Golden Sunrise - South Street Seaport
Sunrise in NYC is always beautiful: the quiet streets, the empty calmness, the start of a new day of opportunity. It is my favourite time of day, when I am photographing it, not so much when I wake up!
I woke really early and I decided to venture downtown to take the 6am Staten Island Ferry to see the sunrise however, as ever in NYC, the train was messed up and it became apparent I would not make it. I decided to jump off at Wall St and head over to the East River hoping not to miss it.
I walked to South Street Seaport area and determined this was a great place to see the sunrise behind The Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges over The East River.
I wandered around looking to see how far (New York) north-east the sun would rise based on the intensity in the sky, it was further *north from me than anticipated and could possibly be obstructed by the Seaport so I headed a little further south to Pier 16 and walked out to the edge of the pier.
*New York North is not actually true North but it is to New Yorkers!
No-one was around which is a rare sight and I embraced every moment of it! Eventually 2 women approached and sat on a bench where one proceeded to braid her friends hair, it was fascinating to watch!
As the sky intensified behind The Bridges I knew I was in for a colourful start to my day, took a deep breath and started photographing it. My camera was loving it.
The silhouettes of the bridges became stronger and eventually the sun started to appear behind The Williamsburg, Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridges, it was spectacular!
As it continued to rise the sky went through the warm palette of oranges to yellow to golden. I turned to look south and Pier 11 was bathed in the most breathtaking golden light. I quickly turned the camera towards it and the moment passed as quickly as it started. I was so happy I captured it.
My favourite part of photographing sunrises is the ever constant changing light and the palette of colour: it changes within seconds at times and is as beautiful facing the sunrise as the reflection opposite the sunrise.
This was a fabulous start to the day and well worth getting up early for!
Camera:
Sony A6000 16-50mm lens
Settings:
Aperture - F16
Shutterspeed - 1/100
ISO - 100
White Balance - Shade
Golden Sunrise South Street Seaport