If you follow me on social media, you know that I visited New York City in March. It was nice to be able to walk the city with no specific plans or agenda. It gave me the opportunity to explore the city in a way I never have before. I had been to Brooklyn only once before but I decided to start my adventure in the Dumbo area. I explored Water Street and the surrounding area on foot, taking in the great views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. 

After exploring Dumbo I set off to cross the Brooklyn Bridge by foot. The bridge is a timeless icon and with the Manhattan skyline in the background I couldn't help but shoot images every few steps. The symmetry of the cables paired with the ancient arches and metal skyline created a powerful contrasting subject. 

After walking back into Manhattan, I stayed on foot and crossed lower Manhattan to the west side. From there I snaked my way from lower Manhattan to the Flatiron building on 5th Ave and 22nd St. I set up across the street and fired off a few shots. I was trying to get an interesting perspective of such a unique building. I thought I had the shot captured, but something told me to hang out for a few more minutes. The day had become quite cloudy, and suddenly the sun popped out of the clouds just to the right of the building. It looked like the sun was directly behind the building. I quickly fired off a handful of shots to capture the moment. The moving traffic and people made this one of my favorite photos from the trip.

From the Flatiron Building I continued north to the Empire State building, ending at a friend's house in midtown. My Fitbit friends must have wondered where I was that day because I clocked in just under 19 miles and 35,000 steps! 

During the rest of my trip in New York I headed back to the Top of the Rock for some night photography. I didn't realize that One World Trade now had a white beacon at the top of the spire. I was very moved and impressed by the image of old New York (the Empire State building) with the new New York (One World Trade) and the history it represents.

On a different night I went to the top of the Empire State Building to try to get a good vantage point of the Chrysler Building. I had never been to the top of the Empire State building before. Being in the middle of Midtown, the views are not as good in my opinion as the Top of the Rock.  The redeeming factor is that it's the only public building I know of that has great views of the Chrysler Building. I thought it would take me longer to get to the Empire State Building and through security so I left early. Turns out to get through everything was a breeze so I ended up standing around at the observatory deck for almost an hour in order to capture this photo. The extra time allowed me to test out the composition from different angles and ultimately end up with this shot. 

I spent the morning of my final day of shooting in Grand Central Station. I got there after rush hour so the terminal was not super packed. I've read that Grand Central is not too keen on tripods so I found a good rail that I could prop up my camera on. I shot this image with about a half second exposure to capture the motion trails of the people. I really love the couple in the bottom center of the photo. Their slight motion blur and shadow as they walk toward the light created an ethereal feel against the grand architecture.  

The rest of the day I spent walking Central Park and Wall Street. The Wall Street area was crowded but Central Park was relaxing. Once again I had never spent a lot of time walking the park and I was very impressed. My favorite part was the Bathesda Fountain area.

I had an amazing time walking and exploring the city. I'm looking forward to the next time I'm in NYC and can get some air time in a helicopter tour.