NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

New York City. Night skyline.

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Night slides across the sky

like a trumpet’s note falling over a syncopated rhythm

and the stars swoon and sway

mesmerized by the city lights

that pulsate to their own time signature.

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I have been traipsing all over the city for the last few months trying to capture a large majority of New York City’s skyline views. I think everyone has a particular skyline view they immediately think of when they think of the city. And yet, it’s still incredible to me after all this time that I come across different skyline angles that I hadn’t previously come across or had the time to explore before from certain vantage points.

New York City has several prominent skyline views that are popular. One is in lower Manhattan and usually includes the skyscrapers of the Financial District along with the one or more of the bridges that serve the lower part of Manhattan. The other series of skyline views can be found from the top of a few popular skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan. Another series of skyline views involves the midtown Manhattan skyline as seen from different vantage points across (or in some cases directly from) the East River. This particular view is taken from one of the latter vantage points. It’s a 30 second long exposure taken with the Sony A99 on a gorgeously clear and cold night in the beginning of March from Roosevelt Island.

Prominent skyscrapers in this view are the Chrysler Building and the United Nations building (all the way to the left). The lights of other famous midtown skyscrapers can also be seen even if those skyscrapers (looking at you Empire State Building) are hidden in this view. The lights directly in front of the skyscrapers that line the East River belong to the FDR Drive, a major traffic route that lines New York City’s east side.

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New York City skyscrapers and rooftops from above. Midtown.

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This New York City skyline view was taken from the top of the Empire State Building on an absolutely gorgeous summer morning with the Sony A77. The light from the sun in the summertime is un-matched in some respects. It seems to take on a distinct golden quality as it shines through the heavy summer air that hangs languidly over the city’s rooftops.

This particular view is of the tops of the skyscrapers and buildings of midtown Manhattan facing east.

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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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New York City skyline and the Chrysler Building on a hazy day. Midtown.

Late summer light

hangs over the city:

humid-laden heartache

tinged with heavy hope

and hazy promises.

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Where the winter brings a crystal sharp clarity to New York City, the summer seems to bring with it a gorgeous, bittersweet gauze-like haze.

Summers in New York City cling to the ribs and heart like ethereal remnants of distant thoughts peeking their heads out of the sea of heat and humidity.

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Taken with the Sony A77.

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New York City skyline and Chrysler Building - view from Roosevelt Island

My recent foray into experimenting with long exposures has been blossoming into a zen journey. I am a solitary shooter by preference. While I thrive on being around people, when I am shooting it’s an almost spiritual experience that I enjoy only when I am alone. The world tends to melt away and my thoughts evaporate into whatever it is I am shooting. I am not sure if it is because my mind runs at around 1000 miles per hour normally and resembles a rushing waterfall of activity that I seek out these types of experiences where I can calm the mental flow into a gentle stream of thoughts but I am finding long exposures to be an absolutely blissful experience.

This is the result of a 20 second exposure taken late last week from Roosevelt Island with the Sony A99. I have been shooting skylines for the past month for a secret project that I can’t talk about until later this month and it’s been interesting viewing the skyline from different vantage points throughout the boroughs. Roosevelt Island is a tiny island that sits in the East River overlooking the Upper East Side and midtown Manhattan. The Chrysler Building is a beacon of white, sparkling lights in a sea of skyscrapers lit by the yellow glow of the lights on the FDR Drive. It’s a rather calm place to visit at this time of year since it’s not quite warm enough for people to take full advantage of the promenade that runs parallel to this amazing view.

The night tends to fall quietly over the lights of Manhattan when viewing the skyline from this vantage point. The only sounds that are prominent are the sound of waves lapping up against the sides of the promenade as the rare boat speeds by. I find it endlessly fascinating how a long exposure can calm even those sounds down visually - smoothing out the water’s surface until the lights seem to melt into the water like liquid stars in a watery universe.

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The New York City skyline with Financial District skyscrapers in lower Manhattan.

In the winter, there is a clarity and edge that is carried on the frigid fingers of icy air and crystallized exhales.

