The Story

I was on an assignment at the Radio City Music Hall, where the graduation ceremony of SVA students was taking place. After the event, I left the establishment and went for a walk around Avenue of the Americas with the camera in my hand. When it comes to commercial structures, 6th Avenue has always been my favorite area. It's one of a kind. The massive buildings constructed of steel in the late sixties / early seventies of the twentieth century, however primitive or boring may appear to many, I find truly impressive. I stopped between the two which are very alike: 1221 and 1251 Avenue of the Americas and looked up. During my long walks around Manhattan, this is what I'm doing most of the time - looking up. That's where you see details missed by majority of passers-by. I was stunned, pleased, overwhelmed and excited at the same time. I pointed the lens straight up in the sky exactly between the buildings, looking for perfect symmetry, and released the shutter. After standing in that position for around 30 minutes with quite heavy backpack on my shoulders (I usually carry two full-frame cameras and 3-4 lenses) my neck really hurt, but I wouldn't leave without getting the perfect capture, so I kept waiting for the clouds to move to my desired location. I was lucky to have found myself there at the perfect time of the day, early afternoon. The sun rays beautifully bounced from windows on one building to the steel striped facade of the other. I've mentioned on numerous occasions that to me these specific reflections of light have been the hallmark phenomenon in Manhattan, which I've been hunting for most of the time. There's probably nothing about this city that I find more alluring and interesting, which is why I've photographed them so often. And in case of these buildings, the strips created an even more unique visual effect. After returning to my studio in Queens, selecting the perfect capture and subsequent editing took a tremendous amount of time, as it required a lot of detailed work, but the ultimate photograph I created has been one of my favorite of all time.

Location: Avenue of the Americas, New York City