Non UK New York

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Fordsabroad

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Gordon
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I have a sudden desire to go to New York to photograph the iconic cityscape scenes. I have never been there and have no real knowledge of the size or layout. I would envisage some shots early and late in the day. I am no youngster and would be on my own, I have no idea if places to avoid.
Normally when I have ridiculous ideas like this I just sit down in a dark corner until they wear off!
Can anyone offer advice on anyone who does workshops there or publications offering advice.
A long shot I know and maybe I will not achieve it but I have always found good guidance from forum members before and if you don't ask!!!
 
New York is great!

A lot of the iconic city scenes aren't taken from New York itself, the best views are looking back towards Manhattan from the ferry. My top tip would be go to the Top of the Rock observation deck shortly before sunset, you that you can get sunset, blue hour and night photos looking back toward the Empire State Building.
 
Ya know the biggest problem you might have is clostrofobia! Start walking around in the ciuty and the building's are all very very tall. Stay out of Harlem and away from little west 12th st. I've been into the city more times than I can count driving trucks. I watched closely everywhere I went. Anything at all looks out of place, avoid it. You might not go into the Bronx either. Huge meat market there! Pay atention and you should do fine. I don't care for street photography and New York has some really beautiful country up state. Upstate and the city are two different worlds! Are you planning to drive there? This will sound foolish but the best time to go in is about 2 to 3am. Once rush hour starts, about 6am it will last till about 10 pm. At 2am till about daylight, street's are pretty clear and most truck driver's run the red lights. Thieves like to catch trucks stopped at the light's and check out what they are hauling. Cops never bothered trucks for it in fact encouraged it. Avoid the beggars, they will want everything you have. Very expensive living in the city. About driving in the city, lot of people living there have two cars. One is for driving around the city and the other one for going out on vacation!
 
Thanks for your response. Street photography is of no real interest to me, its the iconic buildings, bridge's etc I would be after. I would not drive whilst there I believe the transport system is good. My preference would be to be in a group or at least not alone for safety reasons.
 
Cant help with a workshop organiser but recommendation from a trip a few years ago. Invest in a platypod and ball head. A lot of the buildings hold your tripod at security but none took the platypod and head off me and it proved a very effective tripod replacement on the balconies of the tall buildings.
 
Got back from a week in NYC with the wife about a month ago. Had a brilliant time. It's a bit like London in many ways, in that there's so many iconic sights to see, and Manhattan isn't really huge so you can either walk or use the subway to get around (we walked about 15000-18000 steps a day). About the only advise I can give is to plan out the sites you would like to see, and then plot them as favourites in Google maps, it then enables you to see an overview of where you want to go and plan each day accordingly so that you can maximise your time there. Something like the below:

In this instance we worked out that Lower Manhattan (including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island), was one day on it's own. Midtown was days 2 & 3 and central park and the upper west side day 4 etc. (p.s. not sure why the image isn't embedding correctly, but if you click on the image it will take you to my Flickr when you can see it there).

NYC by Andrew Ellis, on Flickr
 
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Here's few from our trip last month.









 
Was the last one from the top of the Empire State Building? The visibility was rubbish when I went up, you couldn't even see the ground.
 
Yes, that's correct - top of the Empire. During our 4 day stay, we went to 4 of the main observation towers:
  • Empire State Building
  • Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Building)
  • One World Trade Centre
  • The Edge.

    Of them all, obviously the One World Trade Centre is the tallest, but the one we enjoyed the most (and wasn't quite as crowded) was the Edge. The top of the Rock was horrendously crowded.
 
I did follow an NYC-based photographer for a while.

He used to send out newsletters and I think I ended up stopping them as I wasn't planning to go anymore.

If I can find his details, I'll upload here as I believe he also did tours.

One of the things I would say is that it's such a cool city, it's a shame to spoil your (first) trip and make it all about photography.

Last time we went, we took our daughter as she'd never been and we went to places and I took photographs. I didn't go to places TO take photographs. It's a subtle difference, but if it's not a specific photography trip, I think the people you're with will thank you for it.

ETA - just re-read your post about travelling solo.

From memory, last time I went I had a crop body camera and took an 18-135 an a 24-70. I used the 18-135 more as it was more flexible.
 
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This was the guy:

jamesmaherphotography.com

New York Private Photo Tours and Street Photography Workshops

Take a private street photography tour of New York with a street photographer, lifelong New Yorker, and certified tour guide. New York Photo Tours.
jamesmaherphotography.com jamesmaherphotography.com

Looking at it again, he may be a bit 'street' photography

You can sign up for a free guide:

1697546605403.png
 
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If you were struggling for time prioritise Top of the Rock over the Empire State - better views in my opinion....

2009 since I went, too much to do in 1 week. Surprise for me was the Guggenheim museum, well worth the visit.
 
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