Members of The Local East Village Flickr Group discuss shooting photographs from a higher vantage point.

Adrian Fussell

Vivienne Gucwa

“What I love about this particular view of Midtown is that parts of the downtown skyline and the beautiful buildings along the Bowery frame the iconic top of the Empire State Building — many Empire State Building cityscapes feature Midtown buildings alongside the famous skyscraper but it’s not as common to view the Empire State Building with the visual context of downtown.”
—Vivienne Gucwa

Tim Schreier

“The image at the top was taken during the ‘Pillow Fight’ at Union Square last month. I took this from above the Square on the South Side of 14th Street. It was described as a ‘pop up’ event but judging from the police presence, the spontaneous nature did not seem to be as genuine as one might think. I am not sure if this was an Improv Everywhere event but the good-hearted nature of fun was found here. The second photo is from the Manhattan Bridge looking down on the girl’s softball Lower East Siders. I call it ‘Mudville.’ I liked it.”
—Tim Schreier

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Home.

Gloria Chung

“I’m not sure you should print what I’m about to tell you! I was walking around the neighborhood intent on shooting from above; I saw an open door to a building and walked in (!), took the elevator up to see if there was rooftop access — there wasn’t. I saw a small window in the hallway through which I quickly snapped several images — I didn’t really see what I had shot until I had left the building. I’m not sure if sneaking into buildings is a good thing to print but that’s how I got the shot!”
—Gloria Chung

Adrian Fussell

“Taken from the staircase on top floor of the NYU Kimmel Center. The windows looking out over the park offer a great view from Washington Square to midtown. There was cloud cover low over the city that night, and the lights in the fog looked really sinister. Shooting through glass isn’t exactly ideal though, and reflections of light showed up over the ESB and buildings to the west.”
—Adrian Fussell

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