I’ve taken a photo from this park, Sutton Place Park at sunrise with the crescent moon – on a cold early morning…
But I went back to watch the moonrise. I watched it on the bridge itself from the farthest tower as it came over the buildings of Queens.
This photo came a little later as the moon rose steadily higher, passing through the truss work of the bridge and then near the pinnacles of that last tower.
Clouds always seem to make the shot. Tornado clouds over the great plains, thunder clouds quickly passing over Florida with a drenching of rain, any clouds against a good sunset…
But in New York, even a simple overcast sky works well, because we are lucky to have things that go up into the sky. Add to it the quantity and intensity of the lights, and a glowing dome is created over the city, giving the night sky a very different dimension.
I tend to be early to things, and when I arrived to Brooklyn Bridge Park, I was the only camera there. I have never shot there before, but I was surprised I was the only one. Of course by he time I left, there were 20 people with tripods, mono pods, zoom lenses, fish eye lenses, etc.
I met a guy from London who was in NY for just a few days. He said he hopped a flight yesterday to NYC right before he starts a new job on Monday. He found a couch to surf on the Internet and was just walking and taking it all in. It ought to give him something to talk about on his first day…
I hung around until the sun was gone and the city lights started taking over. This was my last shot of 20 or so. I like the equality of the sunset and the city – a good balance between the blues of the sky and the blues of the water.
Another day on the East River. This is a great vantage point to watch the sunrise. It’s a small park at Sutton Square about one block south of the bridge.
You can sense a bit of Queens in the far distance, but really everything you see is Roosevelt Island. I didn’t see a boat pass in the 30 minutes I was here, just one man and his dog came to the park, looked out over the water, then jogged away.
I typically listen to music when I am out alone in the city, and I know, everyone has their select go-to soundtracks. For me on mornings like this, I prefer Vangelis – The City. It was released in 1991, and I was introduced to it in college, and it is one of those things that I return to over and over.
Seems like the Gapstow Bridge looks good in any season, any weather…
This was shot in November, around the same time as some other shots of mine of Gapstow. It just fits into the landscape so nicely that it needs to get shot over and over.
And it’s also amazing how this is the same bridge, shot from the other direction looks like it sits in a deep valley of urbanity, while shot this way looks like a bridge set in the rolling hills of upstate, not a hint of New York City in sight.