911 Tribute Lights

The Tribute Lights for the victims of 9-11 is a moving event. Boats sail up and down both rivers to view it. Folks gather on walkways and apartment decks to view it and pay respect. And photographers gather at various vantage points to photograph this symbol of sacrifice.

This is my third time shooting the Lights. The first time I went was the year after 9-11 and the park (Liberty State Park) that you can view this from was packed. I went year 2 as well and the same thing. So for the fifth, I decided to get there about 2 1/2 hours before sunset to get a spot. As it turned out, there weren't as many people early as had been in the past. By nightfall though, the place had a lot of people roaming around.

It was a beautiful day in the tri-state area. With a bit of a wind coming up off the river, long sleeves or a light jacket was needed. As the last hour of light fell, some really nice scenes emerged showcasing the unique architecture that is New York City.

The midtown sky line of NYC is also a thing of beauty in its own way. There have been countless images taken of it. In this image I wanted to show the skyline in scale with the sky. It was a nice sky to work with - defined with a hint of color. I used a focal length of 100mm to capture the image below.

For this image I used a focal length of 280mm. Again, I think the sky helps give depth and definition to the scene.

The light played on and off for bit. Too bad the sun stayed hidden behind clouds more than it lit up the scenes. However, it's when the light begins to escape the patchy clouds that you get the dramatic drifts of light that fall on a scene. This aids shadows and highlights which also helps add depth and definition to a shot.

The skyline in this light seems to have something of a retro look, a look of a time in the past.

As the sun dipped into the horizon, we waited to see the lights. Even though they turn the lights on shortly before sunset, it is hard to discern them until a hint of evening descends onto the landscape. I fired a few frames anyway but it wasn't until about until 20-25 minutes or so after sunset that images could be made where the lights could shine through nicely. The shot below is the first acceptable image that works in the fading light at 7:35pm - Sunset was at 7:10pm. It is similar to the first shot at the top but that shot was taken about 10 minutes later.

As the evening progressed, more and more people began to congregate and roam about the park. An officer for one of the departments was in dress and played Amazing Grace and America the Beautiful on the bagpipes. I heard lots of foreign voices - German, Russian, Spanish, French and a few others that I couldn't make out. An interesting mix witnessing this solemn reminder that evil can touch all parts of the world - easily.

With digital photography comes the ability to experiment with the temperature of light. When the masses shot film, it was daylight balanced. You had to by film that was balanced for other lights, like Tungsten. With digital you can set the balance. The image below was set to a Tungsten reading, meaning I was going to expose my shot to the color temperature coming off the building and the Tribute Lights. It makes for a dramatic cool effect, a more bluish look at things. If you notice the Tribute Lights standout more in this setting.

Experimenting in photography is the only way that one can expand their vision. It's the same in other mediums as well. One can often find hidden details and compositions in the same subject. The image below was found using a long focal length - 450mm. I liked the way the buildings interact in shape with the straight lines of the Tribute Lights.

The next shot was taken an hour and a half after sunset. The line along the bottom is a boat passing through. There is cloud detail that could still be seen but due to compression issues for the web, its gotten a bit mucked up for this presentation.

Before I moved on to find other vantage points, I decided to point the camera straight up into the sky. The lights seemingly converge and then fade into the night. In the early part of the evening the light would hit the cloud ceiling and illuminate it. In the latter part of the night it beamed high into the heavens.

There were lots of photographers about with lots of different camera's. This next shot is a long exposure of a guy working a 4X5 and his 35mm. If you've ever worked a 4X5, you know how tough it is to see in low light. I couldn't imagine bringing mine, I would have gone nuts trying to make an exposure. Instead, I made an exposure of him making exposures.

By 9:30pm I was done shooting. I took the long walk back to my car to see if there were any other shots to take. I snapped a few but nothing of note came about. Then just before I was to cut across into the parking lot, I saw this final image. It was tough to expose for and I knew that the streetlamps would be tough to control but I shot it and kind of like it.