I've flown in helicopters many times above NYC, usually around the 1,000 to 1,500ft altitude, but I was lucky enough to be taken to another level the other day. On August 26th of this year, FlyNYON will be hosting 2 high altitude flights to experience an open door helicopter ride 7,500ft above New York City!
I was on a production flight to shoot some stock footage of NYC at night and it was completely mind blowing. Even on a normal FlyNYON flight, the buildings look so large up close and personal since you're right in front or right above them but from 7,500ft, they barely stand out at all. The Statue Of Liberty looks like a dot, the Freedom Tower barely stands out amongst the rest of downtown and the bridges just look like strip lights connecting borough to borough. What makes this view so amazing though is being able to see New York's veins at night. You can see the bloodstream through the city and that's something you would never get to see otherwise.
If you fly into JFK or Laguardia airports in the area, you might be lucky enough to pass a few miles away from Manhattan, but you can never get right above it like this. We actually saw numerous planes passing below us, that's how high up we were.
With a 16-35mm lens, I was able to catch this image of the Lower East Side with the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge with the moon in the background. It would be extremely difficult to get a shot like that any other way. Luckily I had my Sony A7SII and was able to bump my iso allll the way up to 32,000. If you are thinking about doing this yourself at night, I recommend a fast prime lens since you'll be scraping by for enough light for your shots but when you get it, it's so worth it.
If you've ever taken a FlyNYON flight before, this one is literally on another level and I highly recommend going on one of the August 26th flights, it'll change your life! I will also be sharing more of my high altitude photos on my Instagram page so follow along if you want to see more.
Sony A7SII, Sony 16-35mm f/4 (iso 32,000, f/4, 1/60s)