It’s almost impossible to talk about New York City today and not mention September 11th – a tragedy so great that we now only need to refer to it by date. There have been much larger losses of life throughout the course of history but there is something about happened on that Tuesday morning that hit us all so deeply. I’ve wanted to visit the World Trade Centre site for quite some time to pay my respects to all of those who lost their lives. I was expecting to walk into a quiet area filled with sadness but instead I found a place full of energy, recovering from the disaster in the only way they know how – with pride, passion and dignity. Nothing else sums up the people of New York City like the World Trade Centre site. The recently opened 9/11 Memorial is a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and during a separate terrorist attack on the WTC in February 1993.

Part two of this story begins with the WTC site and the 9/11 Memorial before exploring the rest of what this incredible city has to offer. If you’d like to contribute to the 9/11 Memorial fund, I’ve included a link to the official website at the bottom. Read on for more images after the break …

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To donate to the 9/11 Memorial Fund, please visit their Official Website

Growing up, I’ve really only ever had one dream. It was a dream that always stayed with me when others would fade away or would be forgotten as time passed. It was a realistic dream – sure, we’d all love to win the lotto or a couple of Nobel prizes but it’s healthy to keep your feet planted firmly in reality – and one that I knew I would someday be able to make happen. Earlier this year, all the planets and stars aligned for me and I was finally presented with the ability to travel to the greatest city on earth, New York. Ever since I travelled to the USA as a child with my parents, I’ve always had a place in my heart for those United States. This was more of a holiday than a job but being a photographer is something you can never turn off. Armed with my beloved Canon 5DMKII (minus a battery grip to save weight), the Canon 35 F1.4 L and  the Canon 135 F2 L, I was sure I was ready to take on the city that never sleeps. This is the first of two parts and I’ll hopefully have the second part online later this week. Enjoy …

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I’ve been out of the office for the last week on a long overdue vacation to the United States. Unfortunately, the auto-responder I set-up before departing got knocked off after a power cut so I apologise for any lack of correspondence in the mean time. I’ll be back in the office from Tuesday November 1st where business will resume as usual. I’ll be sure to share some of my favorite sights from my trip with you shortly …

Rather unusual for me, but this evening I went out, stopped down the aperture and tried my hand at some landscape photography. The focus of my attentions was on the new bridge (unnamed as far as I’m aware) that crosses the river suir, just west of the city. At over 460 metres long, it’s currently the longest bridge in the state. More images after the jump …

I arrived on scene just before sundown. Facing east with the sun to my back, I fitted a Hoya circular polarizer to increase the colours and to stop down the available light. Pretty much all the exposures from here on in are in excess of 10-15 seconds. The EXIF is intact if you want to nose through the flickr page.

Waiting for the sun to set fully allowed for some fun compositions with the dock in the foreground…

… and some images to try an infrared post processing treatment on.

Changing location to above and beyond the previous location allowed for some larger scale landscape images. This site gave a better sense of scale to the structure but the overcast and drizzly evening that was in it, made for some tough images.

Heading back to the original location, now just after sunset, I copped a nice break in the treeline between the road and the bridge.

Back at the original location, I played around with some wide shots. The colour reproduction on the 5D MKII with the 24-105 L is just beautiful. These images only received some minor white balance adjustment and a wee contrast boost.

If the water had been just that small bit calmer, the reflections would of been perfect but its one of these things you can have no control over.

The suspension cables have apparently being coated with a reflective paint, the results of which just looks spectacular at night.

Always time for just one more black & white.

All the images plus more are available to view on my Flickr account.

- Paddy