I was visiting New York in 2023 after a long break and that morning, despite complete reluctance to move from bed before 4AM, I finally disciplined myself to get up and rush to Manhattan for sunrise. My goal was to create a panorama of 59th Street skyline from my usual spot by The Lake in Central Park. I had refused to get up for sunrise for 3 previous days in a row and when I eventually did it, the sky appeared unusually dull, grey and the whole view was hazy. Some kind of fog was in the air and I couldn't even see the buildings clearly. To my surprise, it turned out later that the city was enfolded with smog coming form wildfires in Canada. It baffled my only chance to capture sunrise during that trip, because on the following day New York looked literally like Mars. Disappointed, I leaned the tripod with camera mounted on it on my shoulder and headed back to the apartment. On the way, however, I was walking through The Mall and realized that I had never seen this path empty. Usually it's crowded, but not at 5 o'clock in the morning. The only visitors at this hour were the pigeons in the middle of the path. The lights were still on after the night. It was a perfect scenery for capturing the Park from within. The oaks presented themselves proudly and majestically. I installed the equipment on the ground again, adjusted the settings and began shooting. And I must admit that it was a complete compensation for what I had initially planned to create that morning. As usual, in my work as a landscape photographer - I was seeking one thing, but ended up finding another, even better than my initial vision. I never know where fate is going to put me on my way to make another great photograph.
Location: Central Park, New York