When you ask someone to name a famous place in New York, I believe you’ll find that most people will respond with one of three responses…. Times Square, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.  Those are, in my opinion, the “big three.”  That’s not to state that there aren’t other places that people would mention — New York has lots of great places, but I believe those three would dominate the answers given.

That being said (and the fact that I work in Times Square), I figured that Times Square would be the best bet for a photo.  As it is, I’ve had some success shooting in Times Square in the past.  In fact, one of my favorite photos was taken two years ago in a snowfall in Times Square:

There is so much constantly going on in Times Square that there are plenty of different ways to shoot the scene.  You could focus on the people, telling their stories.  You could focus on the brilliant signage, instantly recognizable anywhere.  You could focus on the buildings and the famous brands that have storefronts there… and on and on.

I didn’t have a chance to shoot during the day… during the winter the day is short and I’m usually stuck indoors working during the daylight hours.  So, considering I was going to be shooting at night, I decided to focus on the colors and lights and activity of Times Square.  I was going to try to soak up as much color and light as possible for my shot.  I found a spot off to the side of Broadway (you can’t shoot in the middle of the street at rush hour!), attached my camera to my tripod, zoomed my lens out as wide as it would go and shot.  In the end, I shot from several locations around Times Square and came away with two shots that I really liked.

Here’s the shot I submitted:

Times Square on a winter evening.

Here is the one I did not submit:

I would have loved to submit both, but in the end, I had to pick one.  I asked several people for their opinions and most of them chose the top shot, which is the one I was leaning towards too.

What do you think?  Did I pick the right shot?  Or do you like the lower one better?  Let me know…

Zev

About thirteen years ago, I went on a trip to Israel.  For that trip, I bought my very first digital camera — a Canon Powershot A20.  It was a simple point and shoot 2 megapixel (2 MP!) camera.  However, it had a panorama mode and as soon as I discovered it, I began fooling around with it.  Fast forward thirteen years later and I’m still creating panoramas.

This is a 360 degree panorama that I took in Times Square earlier this week.  I happen to like Times Square as it’s one of the most vibrant, active and colorful places in the city.  You can hear almost every language known to man spoken here.  You can find people dressed in almost any conceivable fashion, style or costume.    It truly deserves the moniker “Crossroads of the World.”

A 360 degree panorama of Times Square.

I created this panorama because (a) I like them and (b) I actually need to use this for another, upcoming photo project.  Tune in next week to see what I do with this. 

Zev