By state of mind i mean jet lagged having not slept for 48 hours so if this rambles a bit and is slightly delirious , thats why . 5 days in New York avec la familie and was amazed that where we were staying was right next to ground zero and we overlooked all the construction work from our bedroom window . It kind of blew me away that the most defining moment of the 21 century that has scarred the psyche of the world and dictated foreign policy , added queues to airport security etc was right here in front of us . On that day back in 2001 , there would have been holiday makers , just like us , doing their holiday stuff when , boom , life changed.
New york is very much like London , just the police are fatter . We tried to cram as much into every day , visiting all the usual stops , the Gugenheim ( boring) , Statue of liberty ( moving ) , the Rockefeller tower( amazing views ) and the show ‘Avenue Q’ . I highly recommend this show . I’ve never seen puppets giving each other a 69 so that was a first , never saw that on the Muppets .
Times square is what you’d expect , they say you can’t polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter and beneath the glitz and glam of Times square you see the tramps , hawkers , con men and pickpockets as you would in any big city . Its just an illusion of perfection .
That said , NYC is an amazing place to photograph . I was a bit limited and couldn’t visit all the sites i wanted to simply as we ran out of time but an ultra wide angle lens is heaven with dramatic convergence and strong lead in lines . looking up at the skyscrapers is dwarfing . A tripod on the rockefeller is not allowed which is a bummer as the best shot is at twilight when the lights come on on the Empire state building . my solution was … to use my tripod as sneakily as possible .
I was also ‘randomly ‘chosen for a bag search and frisking on both journeys , hmm , not so random me thinks . might it have something to do with being Asian I wonder ?
any way , below are some photos from the trip , thanks for visiting