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Category: New York City

April 27, 2025

Here’s a Great Place to Snap a Photo of Manhattan’s Iconic Skyline at Sunset

A stunning view of the New York City skyline at sunset, with vibrant orange and blue hues in the sky, casting a warm glow over the city. The image captures the silhouette of skyscrapers and rooftops in the foreground.
You can frame a cool photo of New York City right from your seat on Amtrak. If your train is traveling at sunset, just look out your window. It’s a spectacular view. Here’s how to optimize that photographic opportunity.

It’s hard to miss this famous skyline as your Amtrak train nears or leaves the Big Apple. And sunset is a particularly special time. So, it warrants trying to take a photo or two…

The weather conditions have to be right. Plus, there’s only a six-minute stretch when the train is close enough and oriented correctly with its windows directly facing the east side of Manhattan. 

The Best Views of New York City
Then, take out your smartphone. Press it as close to the window as possible to avoid reflections from the inside of the train. (The fact that your phone’s lens effectively lies flat with the phone’s body will protect it from accidental bumps into the glass due to your train’s jerky movements.)

And then start snapping away.

A vibrant sunset over the New York City skyline, with a golden sun setting on the horizon, surrounded by buildings and the silhouette of bridges.

As much as I always want to zoom closer with my iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 2x or 5x lens to better frame the skyscrapers, the wider shots are better. I think you need that foreground in the shot to help tell the visual story. Plus, the train’s motion is less of a problem for your phone’s camera if you’re not zoomed in.

A stunning sunset view over New York City, with the skyline silhouetted against a vibrant orange sky and the setting sun casting warm light on the landscape.

Just Another Bonus for Taking the Train
Yes, it’s an amazing vista to take in, but you should temper your expectations for your photos. Remember, you’re shooting through glass, and the train is moving.

Still, it’s worth a shot.

A view of the New York City skyline at sunset framed by the iron structure of a bridge, with water in the foreground reflecting the warm colors of the sky.

I go for it whenever I’m on Amtrak’s Northeast Regional or Acela heading back to Connecticut from Washington, D.C. (These photos are from my recent trip.)
In the old days, it would be when I was heading out of New York City back to Boston. (So, I’ve been at this for a while.)

And yes, I do prefer taking the train vs. a plane between these destinations. It’s much more convenient and relaxing. (The door-to-door time comparison is similar after you bake in the extra hours spent at the airport.) But I digress…

Enjoy the Show
Sunset isn’t the only time to try to capture these photos of New York City. (Shooting directly at the sun can really confuse a camera and isn’t especially great for its sensors. But a few brief clicks shouldn’t play too much havoc with the electronics.)

A vibrant sunset view over the New York City skyline, with the sun casting an orange glow and city buildings silhouetted against the colorful sky, accompanied by a tree-lined highway below.

These magic sunset minutes always call out to me as the deep orange light bathes the landscape. 

It’s both unearthly and entirely natural.

And you’ve got one of the best vantage points of this city a photographer could hope for.

A scenic view of the New York City skyline at sunset, featuring a bridge crossing a river with skyscrapers in the background and vibrant orange hues in the sky.

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March 30, 2025

Searching for Silhouettes on a City Street at Sunrise

People walking in Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood at sunrise

The orange glow of the sun that floods the landscape at sunrise or sunset is a great time to photograph silhouettes and shadows. Here’s how I maximize that opportunity.

If you’re lucky enough to be walking on a city street facing due east or west when the sun is low in the sky, it’s time to take out your camera. That’s when you can easily find magical silhouettes and the shadows of people bathed in sunlight.

Your eyes may only sense a blinding fog of bright orange. But your camera can likely peer through that optical interference and capture enough detail to be later optimized in post.

When editing these photos, I find it ideal to focus on deepening the silhouette effect in a targeted fashion. I accomplish that using Adobe Lightroom with the AI-powered Masking/Objects tool. That allows me to easily select the silhouetted images in the foreground to darken them further without affecting the rest of the photo.

Here are a few examples.

Baltimore, Maryland’s Harbor East (2025)
I snapped this sunrise shot as two men walked to work by the marina.
Two men walk to work in Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood at sunrise

Facing East at Grand Central Terminal (2012)
Though not technically a street, the Main Concourse at Grand Central channeled the morning’s rays onto New York City commuters as they rushed to their jobs. (I think some of these folks may already be late, as you can tell from the clock.)
Commuters rush through Grand Central Terminal in the morning

Facing West on a Street in Barcelona (2008)
These two women were enjoying their sunset stroll.
Two women walk on a street in Barcelona at sunset

Morning Stretch in Hong Kong (2005)
I captured this quiet moment as I explored the neighborhood during a work trip. Even if the sun isn’t in the perfect position, a shaded space with a bright background can offer your camera a similar silhouette effect.
Man's morning stretch in Hong Kong
The Power of a Good Silhouette
Whether you have your smartphone or a mirrorless camera to compose your photo (I used my Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200D for my Baltimore pictures), sunrise and sunset are perfect times to capture the landscape.

