Skyscraper Photography (Pt. 1)

I have a deep respect for huge buildings. When Slack moved to our current headquarters in-between the Financial District and Rincon Hill, I was elated. Skyscrapers everywhere. Fortunately, I’m also visiting New York City regularly, and that’s, in my opinion, the home of many of the world’s most magnificent skyscrapers.

If you follow me on Instagram, then none of this is a surprise. I regularly flood my feed with whatever skyscraper is in my line of sight.

After a decade of stalking these buildings, I’ve developed a handful of go-to techniques to photograph these testimonies to human achievement. Here’s the first:

Get to Elevation. The photograph above was taken in Soho facing uptown. It’s a habit for me now. Whenever I’m in Manhattan and getting off an elevator, I strike out for the nearest window to see what I can see. So much of the New York skyline is already famous; it’s hard to find an angle that everyone hasn’t already viewed… multiple times… in multiple movies. Elevation gives a fresh perspective to a familiar object.

Bonus technique. I’ve already explained – multiple times – my love the now-defunct Instagram filter “Gotham.” The filter I applied to the photo above is based on Gotham except for the black and white filter. Rather than selecting red, I selected the blue which applies a beautiful inversion to the sky and focuses the eye on the details of the skyline.