I moved from Qatar to upstate New York a little over a year ago. In that time, I've made around 4 trips to New York city, and fallen in love with it. Each trip, I got to spend time with some really good friends. Every time I was there, I've thought of sharing my trip through photos here on the blog, and every time, I have procrastinated. Now, I have so many photos that need to be shared sitting in my Lightroom catalog, and that's what I have decided to share today... Because some New York moments deserve to be shared. This is the first post in a series of four. Enjoy!
It was late August 2022, the end of Pre-Fall: a semester we have at Simon right towards the tail end of summer. All of my friends were planning to finally visit New York City after spending 2 months in dreary Rochester (not really dreary, but we didn't know that yet). Just after our first final, my friend Rea told me we should leave right away, and maximize our time in New York City. It wasn't hard to convince me. We rushed and booked our bus tickets and packed our bags. We left the next morning and reached the Port Authority Bus Station in the afternoon. So. Many. Billboards.
The 3 of us, Rea, Neeraja, and I, spent the next 10 days at our friend Agrim's place in Brooklyn. Agrim made sure we explored the city not like tourists, but like locals. That meant that using the subway would be the norm, and time spent at Times Square would be minimized. I wasn't complaining, as we got to check out some really cool spots, like Jazz bars, barcades, stand-up comedy shows, and unique music joints.
Unfortunately, I lost the majority of the digital photos from this trip, and I'm still not sure how. What's left are my film scans and some of the digital files.
On the evening of 27th, we went to Pebble Beach in Brooklyn, as per Agrim's suggestion. I took the picture of Manhattan's skyline as I turned 23. I didn't have my tripod on me, and I was shooting with Ektachrome 100, a rather slow film. I propped my camera up against a railing and turned on the timer (an easy way to get stable long exposure photos without a tripod)
I spent my birthday with a free ticket to the MoMA (they were closing in 15 minutes). This is the fastest museum speed run I'd ever done, but I quickly got to look at some Dali and Monet pieces. Later, we went to Junior's for dinner and got free cheesecake, because it was my birthday. Sadly, I've lost all the photos I had on my camera from that day.
A good chunk of this trip was spent on foot. One day, my friend Neeraja and I walked from Tribeca to Williamsburg Bridge in the Lower East Side and then to Greenwich Village. I easily lost over 10 kilograms in this trip.
The Fire Station near Broadway and Lafayette St. caught my eye, with its striking red doors and windows. Fuji's color rendering really did a good job in this shot, with the subtle green in the highlights complementing the red elements.
When I went to Dumbo, I realized why this spot, the one that looks at the Manhattan Bridge, is such a cliché. And yes, there was a huge crowd of tourists there, oh well. I noticed that if you stand just right, you can see the Empire State Building through the middle arch of the bridge.
The end of the trip was coming close, but there were still some places on my mind that I wanted to check out. The first of which was the Manhattan Skyline from the top of the Rockefeller Center. On the evening of the second last day in New York City, Neeraja and I decided to go to the Rockefeller Center, only to find that they were completely booked out.
A bit bummed, we then decided to take a walk towards Hudson River. On that stroll, I noticed a rather shady looking underpass with a bright warehouse on the other side. A rather interesting sight, I decided to set up my camera and wait for a car to pass the scene. Again, without a tripod, I had to set my camera on the ground and wait. After a few minutes, I got lucky as a car passed.
This shot definitely cheered me up, but it was nothing compared to what I saw right after. In the same underpass, when I turned around, I saw a scene that right out of a noir movie: a perfectly gloomy intersection. I took a couple of photos with cars and without, not completely satisfied with what I got. Then, a New York cab came to the scene. Click, went the shutter.
I never took a picture of the taxi when it was still, I wonder how that would've looked.
Our bus next day was at 15:00, so Neeraja and I decided to give Rockefeller Center another shot. We decided we'd wake up at 7:00 and make it to Manhattan before noon.
Not wanting to miss our chance this time, we woke up early and left Brooklyn. Maybe it was something in the air, but I was feeling inspired. I think I got my best photos on this day.
After spending around half an hour at the Top of the Rock, taking pictures, calling my parents, and just enjoying the views, we left and walked around Manhattan for the last couple of hours for this trip in the city.
I especially like the photos of the Chrysler Building. That's definitely the building in the NYC skyline that quickly grew on me.
We then rushed and took a train from the Grand Central to Brooklyn. It was the end of the trip.
Hey Saptarishi, love the photos! Your photos have a distinct artistic style about them, and you know how to work with light very well.
Cheers! - Akshay
Incredible photos! Shows NYC in a new light - I love it!
Incredible work documenting this trip, Saptarishi! It was a delight watching you become inspired by New York. Looking forward to more on your blog!