If you can frame the bright sun in your shot, that’s great. But for me, I’m often more interested in the dark shadows.

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March 23, 2025

I’m Going Mad Trying to Find a Mystery Sound in my Kitchen

Happy ghosts float in a kitchen

I used to recognize every sound throughout our house. Then, a faint digital tone began pinging. I can’t locate this ghost in our kitchen, and it’s challenged my very existence.

I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan. The background roar of New York City flowed through me day and night. Our apartment building also echoed the nosy lives of dozens of people living around us. Strange creaks, bangs, bumps and even occasional screams were just a normal part of existence. I mostly tuned it out, but every so often, a new alien-like sound would pique my interest.

Then I moved out of the city, and throughout most of my adulthood, I’ve lived in houses in suburban neighborhoods. Though not exactly the wilderness, there was always enough quiet ambience that allowed me to mentally catalogue the origins of every sound my home made.

  • The click of the furnace kicking into gear
  • The low rumble of our garage door opening
  • The high-pitch whoosh of water flowing to hydrate our lawn
  • The happy tune from our LG washer machine when it’s done with its cycle
  • The thump of the cat jumping off our LG dryer
  • The three pings from my new Behmor Brazen Plus 3.0 coffee maker after brewing

I knew our house’s every mechanical, digital and biologic whisper and where it came from.

Until one day recently… I didn’t.

Smoke Detector Madness
The only problem I’ve previously had with noises in my house was tracking down the annoying cry of my smoke detector looking for fresh batteries. Sure, I’ve got a more advanced Google Nest Protect monitoring the second floor by our bedrooms, but our first floor and basement still host old-school First Alert models.

And honestly, I could never tell which sibling puck was in distress. So, I had to painfully wait in front of one of them for 90 seconds until the next piercing chirp. And of course, that always happened after I’d been rudely awakened by this cruel (but necessary) warning at 2am.

Fortunately, even these basic smoke detectors have evolved over time, and the most recent First Alert model I’ve installed has a 10-year lithium battery sealed into the unit. So hopefully, my excruciating dead-of-night searches won’t be so frequent.

You Can’t Find Me
But recently, a ghost ping has cropped up in my house, and it is completely unknown. The sound is faint and just one ping. I hear the digital note only every few days, and there is no pattern to it.

It’s entirely infuriating, and I feel this brief tone is taunting me.

Sure, I could ignore It. (This innocuous accent isn’t loud enough to wake me up at night.)

But its existence challenges my control… my authority… my human dominance over our little kingdom.

The Digital Ghost in our Kitchen
The best I can tell, this evil ping comes from somewhere in our kitchen. The faint digital heartbeat doesn’t give me enough information, because it’s too infrequent. (I can’t stand around for a day waiting for the next one.)

Logic tells me the culprit is one of our newer devices… my Brazen coffee maker or perhaps our Instant Pot.

They’re both usually plugged in. Perhaps this is just a little friendly reminder that one is unnecessarily sucking energy in standby mode.

So, what’s the big deal?

Open the Pod-Bay Doors, HAL
Well, I can’t stop thinking about this silly audio ping that currently remains outside my control. I consider it a form of defiance.

As I’ve worked hard over the years to make our home ‘smarter,’ that also means I’ve bolted in more tech to track. Most of it is ‘set-it-and-forget-it.’ But that can’t last forever. So, isn’t this a problem just waiting to happen down the line?

Eventually, your home may take on a life of its own. It can start with a little mystery ping. But it probably won’t end there.

Life isn’t set-and-forget. Your tech shouldn’t be either. And now we’ve got AI to improve everything. See where I’m going?

Don’t Lose the Manual
I’m no Luddite. But it’s clear to me that as we continue to embrace technology in every part of our existence, we must pay attention and not lose too much control. AI is allowed to occasionally hallucinate, but we can’t afford to do that even once. (Humanity doesn’t come with that disclaimer.)

If you think my concern is only worth considering as a screenplay plot device for your next Sci-Fi blockbuster, please considering offering me a screen credit.

Otherwise, I’d recommend you always track down that next digital phantom that crops up in your house. Sure, it may just be an innocent ping.

But when your home talks to you, it’s always best to understand what it’s saying.

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