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New York Awakens: Cropped
Midtown Manhattan, New York City
If you've never seen a sunrise in New York City, you're missing out on one of the more beautiful experiences this world has to offer. I don't make that statement lightly. The interplay of man-made beauty and natural beauty that occurs on a New York morning is surreal.
Many photographers choose to focus their sunrise photography efforts on capturing the sun and sky, facing their lenses east. For this VAST photo, I chose to direct my lens westward towards the New York skyline which was reflecting the sunrise transpiring behind me. This is the interplay of man and nature that I love so much: buildings gleaming in the bouquet of beautiful hues nature has provided.
Hours before this scene happened, I was setting up my panorama gear in the dark of night on top of a private building in Queens. It was freezing cold and a snowstorm had left a blanket of snow in which I had to work. The dark city loomed in front of me. It was 5am on a winter Sunday with a new moon so it was about the darkest the city ever gets. My cold fingers were a constant nag to head back inside to warmth - and the uninspiring, dark skyline didn't provide much motivation.
Shortly after 6am the skyline slowly began to brighten. I turned around and faced east to see the horizon beginning to glow. It was this glow that was illuminating the cityscape.
At this point, it was just a matter of waiting for the perfect moment when the skyline was its brightest relative to the sky behind it. I love moments like this because they provide a stark contrast between foreground and background, leading the foreground to pop out of the image. Furthermore, we are accustomed to cityscape photos where the skyline is darker than the sky behind it, so this scene, with its inverted lighting, made for a particularly unique image.
At 6:42am, the moment was perfect. The 845 United Nations Plaza tower was brightly aglow with the fire of the swiftly progressing sunrise. I began shooting the 42 exposures that comprise this panorama of the New York City skyline. I needed to do so as quickly as possible to ensure consistent lighting and to capture the moment before it passed.
In this ultra-high-resolution scene are thousands of windows, home to countless New Yorkers awakening to a beautiful sunrise.
Note: A small part of the southern tip of Roosevelt Island was originally visible in the lower-right corner of this image but has been edited out of the final image for artistic intent.
| Date & Time | February 18, 2018: 6:42am |
| Location | Midtown Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40.746117, -73.957213 |
| Focal Length | 200mm |
| Aperture | f/7.1 |
| Shutter | 1/8 |
| ISO | 800 |
| Num of Exposures | 42 |
VAST photos are the highest resolution photos ever made.
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This is not an ordinary photograph.
Its resolution is 4,600% greater than a typical photo. Click on the boxes below to zoom in.
This photo is also available in these alternate versions:
Our ready-to-hang canvas prints are created using a specialty printer that carefully lays pigment inks down onto archival-quality fine art canvas material. The canvas is then stretched around a 1.5-inch-deep wood support structure to provide depth and elegance. Our canvas material has a delightfully matte finish that looks spectacular in any lighting conditions while retaining maximum vibrancy and contrast. Click here to learn more.
A VAST Print™ represents the pinnacle of the photographic medium. Each print is a true photograph created specifically for you using light-sensitive paper exposed in a darkroom with the industry's highest precision exposure technique. Your print is then sealed with a shine-enhancing protective glossy coating*, adhered to a sturdy aluminum composite backing, and finished in one of two ready-to-hang formats:
- Frameless floating display: A hidden mounting brace on the rear gracefully "floats" the print off the wall for a sleek, modern look.
- Framed display: The print is mounted inside one of our handcrafted 100% wood frames with a decorative separation between the print and the frame so that the print appears to be floating within the frame, providing depth and elegance to the finished photo.
*Note: a non-glossy, satin matte coating is alternatively available on request.
with artist signature
affixed to the back
Mounting brace floats the display
off the wall by 3/4 inch
protective coating
Due to their record-setting resolutions, VAST photos are the most versatile images ever created, with the quality necessary to look great at any size and in any project. Purchasing one of our standard royalty-free licenses provides you with the digital file at your choice of resolution and a permit to use it for most types of projects. Click here to learn more.
For a premium license that gives exclusivity, glass-related use in North America, or use in merchandise for sale, contact us.
| Total Pixels | 986,468,061 px |
| Width | 53,499 px |
| Height | 18,439 px |
| Aspect Ratio | 2.9 : 1 |
| Date & Time | February 18, 2018: 6:42am |
| Location | Midtown Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40.746117, -73.957213 |
| Focal Length | 200mm |
| Aperture | f/7.1 |
| Shutter | 1/8 |
| ISO | 800 |
| Num of Exposures | 42 |
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