light in the autumn especially in the evenings. It’s as if the sun is trying to penetrate through past winter all the way forward into spring.

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The New York City skyline at sunset as seen from the East River. Financial District.

The skyscrapers clamor to watch night after night, from their front row seat, as the sun’s light dances across the river.

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This was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other phone photography posts made to this blog, and my mobile photography photos on Flickr.

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Coney Island beach at sunset. Brooklyn, New York City.

The sun whispers to the ocean in golden-voiced tones on evenings like these.

Summer’s warmth falls onto the bare skin of the earth as the air is punctuated by the sounds of distant laughter and birds.

And the city fades into the haze like a nostalgic thought carried away by an all too familiar melody.

I had a bit of a camera tragedy a few weeks back. My beloved Sony SLT-A55 stopped working. It’s currently being looked at by Sony and I have had the pleasure of using a Sony SLT-A77 (the image in this post was taken with it) as a loaner camera until the end of the month which has been nothing short of magical. I plan on doing a write-up later this week regarding how the Sony SLT- A55 compares to the Sony SLT- A77.

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Coney Island beach at sunset with the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone. Brooklyn, New York City.

Coney Island is the site of my favorite New York City beach. The Rockaways in Queens have become popular over the last few years and while I have fond memories of the Rockaways (since I grew up in Queens) Coney Island tugs at my heart in the best way possible. There is nothing like standing on the old pier that juts out into the Atlantic ocean while watching the waves crash onto the shore as the lights on the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone twinkle in the distance like a tiny city of candles.

When I was much younger, I moved to New Mexico for a year and a half. I was in high school at the time and many fellow students would ask me what it was like to live so close to the ocean and I could never quite explain what it was like at the time. I was always at a loss for words. It was what I grew up with and it was hard for me to imagine life without access to the ocean.

Years later, it’s still hard to fully put into words what it is like: breathing in salty ocean air, viewing the night sky while listening to waves, the feel of cool sand on bare feet, jumping through the ocean with wild abandon.

I think I keep taking photos in an attempt to further explain what the ocean means to me. Isn’t that why we write, take photos, paint, dance, create music and engage in a variety of other artistic pursuits? It’s to put into form those feelings and experiences that remain otherwise formless.

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Manhattanhenge Sunset Overlooking 42nd Street and Times Square. New York City

There is nothing quite like the intensity of seeing the sun spread it’s light like wildfire through the streets of midtown Manhattan. The red light glows with the ferocity of a supernova showering its splendor onto the urban landscape.

In honor of tonight’s Manhattanhenge sunset which may or may not be hidden by storm clouds since New York City’s weather has been highly unpredictable and stormy as of late, this is a photo I took exactly a year ago during last year’s Manhattanhenge. The buildings in this photo are the buildings in Times Square (you can make out the Madame Tussauds sign).

Manhattanhenge is a semiannual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The term is derived from Stonehenge, at which the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices. It was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist who is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

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I was really overwhelmed by the response to my post yesterday about the difficulties of monetizing photography (or anything) online. I posted it, thought about deleting it more than a dozen times, walked away for a few hours last night to get some things done and came back to a flood of responses. I am mostly floored by the experiences shared with me that are so similar in scope to what I have been through. You can view the nearly 200 comments and interesting ensuing discussion over at the post on Google Plus if you wish.

I will reply to all the comments and emails today and tomorrow when I have the time. I wrote the post because I saw a lack of discourse on the painful realities of social media and online marketing. I didn’t realize how much it would resonate with people. Thank you so much to all who weighed in on the discussion.

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