A Professional Photographer’s New York City Travel Photos

February 9, 2024

New York City Unique Views And Traditional Tourist Location Photos

On a Monday in July 2023, I found out that I would be going to New York City on Friday. My nephew wanted to surprise his girlfriend by showing up for a poetry reading. So I went into travel planning mode and booked flights to Baltimore Maryland, and Amtrak from Baltimore to New York City. This happened to be the second year is a row that I’ve done this route, so it came easily to me. My goal was to create a unique view of New York City using traditional tourist locations.

Once the poetry reading on Governor’s Island was over, we spent the next two days hitting the city hard. I had already been to NYC 5 or 6 times, but my nephew had only been for 3 days. He wanted to see the city the way I explore a city. So, we set out from our hotel in the financial district to see the city like he’s never seen it.

Unique Things To Photograph In New York City

World Trade Center Oculus

After 9/11, NYC rebuilt the World Train Center train station as the Oculus. This gigantic piece of modern art serves as a train station for regional trains coming into lower Manhattan. Inside is also a mall.

United Nations Headquarters

While waiting for our time slot at 1 Vanderbilt, we walked to the east end of the road. There we found the United Nations headquarters. It was completely silent there and very few cars were driving by. It isn’t the most beautiful building but it is worth the time to see it.

Radio City Music Hall

On this trip, I didn’t do a Radio City Tour. Instead, we just walked by admiring its stunning vintage sign. Some day I’ll see a show there, but not on this trip.

Empire State Building

While I have been on the Empire State Building observation deck, I did not go on this trip. Instead, I photographed less-seen angles from various spots east, south, and west of the building. My favorite photo was from the High Line on the southwest side of Manhattan.

The Vessel / Hudson Yards

The Vessel at Hudson Yards and the High Line is a beautiful artwork near the Hudson River. It is closed to visitors who wish to climb its staircases. The volunteers allowed us to walk in and look up, which provided a cool photo.

Friends (TV) Apartment Building

In The Village of NYC, the Friends apartment building stands in a tightly packed neighborhood. The building is smaller that you’d imagine, and Ross’s apartment building across the street is completely different. For fans of the TV show, this is a must-see.

Check out more of my travel photography adventures here.

Click here to see Madison Square Garden completely empty!

New York City Travel Photos From My Unique Perspective

In August 2022 I took my wife on our fifth trip to New York City. This trip was a birthday surprise to see the Harry Styles concert opening night at Madison Square Garden. While we spent a few nights in the West Village, we did plenty of sightseeing. Below are some New York City travel photos of The Village, Washington Square Park, the Friends apartment building, and more.

We have been fans of Friends (NBC TV) since it first aired but never visited the Friends building. Well, we were five minutes away, so we visited. The building is more beautiful in person than on television. It is in a really cool neighborhood with other residences and restaurants. This is the only TV or movie location we have ever searched. Although, no matter where you go in NYC, you recognize filming locations.

On this trip, we mostly stayed between the financial district and midtown Manhattan. Since we have visited so many times, I worked hard to create unique New York City images for myself. Even if a building is recognizable to most people, I wanted to photograph a piece that would be ambiguous in a photo. The goal is. to make others and myself think about what they are seeing.

It is virtually impossible to make a unique photograph in New York, so each time, I try to create travel photographs of things that are meaningful to me. I look for angles that tourists are shooting from, and then I go somewhere else. I get down low or get up high to see things that others don’t. After the rain, I love using puddles to get reflections that most people just walk through. I like to think differently about composition.