Williamsburg Bridge and New York City Skyline at Sunset  - By Vivienne Gucwa

Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can't be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It's the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It's the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it's the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun's extinguishing fire...

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This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

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Brooklyn Bridge and New York City Skyline - City Lights  - By Vivienne Gucwa

It's interesting how photos take on a life of their own with long exposure photography. This was taken on a cold night recently as a storm was rolling in. I waited patiently in between stubborn sustained wind gusts as the water from the East River lapped at the edges of Brooklyn Bridge Park gushing over the sides every so often as if to foreshadow what the clouds were hoping to do to the city. 

As storm clouds moved in and the increasingly darkening sky turned various shades of purple and blue shortly after a relatively subdued sunset, there were a few minutes of calm silence. And as the water played nice and the wind decided to run its own marathon elsewhere, 4 seconds were there for the capturing before the skies unleashed their watery exclamations in the form of rain. 

This is one of the more popular vantage points for photography of the Brooklyn Bridge. The skyscrapers belong to the Financial District. Prominent structures and buildings include: the Woolworth Building, New York by Gehry (at 8 Spruce Street), One World Trade Center (also known as 1 WTC and/or the Freedom Tower), Pier 17 and the South Street Seaport.

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New York City Sunset - Skyline  - By Vivienne Gucwa

I never really get tired of this view. 

I know I have expressed that sentiment many times but it's absolutely true. There's something incredibly breathtaking that occurs when you are above the rooftops of the city. It's as if the city shrinks below a vast sky in a huge universe and everything that once seemed impossible seems effortless and within the realm of possibility. 

It's so easy to forget that sort of thing when you live in a large city like New York City. When you are in the thick of it all, it can feel like the you are alone in a never-ending maze of cavernous streets as everyone else's dreams and hopes fly past you at the speed of light. But when you take yourself out from the middle of everything and change your perspective, it's as if the city holds its arms out to you beckoning you to come back and put your own dreams out there so they can spread their wings and fly up to the sky towards the horizon leaving a trail of hope in their path.  

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This was taken from the top of Rockefeller Center (also known as Top of the Rock) and it's probably one of the most popular views of the New York City skyline since it includes the Empire State Building and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The view is looking south towards One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower and 1 WTC) and the skyscrapers of the Financial District. 

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New York City Skyline and Central Park - Sunset  - By Vivienne Gucwa

Summer evenings are when the city smolders

as the sun paints the clouds

and the night sky waits just another hour longer

to dance with the last remnants of the day.

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This is a view of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and Central Park from above looking north towards upper Manhattan. I took this at the end of August on a gorgeous, sweltering evening. I made it up to the top deck of Top of the Rock (30 Rock) just as this spectacular sunset was making its way across the sky. It's hard not to feel overcome with emotion when the summer sky puts on one of its late summer sunset shows. When it happens, the city is bathed in an other-worldly glow as the lights in the buildings twinkle on like stars and the sky and the impossible all seem to melt away into an infinite horizon full of endless possibility.

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New York City Skyline Sunset and the Brooklyn Bridge on a Summer Evening  - By Vivienne Gucwa

Summer evenings in New York City weave their own spell when summer night skies slide onto the city through the sticky-sweet haze. 

The skyscrapers cling to the sunlight wrapped up in the glow and hazy anticipation of just one more kiss of light.

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This was taken at the peak of last summer from a roof top in Brooklyn over looking the skyline of Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Bridge and a very hazy lower Manhattan skyline. I was shooting with a camera I wasn't at all used to shooting with and the temperature was hovering near 80 degrees at night with nearly 100% humidity. The air was thick as molasses and the heat was unrelenting but it was an absolutely gorgeous summer sunset.


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Skyline Sunset - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa

Late summer and early autumn sunsets in New York City are intensely beautiful. The city seems to cling to every bit of sunlight through a haze that sleepily hangs low over the urban waterfront. This was taken near the end of a four hour long ferry ride back and forth around the East River in the late summer. There were barely any people on the ferry that day and I spent entire rides just taking note of the sun's descent in the sky. 

When this moment occurred, it was so brief and fleeting and yet so dramatic in its intensity as the sun dipped towards the midtown skyline grazing the skyscrapers that I barely even knew if I captured it properly since the waves were kicking up in the river and the boat was swaying up and down over the waves. By then, I had gotten my 'sea legs' and knew the exact way to stand and counter the movement with my camera in my hands. 

And the sun-kissed skyline drifted away from view and descended into the twilight of evening.

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This view is of the New York City skyline in midtown including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building during the last moments of a sunset as seen from the East River.
 
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New York Cityscape - Skyline at Sunset - By Vivienne Gucwa

There is something really extraordinary about the shift between day and night in New York City. It's gradual and at the same time abrupt in its magnitude. The lights on the skyscrapers flicker on as the night sky pulls itself over the city while the sun is still dancing with the horizon. I love this time more than I love the moments when the sun disappears for the night. 

It's this sort of in-between time that seems to suit a city full of people who feed off the frenetic energy and constant shifts that occur on a momentary basis. New York City rarely dwells in absolutes. Its landscape and structures only seem to remain still. 

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This is a view from the Top of the Rock (also known as 30 Rock and the top of Rockefeller Center). The skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan sit in the foreground leading up to the Empire State Building and further in the distance sits the Freedom Tower and lower Manhattan. 


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New York City Skyline at Sunset - Lower Manhattan Skyscrapers - By Vivienne Gucwa

New York City is magical

during the pause between night and day

when the sun dips behind the skyline

shining its light out through the twinkling eyes of the buildings.

This time of day is when 

dreams roll off the tongue, 

with a slow-motion exhale 

at the end of a word

in a phrase

that trails off 

without end.

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Winter in New York City isn't the friendliest especially near the water when the wind-chills dip into the single digits and the wind whips across the waves. This is the result of a 30 second long exposure taken last night with the Sony a99 after a long-walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. The view is of the skyscrapers of the Financial District in lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty can be seen fading into the sun-streaked horizon. I have always loved the way the skyscrapers in this view just sort of abruptly break up the more open view on the left.  

I love the moments just after sunset. The sky sinks into a momentary pause before the night sky pulls itself over the city. When everything is devoid of color on cloudy days, the tiny bits of color during these moments that come from the lights in the skyscrapers and the color that streaks across the bone-chilled-grey sky reach right into the heart. 


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Williamsburg Bridge Sunset - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa

When the sun sets in the winter, its light pours over the city like the glow from a distant bonfire with scattered light illuminating the grey, steel edges like embers strewn about in the wind.

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The Williamsburg Bridge is a favorite of mine in lower Manhattan. It tends to be overshadowed by the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge when it comes to popularity. This is probably because its pedestrian walkway is completely enclosed by a metal gate and because it isn't in super close proximity to the other two bridges (although one could argue that the pedestrian entrances to all three bridges are in walking distance to each other). However, it definitely lives up to its National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark status. Its architecture is incredible and the views of the New York City skyline and Brooklyn that can be glimpsed from either walkway are stunning. 

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Williamsburg Bridge and New York City Skyline at Sunset

- By Vivienne Gucwa

Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can't be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It's the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It's the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it's the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun's extinguishing fire...

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This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

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Williamsburg Bridge and New York City Skyline at Sunset  - By Vivienne Gucwa

Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can't be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It's the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It's the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it's the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun's extinguishing fire...

---

This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

---

Williamsburg Bridge and New York City Skyline at Sunset

- By Vivienne Gucwa

Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can't be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It's the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It's the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it's the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun's extinguishing fire...

---

This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

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See photo in original gallery.