High Beams (9/11)
Linus Gelber
Setting up just south of the parking garage where the 88 fixtures of the Tribute in Light blaze at the sky, I wonder what it would look like to return the gaze back downward from the surrounding buildings. There are some shots on Flickr of the bright starred squares, but it would be cool to see them in person.
An hour or so later I meet an enthusiastic guy who has been shooting the lights with his fancy phone, and he's got a room with just that view. We compare pictures. I think about angling for an invite to his place, which is, you know, the sort of thing that frequently doesn't turn out quite as intended. By then I've been shooting for a couple of hours and I'm looking forward to grabbing some food and heading home anyway.
The Lights are most spectacular and iconic from the riversides in Brooklyn and New Jersey. I've been shooting them for a few years now, though, and I've taken hundreds of shots of them from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (see a couple of those in my 9/11 set here on Flickr).
I've been interested since they started in how they fit into neighborhoods on the ground. Most often they simply shine high, concerned with the quiet skies above rather than the street life below. I like looking for places where they punctuate the city.
This may be the last year we see the Tribute in Light - so far there is no future funding for them. Also, on a more immediate level, I think I personally am 9/11-ed out for now - back to our regularly scheduled daytime pictures come tomorrow.
This image has been spotted as high as #177 on the Flickr daily Interestingness charts.
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