New York is a playground of activity. If you have the cash, or even if you don’t, you can always find about a thousand things to do each night. But most times, the best times, are spent with friends in quiet moments. Just being. Taking it all in. And capturing the moment in a photograph.
How cool is it to work in New York City and be able to talk your shoes off and chill out on a dog-free lawn along the Hudson? Yes, I said dog-free. Not that I don’t love the little guys, but I’d rather not lay in their stuff while I’m trying to catch some quick rays before retreating to my cubicle. The Christopher Street Pier and surrounding grassy areas along the West Side Highway is the perfect spot to relax and soak up the sun. Even on Friday, it was bikinis and bathing suits galore. No, I did not take pictures of them.
The grass is so nice I wish I had my wedge and a few golf balls to play around with. But, if the parks people zip around in their mini Urkel-mobiles to tell people to get their dogs off the grass I’m sure they’d have a few words for the guy hacking chunks out and yelling “fore!” at passers by.
Sometimes the best way to see a place is to go outside of it and then look in. I’d say that principle has a much broader reach in our lives. But, for now, let’s just go to Hoboken, NJ and take a look at Manhattan.
For New Yorkers, this is our mountain range. These are our peaks. We spend our days in the canyons, in the caves, exploring every interesting nook and every new artifact. But, when you look upon the mountain range from afar you realize all you have, as well as all you’ve given up.
I always thought “light pollution” was a ridiculous term until I moved here. How much do we gain by living in a city where you can buy virtually anything anytime of night and day? And how much do we lose by not seeing the star-lit sky? By not being able to tag along with Orion on his great hunt across the cosmos. To read the fascinating stories of Perseus and Cassiopeia and so many others without being able to see the stars that inspired them? Our connection to the Greek classics is reduced to two-dollar gyros on street carts.
It’s up to you to answer how much you lose or gain by living in Manhattan. So we don’t have the stars. But have you seen how beautiful all the lights reflecting off the water can be? Have you seen the twinkling angels at Rockefeller Center during Christmas? Maybe your inspiration comes from these man-made stars too. And trips from inside the mountain out can provide the balance to appreciate both. What an adventurous journey that would be.
(By the way this shot was taken with a self timer, so that’s me on the railing. Hi.)
I didn’t start thinking about it until after I checked this shot for exposure, but every time you are looking at someone in the streets of New York, someone else is looking at you. What do they see. What do they think at first glance? What are they listening to in those enormous headphones? Life is a mystery.
My biking brethren! I had to keep going downtown, but if you hang out around Astor Place in the late afternoon, you can get some fun-lit shots because of the reflection off of that big blue glass building. As you can tell, I didn’t check what it was, but it helps cast an interesting light.
