I recently had the chance to travel to New York for the first time. Although this was suppose to be a vacation, any trip that involves extensive traveling will ultimately become a work trip as that provides for some great content. I stayed in New York for 5 days and in this blog, I’ll break down what I did for those who are simply interested or for those who are looking for a similar experience.
Day 1
This was technically a travel day but with some proper planning, you can leave yourself with plenty of time to explore. My flight was from SEA - JFK. I decided to take a red eye flight that left Seattle at 10:43pm and landed in New York at 7am. Landing early in the morning means that I essentially had the entire day to explore. This also saves money on room and board as you don’t have to pay to just sleep if you take a flight that lands later in the day. The only problem with this plan is what to do with your luggage (if you brought one). Since most hotel check ins are later in the day, arriving early means that you will have to drag the luggage around everywhere you go. One option is to ask the hotel to hold the luggage prior to checkin. For this trip, I was lucky and my hotel had the room ready on arrival. I was able to go in and get everything settled before exploring the city.
For this trip, I stayed at the Citizen M hotel. I found the hotel to be a bit pricey for what it provides, but the location kind of makes it worth it. This hotel is located in midtown and is walking distance away from many popular New York destinations, including Time Square and Central Park.
I think this is a given, but Time Square is an obvious must go destination for any tourist. It’s not my favorite place because it’s really just a bunch of billboards, advertising and retail stores but it’s something to experience for the sake of it. On the other hand, if you came to New York to shop, then this location does provide a lot of options.
From Time Square, it’s less than a 20 minute walk to Central Park. This park covers a lot of land and has plenty to see. If you’re committed to exploring the whole park, then this can be a whole day event. I went through the southwestern entrance and only made it about a quarter of the way into the park before stopping at the Bethesda Fountain. Right before the fountain is a bridge that is quite a nice location for photography.
Central park is huge and has a lot to see. If you have the chance, I’d definitely recommend doing some exploring here. If you don’t want to walk the entire way, there are many alternatives such as renting a bike, riding in a rickshaw or even being pulled by a horse drawn carriage. None of this is free, but can be worth it.
Day 2
Day 2 was all about Brooklyn. I got my first experience with the NY transit system and actually got around to using it a lot this day. The Google Maps app was a lot of help. It provides different options as far as types of transportation and if you want to go with the public transit, it’ll provide you with directions to the stops and various transit times.
I took the subway all the way into Brooklyn. Another option would be to get off before the Brooklyn Bridge and walk the bridge into Brooklyn. This was the original plan because I wanted to get sunrise photos on the bridge but weather conditions just didn’t play along. Either way, I would suggest going early because the main photography hotspots get pretty busy.
One extremely popular Brooklyn location is Washington St. because it has a direct view of the Manhattan Bridge. This place gets filled with people. If you want a better chance of getting an empty street, GO EARLY.
One thing that I’d notice was that most people are really only attracted to those really popular social media spots. Everyone wants the same photo so a lot of other locations are pretty dead. By walking around and exploring, you can find a lot of other really interesting locations and compositions.
On the way back, instead taking the subway again, I tried NY’s ferry system. The cost is the same as the subway but provides a different experience that’s worth a try. Getting off the ferry, I headed towards my final destination for the day, Grand Central Station.
In my opinion, Grand Central Station is not a beautiful photography location. It’s quite bland. The location is big and has some nice details, but as a whole, I personally don’t think it offers a lot.
Grand Central Station is also a guaranteed busy location. Remember, it is a functional subway station and also houses many retail stores so you’ll have to figure out how to deal with the amount of people there and how to use that towards your advantage.
While I was there, I came up with 2 different compositions but could only get one because I didn’t realize that one of my compositions required getting into a restricted area. My main idea for this location was to do a long exposure. With the amount of people moving through the station, a longer exposure can really portray that movement. When timed correctly, you can get some really interesting images. Unfortunately, the focus settings for my lens somehow got changed in between shots and only the first shot was focused where I wanted it to be. So in the end, I only managed to get one photo at this location.
Day 3
Without knowing it, I hopped on a train and got off directly inside the Oculus. This is a tourist hot spot because it is so well documented on social media. For those Instagramers who have a white theme going on in their feed, this is paradise.
I’m not one to hunt for cliches and shoot images that everyone else has, but I have to admit, this is one of those places that I’ve been wanting to photograph and get those basic photos for myself. I’m a big fan of symmetry and line work so a place like the Oculus is a no brainer for very obvious reasons.
Prior to visiting the Oculus, I didn’t do my research and thought that it simply was a structure for the sake of being a structure. Besides being an architectural marvel, the Oculus doubles as a shopping center which houses many higher end retailers.
