View over the concrete jungle of Manhattan
Here’s the first blog article in a series about my trip to New York City last month. It should give readers an idea about how I approach photography in a new city.
After 5 weeks immersed in the quiet pristine beauty of New Zealand’s landscapes, the first few days in New York feels like a relentless assault on the senses – loud, brassy and a cacophony of sight and sounds. Given that we had only seven days to experience a city of this size, we had to hit the ground running and adapt quickly. One of the first tasks was to master the transport situation. This turned out to be a mixture of subway and bus during the day (when traffic was heavy) and taxis at night. A game plan for photography was quickly worked out. Like many of the great cities, we would need to capture New York City for tourists and New York City for the locals. What became apparent early on was that the most interesting aspect of NYC lay in the numerous neighborhoods, each with their own character. The major project became capturing life in these neighborhoods using street photography by day. Sunset and sunrise shoots were reserved for the big ticket iconic images and locations such as Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge and the Rockefeller Observation Deck.
I started penning this post about 3 days into my trip. Here’s what I wrote into my iPhone notebook at the time. “I’m in the Greenwich district nestled in the Cafe La Lanterna di Vittorio, reputed to be the most romantic restaurant in New York. I’m dining on exquisite thin crusted pizza that I’ve not tasted the likes of since being in Italy. It’s midnight but there’s a constant stream of foot as well as four-wheeled traffic outside. It’s far removed from the lofty Southern Alps of New Zealand but I finally feel part of the scene; I’ve adapted.”
Check out Magic Hour Travelscapes latest additions to the New York gallery here
