New York trip, part 1 · May–November, 2017
Street and architectural photographer's playground
From bright corners in SOHO to moody views in Midtown and Tribeca, New York offers incredible variety of urban scenery. The city will delight even the most picky photographer that's looking to for street or architectural shots.
Epic Manhattan views from Brooklyn Bridge never get old. As a tradition from my previous trip, we went to the bridge on the second day in the city. This is a collection of photos from my second and third trips to New York after my first visit in 2013. I took Fujifilm X-T2 with 23mm and 35mm lenses to capture the city's people, legacy and its most iconic landmarks.
The next few days we were hanging out in Manhattan, exploring Midtown, Greenwhich Village and Noho areas. Each neighborhood has its unique corners and characters walking around. I coudln't help but wonder how many of those people are tourists and who's actually living in the city. I've noticed people move at a faster paste here but I felt that it was fitting me very well. It felt like you're a part of one large organism.
One of the most fascinating things about the city is its cultural and architectural diversity. You go from block to block and it feels like you're in a different country. Even a one hour walk from Tribeca to Koreatown can give you a sense of traveling through time. I can see why it never gets boring here.
Concrete jungle looks even better when you get on top of the Rockefeller building. I've probably spent a good hour or two on that rooftop. Pro tip: go there around 5pm or at least an 1 hour before the sunset. That way you'll get diffused light on the skyscrapers and your photos will look much better.
There are endless cute little stores with your favorite minimalistic goods for home and electronics. Then again, I'm a designer who's into minimalist products so I might be biased.
Throughout the trip I was using 35mm f2 Fujinon prime lens. It's light, weather sealed and makes a great companion for street and architectural photography. However, sometimes I wanted more buildings in the frame and needed a wider range lens (I bought 23mm prime later which I will post in Part 2 of this blog post series).
I did take the 18-55mm zoom lens that comes with Fujifilm X-T2 kit. While it's a great value and quality lense, I noticed the images were coming out slightly less sharp than the 35mm prime. It's also an extra thing to carry, so I ended up not using it much on this trip.