A Bird’s Eye View
Talk about getting the chance to shoot one of the most photographed cities in the world from a completely unique perspective. This year my lovely wife, Dipali planned the most awesome of all surprises for me on my birthday – a helicopter ride over New York City. The ride started at the South Street helipad, near South Street Seaport, looped over the Statue of Liberty and then headed upstream over the Hudson River up to Central Park before turning around and heading back the base. The pilot took his time pointing out the different points of interest and the history behind them over the communications system. I for one was really only interested in making the most of the fifteen minute ride by capturing the best photographs possible.
It was a perfect day for a photo-shoot, clear and bright, with the setting sun bathing the city in a heartwarming orange glow. I set my camera to an aperture of 8, an ISO of 200 and varied the shutter speed to achieve optimum exposure. That’s as easy it gets on a nice clear day. The rest is focusing on compelling compositions. I zoomed out as far as the window frames of the helicopter would allow me to capture wide sweeping vistas of the city. I’ve included some of my favorite shots from the ride in this post. They include a lot of New York’s signature sights – the Statue of Liberty, the Financial District with the Staten Island Ferry and the new One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, Chelsea Piers and City Hall
As always, I hope you enjoy this post and I look forward to hearing from you.
-S
Caging Bull
I had to take this picture. For as long as I can remember the Bull in downtown NY was ‘free’. You could literally walk up to him and take as many pictures as you liked. I have even seen people climb its massive head. However, today the bull is barricaded on all sides and manned 24/7 by the men in blue, due to the (real or perceived) threat, posed by the OWS protestors. You are still allowed to walk up to it but in a controlled fashion, after being cleared by New York’s finest. Sad sign of the times we live in.
Doesn’t faze the tourists though. Rain or shine, they still show up in large numbers for a picture with this New York City icon
-S
fa
