11.23.25: The city at night

‍I admit that when I photographed this New York City street scene in 2016, I assumed it would be a throwaway, one of those photos I weed out when selecting my keepers.

‍My wife and I were heading east on West 34th Street, walking off our dinner, when I saw the Empire State Building four blocks away, just past the giant, illuminated New Yorker sign. I liked the view up high, so I grabbed a quick shot, even though I knew all the street-level wasted space would lead to a boring image.

‍It wasn’t until we returned home and I saw the image on the computer that I realized just how much this scene had going for it. And the detail at street level definitely wasn’t wasted space.

‍First, the scene was shot during the “blue hour,” the sweet spot for photographers. It’s the period of time just before sunrise or just after sunset when the sky has a “not daylight but not yet dark” deep blue hue. This happens when the sun is below the horizon but still illuminating the upper atmosphere.

‍The outlines of the towering buildings are clearly visible against the deep blue sky, but street lights, car lights and window lights are the only illumination at street level.

‍I like how the car headlights provide a nice backlight for the family crossing Ninth Avenue, creating a focal point in the lower part of the scene. The car turning right from West 34th onto Ninth provides another focal point. The line of taillights along West 34th leads the eye toward the Empire State Building.

‍Now for some information about the upper part of the scene, the elements that first caught my attention when we were standing on that corner.

‍The Empire State Building in the background is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. When completed in 1931, the 102-story Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building, an honor it retained until the first tower of the World Trade Center was completed in 1970. After the World Trade Center towers fell during the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was once again the tallest in New York City and maintained that status until One World Trade Center was completed in 2012. As of today, the Empire State Building is the eighth-tallest building in New York City, the 10th-tallest in the United States and the 59th-tallest in the world.

‍The Empire State Building was lit by green lights when I shot this photo on Aug. 28, 2016. The lighting was in honor of the MTV Video Music Awards being held at Madison Square Garden that evening. My wife and I walked by Madison Square Garden a few minutes after I snapped this shot to see the spotlights, limos and massive crowd.

‍The tradition of lighting the Empire State Building with colors to celebrate holidays and events began in October 1977. At that time, colored lighting was a labor-intensive undertaking, with crews covering the 400 metal halide lamps and floodlights with colored plastic gels. That changed in 2012 when the metal halide lighting was replaced with 1,200 LED fixtures operated by a computer-controlled system. With a few keystrokes, the lighting can be changed to any of more than 16 million colors. The selection was limited to nine colors using gels.

‍The New Yorker sign sits atop the 42-story New Yorker Hotel at 481 Eighth Ave., one block from where I was standing. The hotel opened in 1930. The 21-foot-high lettering is a familiar sight when viewing the skyline from the west. 

‍One other item that’s of interest to photographers like me: The building on the corner to the right houses B&H Photo, a place I’ve visited many times when in New York City. B&H is one of the world’s leading photo and video equipment supply companies. The New York store has on display pretty much every piece of equipment a photographer could ever need or could ever dream of owning. A visit to B&H by a photo hobbyist is like a visit to Disney World by an eight-year-old.