In my last post, I covered spots 1-5 of my Top 10 New York City photo spots.  In this post, I'll finish my list with spots 6-10.  If you missed my last post, you can see the post here

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

When people think of Cathedrals in NYC, they immediately think of St. Patrick's Cathedral.  While St. Pats is an incredible place to photograph, what turns me off are the huge crowds.  

I much prefer The Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue.  It's easily accessible by taking the 1 or the A Train to 110th Street and then walking the few minutes to the cathedral.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine Is one of the largest cathedrals in the world and actually bigger than St. Pats.  As a photographer, the two things I love about this cathedral is no crowds and they permit tripods.  This is actually one of the few public locations that I know of that still permit tripods.

You'll need a wide angle lens to capture the enormity of this incredible structure.  I had to shoot from across the street to capture the entire exterior in a single shot.

inside, try getting your camera down low, to capture the grandeur of the cathedral.  Also, wander around to find some great detail shots.

You should also plan some time to wander the gardens outside.  There are actually some peacocks in the gardens which were fun to photograph.

When you are done there, you can  walk to Columbia University for some great architectural shots before catching the train back downtown at 116th Street.

The Cathedral  of St. John the Divine is one of the largest in the world

Try getting your camera down low for an epic shot of the interior

Top of The Rock Observatory

There are several spots in NYC that offer observatories.  In addition to Top of the Rock you also have, The Empire State Building, World Trade Center, The Ledge at Hudson Yards and the newest one, The Summit at One Vanderbilt which opened just this week.

The Top of the Rock is my favorite.  What I like most about it is its proximity to the Empire State Building.  Looking south, the Empire State Building is very close and makes a perfect foreground subject with lower Manhattan and the surrounding areas in the background.

if you go, I'd suggest reserving a time for an hour before sunset.  Get there early and grab your spot.  It can get crowded around sunset and you don't want to fight for a position.

I found a spot with a small ledge in front of me.  This enabled me to setup my camera on my platypod and take some long exposure shots.

A look south with the Empire State Building in the foreground

A view Towards Times Square
A view west of The Metlife and Chrysler Buildings

The Flat Iron Building

The Flat Iron Building is located at 5th Avenue & 23rd Street and is considered the first skyscraper to be built in NYC.  It's unique shape and architecture make for some very interesting shots.  My favorite spot for photographing the building is across the street in front of the 5th Avenue clock.  

You might want to save this spot for sometime in the future.  The building is presently going through some level of renovations and large parts of the exterior are covered in scaffolding.

I often try to find a foreground element to incorporate into my architectural shots

This  shot was an 8 minute exposure

Radio City Music Hall

i love the combination of art-deco architecture and the neon lights of radio city.

My favorite time of the year to photograph Radio City Music Hall is around Christmas time.  Across the street from the building is a large fountain where they put these huge satin Christmas Balls in the fountain.  The balls make a great foreground elelment with the building's  lights reflecting in the fountain and the Music Hall itself in the background.  This is another spot that can be very crowded, so you'll need to be patient to get photos without a lot of people in them.

I'll set my camera on a platypod on the wall surrounding the fountain to do some long exposure shots.

Try photographing Radio City Music Hall from across the street to incorporate the reflections in the fountain 

The Morgan Library

This is a spot that I never knew existed until fairly recently.  It was the person library of J.P. Morgan and is now open to the public as a museum.

It's located on Madison & 36th Street. Though not real large, there are a number of rooms that are open to the public with a number of amazing photo ops to be had.

There are also a number of exhibit rooms that contain various historical items from Morgan's private collections.

This is the private office of J.P. Morgan
Use a wide-angle lens to capture the enormity of this beautiful room

So there you have my 10 Top photo spots in New York City.  If you have any questions about any of these photos, or the equipment / techniques I used to create them, you can leave a comment below or shoot me an email at jaxpropix@yahoo.com.