richardalliers
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Behind The Lens
Location
This shot was taken in Manhattan in New York City. This is actually a photo of the One World Trade Center.Time
This was taken near sunset or a little after "golden hour." The place lights up a bit around that time as you can see from the lights coming from the offices in the building and the orange light (which the place turns on at this time) that is on the perimeter of the inside of the square.Lighting
I wanted a different perspective of the One World Trade Center as everyone were taking the usual shots of the building so I stepped back, placed my camera close to the water that was surrounded by it, and took multiple shots. The reflection of the buildings off the water gave this picture a specific mood. The lighting that came from this picture was just from my surroundings like buildings, street lights, light from the soft sky and even the street lamps.Equipment
This picture was shot on my Full-Frame Sony a7ii with a 55mm Lens at the time. To prevent my camera from getting wet sitting on the water, I used a small tripod from Manfrotto. As I composed my shot, I set my camera to a 5 second timer so the picture could come out as sharp and crisp as possible with little blur or mistakes.Inspiration
As a native New Yorker, I wanted something that captured what we have been through but shows the beauty afterwards. I wanted to compare the disaster of 9/11 to how we have grown as a city, as people, and as a nation. I was trying to send the message that no matter what hardships you have gone through in life, the future is still beautiful and full of wonderful surprises.Editing
I did a few post-processing edits with this picture. So like we all do as kids and even adults, we tend to make a wish with a coin and flip it into the water or well or pond. This was precisely the case about this photo. I edited the coins out of the water to give it a more even flow throughout the picture. I also saturated some of the blues and oranges to give it a "pop" when you first look at it so you become more engaged and engrossed into the picture.In my camera bag
I normally have my Full-Frame Sony a7ii Camera, a camera strap, a small camera bag, 2 lenses (55mm 1.8 & 28mm 2.0), a few batteries, lens solution cleaners and some lens cleaning cloths.Feedback
The advice I would give is to always look at what most people are taking pictures of and try to do the opposite. Look around and use your feet to crouch, crawl, bend, or even climb to get a shot that is both unique and true to you and your creative style. You can even try different lenses to help give you different compositions.