As is most likely gleaned from previous blog posts and pictures taken, I am a sucker for all things NYC. I love immersing myself in this city and sharing my excitement for it with other people. So when Isaac Lane Koval came into town and invited me to check out the Top of the Rock with him, I instantly agreed. It was my first time meeting him in person, but I’m a big fan of his and have been following him online for the past year+. I consider him to be one of my photographic inspirations, as he’s so insanely talented. So it was great to finally meet him. I always love seeing how other photographers work in the field – I think it adds more meaning to their work when I see it because now I know a bit about how it came to form.

Despite the fact that it was my 5th time on Top of the Rock (well, technically 4th; 1 of these trips was actually up the Empire State Building), I had a blast up there. I don’t care how cliche it is, I just can never get sick of the fantastic views of the NYC skyline. It’s gorgeous, and I don’t take it for granted. It was also freakin’ FREEZING up there, especially after sunset. We were literally there for about 2.5 hours and saw the city bathed in late afternoon light, followed by sunset and dusk. Being my zillionth visit, I took the liberty of introducing my 70-200mm lens to the view for the first time. Unfortunately I forgot the big lens needed a tripod collar, so my low-light shots were done semi-handheld (drats!). What I did was I rested my camera on my wrist (which was lying flat on the ledge), and tilted the lens downward toward the city, and tried to hold still. All things considered, I did a pretty decent job with it.

Once we were too cold to function up there anymore, we went back down and got some dinner. I’m not sure how it’s possible that Isaac had never experienced proper NYC pizza when he lived here in ’08, but I felt like I had to remedy this by taking him to Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn. I’ve only been there twice myself, but that’s mostly because it’s always so crowded there. But this time it was the strangest thing – we got seated instantly, at probably the best table there – AND, our pizza was served in no time at all! Crazy! We pretty much devoured the pizza and thawed out before going back outside to photograph the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges after dark. Again, it’s a view I’ve photographed the heck out of for the past two years, but I’m still in love with it. There’s just something magical about it…