Manhattanhenge 2009

We're all familiar with Stonehenge and the significance of the summer solstice right? But how many of us have heard of "Manhattanhenge"? I would wager not many unless you happen to be a Manhattanite! Today, 12th July, was one of two days this year when the Sun sets in exact alignment with the city grid, illuminating every cross street on the island as the sun sinks onto the horizon. As the sun sets, one can witness the golden orb sitting with its top half above the horizon line and the other half below. Manhattanhenge took place earlier this summer also on 30 May, but I only came to learn of it during this past week, and immediately my curiosity was piqued!

It is almost laughable to think that future civilisations would attach astronomical significance to the design of Manhattan's grid construction, but the ancient sites of Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England have long eeen revered as mythical, mystical places for their supposed worship of the Sun by their very design.

The 42nd street bridge here in Manhattan is apparently one of the best spots to photograph this annual phenomenon, and as luck would have it, I live on the very same street. Unfortunately, I could not (as a newbie to all this) have anticipated the crowds that would gather just outside my apartment block this evening. Instead of being there at 7 to set up my tripod and wait it out until sunset at approx. 8:30, I foolishly wandered down about 15 mins beforehand, only to be met with a sea of expectant photographers, both amateur and professional, all eager to capture this unique photo op.

Disappointed, I had no opportunity for a full-on shot of the sun setting from the desirable elevation of the 42nd street bridge. My only recourse was to stand in the middle of the busy city street below with hundreds of other hopefuls, blocking traffic and having abused hurled at me by passing taxi drivers. Nevertheless, these occasions are rare events, and I stubbornly stood my ground in the middle of the road as the golden ball slowly dropped onto the horizon at the far western end of 42nd street. I managed some semi-decent shots, but these could have been superior had I done my homework and secured my spot on time.

It's comforting to me to see that moments of wonder like this will still draw a crowd even in today's hectic, indifferent world. There are those who remain unimpressed by such things, and while I stood on 42nd street I overhead a woman passerby remark "Jesus, would you look at this. It's so American." In my mind, it seemed anything but American....there was something really unifying about it, drawing people of all walks of life together as if by some sort of magic. Sun worship in the medieval sense no longer exists it seems, but to watch this evening strangers standing together all facing towards the golden orb in the sky one would be forgiven for thinking that the practice was still alive and well.




And just to give you an idea of what a professional photographer who gets there on time can do check out this link - a great shot by Steve Kelly taken at the earlier event this year.

Manhattanhenge

And a video posted on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN_1V8C5yMQ

Cool, right!!

Some Fireworks

Unlike last year, this 4th July I found myself staying in Manhattan for the weekend and decided to make an effort to go along and watch the annual firework display. Usually, these are held over the East River. This year, however, officially marks the 400th year anniversary of Dutch explorer Henry Hudson's sailing up the river west of Manhattan, thereafter known, of course, as The Hudson, and so in a depature from tradition and in honour of this celebration the Macy's Fireworks were launched on the west side of the city this year.

Fireworks are fireworks. Seen 'em once, seem 'em all really, and this firework sequence was nothing special to write home about I have to say, but it definitely was enjoyable to make the trek across 42nd street with the hoards of other revellers. Anyone who hadn't left the city for the Hamptons that weekend seemed to be gathering for the fireworks, armed with deckchairs, food supplies, cameras and more patience than you will find the average New Yorker possessing. In order to secure a "good spot", crowds began moving en masse at around 7:00pm, a good 2 and 1/2 hours before the event was to kick off. I was among them.

On reaching Pier 81 on west 42nd street, there were a lot of cops patrolling the area, and even at that stage, barriers had been closed off to 12th ave. Using my NYIP press pass, I managed to wangle my way through to the pier area itself which put me in a good position to get some shots of the event and settled down to wait for darkness to fall.

After weeks of unseasonable rain here in NYC, the weather on the evening of the 4th was just perfect, and as the sun set in a darkening sky, it threw flashes of, yellow, pink and orange across the heavens - Nature's own far more beautiful fireworks.

As the sky finally sank from blue into indigo, the first burst of colour exploded in the night sky over New Jersey to a chorus of "ohhhs" all around. I try to nurture the child within me whenever possible, and there is certainly something about looking at fireworks that brings out that feeling of wonderment that so often seems lost to time.





I got as many firework shots as I could, although even from the pier I had some trees blocking the view in certain places. I left the camera out of focus for one or two shots to try and capture colours blurring together, like this one:



Within 40 mins it was all over and the huge crowd began to move again back towards the city and to whatever 4th July celebrations awaited them.

Another Sunset

I took these shots late in the evening at my home in Ireland. I love watching the sun set behind my favourite childhood tree. Click on the photos to enlarge.

NYIP - Picture of the Month - Sunset

NYIP - Picture of the Month - Sunset

Posted using ShareThis

Great piece of criticism on a spectacular sunset shot. Check it out!

Storm

On Friday night, I witnessed something I had never seen before, and when that happens, I don't know about you, but I immediately want to share that with everyone!!

Friday was a really nice day weatherwise here in NYC, after what seems like weeks of incessant rain now. After work, I arranged to meet a friend for a couple of drinks, sit outside and soak up the evening sun. No sooner were we seated with our beers than a very dramatic change came over the weather. A portentous wind rose unexpectedly, blowing tableclothes up, rattling windows and knocking umbrella stands over. As pregnant black clouds gathered over Manhattan and the fat telltale drops of a storm began to fall, people scurried inside gathering their belongings. People cowered as the thunder boomed right overhead. I'm not sure why I love electrical storms so much, but they give me shivers down my spine! For an hour or so, the New York sky flashed and roared at us, poured torrential rain upon us, violent winds blew and it seemed as if night had descended at only 6pm.

And then it was over, the black clouds roared off to terrify elsewhere, allowing the sunset through to create a most unique canvas of the sky above us. Odd as it sounds, I spend quite a lot of my time looking at the skies, at colours, cloud formations, sunrises and sunsets...and I had never before seen a sight to equal this one. A most unusual light fell over the city - not night, not day, not twilight. If it had not been so breathtaking a sight above, it would have been a little spooky!

Of course, I was nowhere within striking distance of home to grab my trusty Nikon and, for the first time ever I wished I had been the owner of a camera phone. So unfortunately, I had no means to capture this fantastic spectacle of nature myself.

Next day, I got online to check out what other photographers had managed to capture and found these incredible shots of the Manhattan skyline after the storm. http://bit.ly/OfwIM. Photographer: Jason Kuffer.

After you've lived in New York for a while, you realise that it takes something special or really noteworthy to make it as a topic of conversation for the New Yorkers for longer than a day, and unsurprisingly for the last few days almost the first thing from everyone's lips is "Hey, did you catch that storm on Friday night?!!" That evening, the Unstoppable City pretty much ground to a halt as people got out of cars and stood in the middle of street staring heavenward in bewildered awe.....

Why all the fuss? I don't know. As hackneyed as it may sound, I think there's just something about nature that reminds me of what a great and powerful universe we live in, and as a minute and very powerless part of it all, we are so privileged to witness beauty like this.

Listen to Leftfield's Storm 3000