At either end of the Oculus are balconies on the third floor of the building. These balconies are typically busy with people as they provide a location to shoot the centered photos that you are seeing in this post.
Of the images that I’ve seen of this location, they’ve always depicted what seems like a pure white building. This is not the case. The building is white to a degree, but not that sterile white lab coat feel that social media portrays.
Take a look at the examples that I’ve put together below. The first image shows what my camera thinks should be proper exposure. Then, 1 stop overexposed. Lastly, 2 stops overexposed. Obviously, the human eye will perceive the scene differently than how a camera will. I would say that, in person, the building looks somewhere between proper and 1 stop overexposed. Social media tends to go with the 2 stops overexposed and beyond route to make everything whiter than it actually is.
If you leave the Oculus from one of the balcony exits, you’d be led to the main World Trade Center area. This area is filled with street art and has a lot going on so it is definitely recommended to take a look.
Right across the street from the Oculus is the 9/11 memorial. This location commemorates the September 11, 2001 attacks with two square reflecting pools where the Twin Towers stood. Surrounding the pools are the names of those who lost their lives engraved in a stone plaque. If you happen to see a flower placed on the name of a person here, it’s there to celebrate that person’s birthday. In the near vicinity are other memorials recognizing the volunteers who also lost their lives in the attack.
For my last stop in the area, I decided to head to Battery Park. According to the internet, there is a free shuttle that takes you there but I was unable to catch it. I waited at the bus stop for some time but it never came. I saw it going in the opposite direction, but never at the stop that goes towards Battery Park. I eventually got tired of waiting and just took the normal city bus. This isn’t necessary because Battery Park is a relatively close walk from the Oculus. You can actually see the spikes of the building from the park. So if you’re willing to walk a few blocks, I would recommend to just do that rather than waiting on a bus that may or may not come.
If you’re in the area, I would say that battery park is worth a visit as it provides the best view of the Statue of Liberty from land. There are also various ferry tours from here that you can take to go to Ellis Island and to get a better view of the Statue of Liberty.
By the time that I was done with Battery Park, the sun was setting. I had to head back to the Oculus to catch the subway and was able to see the building in a whole new light. As the sun sets, you get very harsh shadows that settle on both the inside and outside of the building. This can help to create some very dramatic photos and something different than what everyone else has.
Day 4 / 5
Day 4 was my last full day in New York. Unfortunately, it rained so I didn’t plan to do too much. I ended up just visiting the Museum of Natural History. This was my day off from photography and I didn’t even bother to bring my camera along.
To be honest, the Museum of Natural History was not for me. It’s essentially a museum full of taxidermy and artifacts behind enclosed exhibits. Many of what is on display is actually recreations. I was hoping for some more interactive exhibits but this was only really present in the Hall of Planet Earth. Here are different exhibits that can be controlled to show the effects of climate change along with other displays. At the museum is also a butterfly exhibit, which from what I saw, contained the only living animals. This costs a few extra dollars to see but was probably my favorite part of the museum. If I could go back, I’d probably skip this and go to an art museum instead.
Day 5 was a travel day. I was only in New York for a few hours before having to head back home. The plan was to wake up early and head to the Rockefeller Center and go to the Top of the Rock. It’s recommended to go early so I got my tickets online for the first time slot, which is 8am. When I got there, there were only a few people ahead of me in line but completely manageable. The only problem was that it was a particularly foggy day. When the doors opened, the workers mentioned that there was zero visibility at the top so we can either go up and essentially see nothing out of the windows or reschedule for another visit. I of course was leaving New York that day and had no immediate plans to return so rescheduling didn’t really help. I wasn’t able to get a refund because refunds had to be requested a week prior to the viewing date. I ended up just rescheduling for exactly one year (the longest allowed rescheduled time) but here’s a little hack. If you reschedule for a later date, you’ll technically be a week or more out from the viewing date and will then be able to get a refund. So, if you’re interested in going to the Top of the Rock, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying your tickets in advance unless you can absolutely guarantee good visibility on the day of. If you go early enough, you can still buy tickets at the door and there won’t be that many people there to have a hard time getting the view you want.
While you’re in the area, I would also recommend checking out the Rink at the Rockefeller Center. This is a famous ice skating rink that is often shown in TV shows and movies. A few blocks away is also St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This is a prominent New York landmark and is worth a visit as it contains some beautiful stained glass windows and great religious iconography.
This is essentially my New York trip in a nutshell. It was a fun and different experience from what I’m used to doing. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to pay another visit in the future.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and ask! I’ll do my best to give you a helpful answer.
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