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I have been really getting into long exposures. There is something incredibly zen about the experience of setting up, and taking long exposures. The waiting is interesting. It forces a pause in the process. You start to be hyper-aware of the movement of clouds and light transitions. In the winter especially, it’s a commitment. The minute or so of waiting seems to encompass an eternity of thought(s).

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This is a 30 second exposure of the lower Manhattan skyline featuring the skyscrapers of the Financial District and Pier 17 taken with the Sony a99. The Freedom Tower (also known as 1 WTC or One World Trade Center), New York by Gehry, the Woolworth Building and the spire of the Municipal Building can all be seen here.

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The New York City skyline in midtown Manhattan at sunset.

Late summer and early autumn sunsets in New York City are intensely beautiful. The city seems to cling to every bit of sunlight through a haze that sleepily hangs low over the urban waterfront. This was taken near the end of a four hour long ferry ride back and forth around the East River in the late summer. There were barely any people on the ferry that day and I spent entire rides just taking note of the sun’s descent in the sky.

When this moment occurred, it was so brief and fleeting and yet so dramatic in its intensity as the sun dipped towards the midtown skyline grazing the skyscrapers that I barely even knew if I captured it properly since the waves were kicking up in the river and the boat was swaying up and down over the waves. By then, I had gotten my ‘sea legs’ and knew the exact way to stand and counter the movement with my camera in my hands.

And the sun-kissed skyline drifted away from view and descended into the twilight of evening.

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Taken with the Sony A77.

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New York City skyscrapers and rooftops from above. Midtown.

These are the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan from above as seen from the top of Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock). Looking out over these time and weather-worn buildings, it’s almost incredible to think of the sheer amount of activity occurring behind each tiny-eyed window at any given time.

This is a scene that peaks in the teasing warmth of winter sunlight as the sun dips towards the horizon in the late afternoon. With rooftops covered with a light glaze of snow and with sultry exhales of smoke billowing out into the late afternoon sunlight, the city basks momentarily in distant memories of summer.

When I was younger, I used to imagine how incredible it would be to fly through the city like Batman. I would close my eyes and imagine dipping into the dark,narrow valleys created by tall skyscraper peaks. I would ascend up past the multitudes of water towers to distant rooftops where I would bide my time while seeking out other routes to glide through (in my imagination Batman took quite a few joyrides through the city during his off-time!).

I still like to imagine these things. It’s probably why I love views that take me above the hustle and bustle of the city. There is a peace that seems to come with viewing the cityscape from above.

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*Shot with the Sony a99.

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The New York City skyline and the Flatiron Building from above. Midtown.

From above, the Flatiron Building (in the middle of this photo) looks like a tiny little lego piece: one piece in a set of thousands that make up all the toy buildings in midtown Manhattan.

Still going through the hundreds of photos I took a few weeks back from the top of the Empire State Building. It was such a beautiful day and the sun created the most beautiful shadows that lined the streets below. Hopefully, in a few weeks I will start posting my regular photography from that day but for now here is a phone photo. :)

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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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Painted Memories. Future New York City. Chrysler Building. Midtown.

We looked at old photos of the metropolises we once called home with their towers reaching up to an unexplored sky. These structures stood tall in a universe full of wonder and dust from an infinite number of stars.

Our breath stopped, caught in our throats as our tears diluted the remnants of paint that had found their way onto these crumbling archaic testaments revealing entire cities beneath the caked, colored surface.

For a brief moment, it was as if our tears had the power to unearth memories from the recesses of time.

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This is not a phone photo. This is an ongoing side project: surreal future-dystopian (and utopian) cityscapes incorporating iconic NYC architecture and landscapes: part of a larger and strange sort of New York fairy tale series that I am imagining that takes place in the future.

View the other work in this ongoing series here: New York Fairy Tale

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Urban rooftop farm. New York City.

New York City is home to the world’s largest rooftop farm which is called Brooklyn Grange. Located in Long Island City, Queens, the farm takes up one full acre of rooftop space on the top of a building built in 1919.

