Black and white NYC

On Memorial Day weekend, my family spent a day in NYC. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had taken a number of black & white photos that weekend due to that being the subject of my weekly photo project on Facebook. When I got home and went through the photos, I realized how many B&W photos I truly had taken! As I think it makes for a unique way of looking at modern Manhattan, I thought I'd add put my favorites here.

Our first stop upon arriving in the city was to head down to the WTC site. We wanted to see the new memorials and Freedom Tower. To the right is my favorite B&W shot I took of the tower.

Just next to where we were was a very interesting statue. As we were still orienting ourselves and figuring out where to go, I thought I'd snap a couple of photos. I have no idea what this statue represents (I'm sure it's some sort of modern art representation of something), and it may or may not have anything to do with the Freedom Tower construction. I tried to find it online and couldn't - if anyone knows please leave me info in the comments below!

 Here's a close up shot of the top - I love the reflections in the metal!

And for comparison's sake....here is that statue in full color. Bet you didn't guess it was such a brilliant red!

We walked up towards Broadway and passed by a small church and graveyard. I couldn't resist the chance to take a B&W shot of a very old grave marker...complete with small American flag!

 When we finally got into the new memorial (which at this moment, while still under construction, is quite a process! tickets, lines, going through security, more lines...it was worth it in the end!), the names carved into the wall around the fountains was humbling, and beautiful. I tried to capture some of that feeling below.

 Note: I have more photos of the memorial (in color) on my family blog.

After finishing at the WTC memorial, we wanted to walk over to Wall Street to go visit our old building and show Natalie where we used to live. On the way it was time for a quick snack, so we ducked into a pizza shop. When Natalie had to go to the bathroom, we headed into the back of the shop and discovered this beautiful hallway!

 We then headed uptown for lunch at Lincoln Center with friends and a walk through Central Park (this is detailed more on my family blog). At the base of the park, near the Plaza Hotel was a huge modern art installation made of inflatable tubes. The shot below was taken by me standing underneath of the statue and shooting straight up.

 And last but not least, the fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel.