By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Through.
Crowds of photographers gather as the magic moment draws near. What are they waiting for?
It’s Manhattanhenge! On two days in the year, for a brief moment before it sinks below the horizon, the setting sun is perfectly aligned with the cross-streets of Manhattan’s rectangular street grid and sends its last golden rays straight through its canyons…
These photos are from the first occurrence of Manhattanhenge last year, on May 30, 2011. More photos are here and here.
This year’s magic days will be May 29 and July 12!
________________________________________________________
Some other nice interpretations of “Through” I’ve seen:
- Joakim Knudsen
- The Urge To Wander
- A year in the Life
- FrizzText
- phlogged
- Alice through the Macro Lens
- David R Wetzel Photography
- An Uneducated Palate
- A Word in Your Ear. Quite a different meaning of “Through”!
- My Sardinian Life
- Anne Freeman Images
- The Eco and the Id
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Wow. Beauty of god
LikeLike
Certainly the city rising up to meet the astronomical phenomenon does seem somehow superhuman…
LikeLike
I never knew. You know, it was probably built that way on purpose…
LikeLike
:-)
It is fascinating to think how what we see today was channeled by previous decisions. When they laid out the street grid in 1811, it would not have occurred to them even remotely to predict such a phenomenon as Manhattanhenge—even though the astronomy could have been calculated as easily then as now—because it would not have occurred to them that there would ever be such things as skyscrapers overshadowing the city’s streets. It was when they came along, a hundred years later, that the phenomenon of Manhattanhenge came into being…
LikeLike
Cool. Thanks. :)
LikeLike
Wow, that is very interesting.
LikeLike
The orange sky is breathtaking…lovely pictures
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
Wow, did you reenhance the colours on this one or was it actually that orange? Impressive
LikeLike
Don’t you know that the camera never lies? ;-)
Yes, I did increase the color saturation of these images somewhat, as I usually do when starting with RAW images which typically seem to me to be less colorful than the actual scene was. (Of course, it might be that the camera is right and it’s my brain that’s jazzing things up, especially in retrospect…) I lost my inhibitions against such adjustments when it became clear, especially now that images are digital and displayed on computer screens, that there’s absolutely no way to make sure that everyone sees the scene “the way it really was”. The same image looks very different on the various computer monitors that I have at home and at work. And it’s interesting that you and other commenters have said that the color of the sunset is orange: to me, on my computer now, it seems to be bright yellow…
So I can’t swear to the exact color. However, the light really was that intense, as it often is at sunset, especially given the contrast between the flaming patch of sky and the dark walls of the canyon…
LikeLike
I’m struggeling with similar issues, since on my screen editing a picture is like trying to shoot a targen while blindfolded. Then again, I do like to make nature a bit more contrasy, over or undersaturated than it actually is. If there’s no way of knowing the truth, why not enhance it a bit ;)
LikeLike
Indeed!
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Through « 3rdculturechildren
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Through « Much Ado About Nothing
WOW!!!!
LikeLike
Wow – fascinating!
LikeLike
Amazing! I’d never heard of this before.
LikeLike
As I understand it, the concept of Manhattanhenge was pretty much single-handedly created (or at least popularized) by Neil deGrasse Tyson of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium, only 10 years or so ago—but the word is spreading!
LikeLike
Vladimir, Thank you for your post on Manhattanhenge. I’ve heard of it, but didn’t know when it would occur. I put the dates on my calendar and will be in Manhattan with my camera.
LikeLike
Be sure to check out Neil deGrasse Tyson’s article to get the exact dates and times—the exact day depends on whether you want to see the half-sun or the whole sun on the grid—and also advice on which cross-streets offer the best unobstructed views. And of course weather trumps astronomy—if it’s cloudy you won’t see anything!
LikeLike
A perfect set of through images!
LikeLike
Thank you!!
LikeLike
Interesting, I never knew about this occurrence. We learn something new every day!Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
You are welcome, Marcia!
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Through « The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface
Amazing! Had not heard of this either! Is traffic stopped during sunrise and sunset?
LikeLike
No, traffic is most definitely not stopped, but rather buts heads with the photographers in the middle of the street in the usual New York style:
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge – Through « The Urge To Wander
Very cool but dangerous for the pedestrian!
LikeLike
It would be dangerous for a single person out in the middle of the street, but when there are hundreds…
LikeLike
Very cool indeed. Nice photo of the photographers,catching our interest, wondering WHAT is going on?
LikeLike
I have plenty of shots of the photographers, who were massing, and obstructing traffic, for an hour before the event. The actual Manhattanhenge was over in a couple of minutes… :-)
LikeLike
WOW! I’ve never heard of this, amazing, beautiful! Thank you for being a little sunshine to my day! :)
LikeLike
Happy to oblige! :-)
LikeLike
Thanks for the link! :)
LikeLike
Pingback: Through a Tart Pan, Sprightly | Cardboard Me Travels
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Through « Ruth E Hendricks Photography
I actually have family in NY and had never heard of this! Very interesting, informative post that is great for this challenge! :) (Just as an aside – it looks more yellow than orange on my monitor as well… lol)
LikeLike
Thank you! I am glad to have been able to spread the word—although now there will be even more photographers there this year… ;-)
LikeLike
great 34th street event!
LikeLike
These photos were taken from 34th Street and Park Avenue. 34th Street is the classic cross-street for Manhattanhenge because you get the Empire State Building in the picture. But several other cross-streets in Midtown Manhattan also have unobstructed views. In any case, you want to be quite far east to get the full canyon effect.
LikeLike
I’ve featured your great work at
LikeLike
Thanks, Frizztext! Much appreciated!!
LikeLike
Never knew about this! Looking forward to the ones coming up soon! Is this only on those streets? And will there be a similar scene with the new towers they are building on formerly known as Ground Zero? Would be interesting how they do the architecture with that. I was down there and saw the news buildings, but I didn’t notice how the sunset would reflect off of them. Would be curious to know your thoughts. Thanks!
LikeLike
Well, it should work, in principle, on most of the long streets of the 1811 street grid—that is, north of 14th Street or so. Those streets are all parallel to each other, so the setting sun should be visible at the ends of all of them simultaneously. Unfortunately, you have to pick just one street on which to observe the brief magic moment…
And, although all those streets are aligned right, many of them are not good for the Manhattanhenge observation. There is obstruction along the street somewhere, or the street slopes upward, rather than downward, going from east to west… The recommended streets are those where you can position yourself far east and still see the sun setting all the way to the west, at the end of the long, unobstructed canyon of tall buildings. In my photos taken from the intersection of 34th Street and Park Avenue, where there is a convenient little hillock, you can see clear down 34th Street, across the Hudson River, and see the sun setting behind the high ground in New Jersey:
And on 34th Street there is of course the presence of the Empire State Building as a bonus.
South of 14th Street, in the West Village and farther south, the streets are aligned at different angles, change direction often, and have lots of obstructing buildings. So the Manhattanhenge phenomenon really doesn’t appear there.
Still, when the buildings around Ground Zero are finished, they might well create interesting solar effects of other kinds. The old World Trade Center towers certainly reflected the sun spectacularly at certain times. I am looking forward to what emerges!
LikeLike
Pingback: THROUGH AND THROUGH and THROUGH « 2012 – ON THE BENCH
Pingback: Weekly photo challenge: Through | The Eco and the Id
Interesting yet beautiful photographs. I like the last one a lot. Great post.
LikeLike
Thanks, Arindam!
LikeLike
like all the shots
http://amarnaik.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/weekly-photo-challenge-through/
LikeLike
Thanks for visiting, and for your link!
LikeLike