Tomatoes are their biggest crop but they have around 40 different varietals planted on the roof. They also grow herbs, carrots, fennel, beets, radishes, beans, and other crops year round. They sell the food grown at the rooftop farm to local communities, markets and restaurants.

Making usage of space like this in a city as densely populated as New York City is not only innovative but forward thinking and Brooklyn Grange plans on putting more farms on rooftops in New York City to improve quality of life and make efficient usage of neglected space.

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Sorry that I have been a little missing in action when it comes to posting this week. I spoke at the Blographer event this past week and I have been (happily) tied up with a few photography projects this week. I will try to post here and there even if I only have time to post my mobile photography. Excited about the photos I have taken recently (and will be taking) that I will get around to going through after this whirlwind of a week is over. Can’t wait to share everything! :)

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New York City skyline featuring the Manhattan Bridge as viewed from Brooklyn.

If there is one opening sequence in cinema that perfectly illustrates even a tiny iota of the overwhelming love I have for New York City, it’s the opening sequence to Woody Allen’s Manhattan which you can view here: Opening sequence and dialogue. I know that people have very definite ideas about Woody Allen but his early body of work still contains some of my favorite interpretations of life in Manhattan and this particular opening still chokes me up absolutely every time I watch it especially the montage from 1:52 on. I actually learned how to play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on the piano when I was younger almost entirely because of this opening sequence :).

I was asked a while ago if I ever get bored or jaded about certain views or landscapes in New York City. I didn’t really know how to answer the question without sounding like a blubbering idiot. I know many people seem to get bored of overly-photographed parts of New York City but for me, there is always something new and something special imparted to these landscapes based on each individual artist’s perspective.

The photo in this post is of a landscape that overwhelms me every time I lay eyes on it (I posted a phone photo of it last night to Facebook which prompted me to dig through my archives of regular photos of it). For me, this scene encompasses a feeling that is hard to express entirely in words. It’s how the light falls onto the Manhattan Bridge embracing its architecture in a glow while the skyline gracefully pushes through the dreamy haze distilling the essence of New York City down to its purest forms of hope, beauty and possibility.

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Vivienne Gucwa photography exhibited on a large screen in midtown, New York City

Here is a pretty huge bit of news that I have been jumping up and down for joy about the whole day!

For the rest of the summer, around 70 of my photos of New York City can be viewed on an absolutely gigantic screen in midtown Manhattan. They are in a random rotation at Big Screen Plaza located between 29th and 30th street off of 6th Avenue (also known as the Eventi Open Air Plaza). To say that I am excited would be a huge understatement.

The screen is a 30 x 16 ft. HD-format LED screen and is in a 10,000-square foot outdoor multimedia venue that hosts major events and screenings of an eclectic mix, ranging from cinema to sports, from the arts to fashion.

I don’t know if I will be able to wipe this huge smile off my face!

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Panorama of the New York City skyline in silhouette at sunset.

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Night pulls its blanket of darkness across the sky as the sun pours the last of its gold over the city.

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View a large version of this photo over at my Flickr:

New York City Skyline Silhouette Panorama

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A client requested an 8 foot wide version of this panorama this past weekend. While my main online New York City photography store has this image (along with some of my other panoramas), the lab I use there which is quite wonderful doesn’t print up to those dimensions.

Thankfully, another place that I sell my photography online was able to accommodate such a request. Here it is: New York City Skyline Panorama. I am very happy that the requested large version will be on its way to that awesome person soon!

If anyone has requests like this, I always do my best to try to accommodate. To contact me about a request or to ask a question, feel free to email me at my business email.

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The New York City skyline and the Empire State Building viewed from Chelsea, New York City.

The Empire State Building always seems to stand out when viewing certain cross-sections of the New York City skyline. I have always imagined it to be an urban lighthouse helping all urban wanderers navigate through the dense sea of buildings that surround its distinctive shape.

This vantage point is from a rooftop located as far west as you can possibly go in Chelsea before landing in the Hudson River.

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