new york skyline

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I’ve been noticing a trend lately. A trend just between Andrew and I that we’ll agree that we’ll travel somewhere or go somewhere fun and then I have to do all the work. Like pick the travel itinerary, hotel, etc etc etc. But I’m not even mad about it because that means I have full control over everything. LOL. So when we decided we were going to go to New York for his birthday, I was on the hunt for a great hotel.

We used to only stay in Starwood hotels. At one point of time I had so many points on our SPG Preferred Member account that we used to stay in hotels for free all the time. Unfortunately, all those points have gone away so we were debating whether or not we wanted to stay with them this time. We figured staying in a new neighborhood and change of scenery would be nice and let us get to know a different part of New York. So I found this great place in Chinatown for us to stay.

The room was nice and everything but the best part was the rooftop. As soon as we put our stuff down in the room, I grabbed my camera and I was ready to go all the way up. Since the sunset is earlier in the day for winter and it was a cloudy day overall, I knew I had to get up there as soon as possible if I wanted to get a “day time shot”.  The lighting was a bit difficult to work with. I actually re-edited this image 6 or 7 times before I finally came up with something I liked.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/100th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

Speaking of Aruba….

For some reason when we flew back from Aruba we had a layover in Newark airport. I’m not sure how that happened but either way, I called window seat! This was my first time ever flying into New York or New Jersey. Usually when we go on the weekends, we’ll just drive. It’s so much easier and were not on anyone’s schedule. Were free as birds to come and go as we please.

As we were landing, I looked out the window and I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped. I was NOT expecting this view. It literally took my breath away. I love seeing familiar scenes from different points of views. So I grabbed my camera as fast as I could and started shooting.

It was in the middle of the day so the lighting wasn’t the best. The buildings looked kind of faded from the sunlight so I as I begun editing this image I thought that converting it into a black and white image would be better. What do you think? It totally reminds me of Jason Peterson’s work, who I love. He has definietly been my favorite black and white photographer and artist for the past few years now. So I was super happy with this when it all came together.

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/640th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld.

In other news, Andrew and I just got back from Norway last night. I’m spending the day working on my images and I can’t wait to share them with you! Norway has got to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I already want to go back to see more of the country, especially the Lofoten Islands and other places up north.