Looking out over NYC - Sunset from the Top of the Rock

Yesterday I was telling you about going up to the top of the rock for some stunning views. I also mentioned how it was kind of frustrating.. Well let me tell you about that while this lovely sunset soothes your soul!

We intentionally booked tickets to get the sunset time slot because.. well I'm a photographer and going up there at any other time would have been blasphemy. Well we weren't the only ones that did so. Now as per the 'rules' you are only meant to spend 20 minutes up there so that every time slot group gets up there and has a decent chance at taking in the view. Well quite a few (hundreds) of people had the idea that they'd just get a much earlier time slot, then go up there, pick the best spot and park their asses there so no one else could enjoy the view!

I took this shot with my fisheye lens.. as you can tell from the distortion.. see the two heads (a couple) on the left?. They were actually right in front of me most of the time. They stood there the ENTIRE sunset. They just stood there.. weren't taking pictures, were barely even taking in the view.. they were mostly talking to each other .. and they JUST WOULD NOT LEAVE. They really pissed me off. I made a few loud comments about how selfish and rude they were that I KNOW they could hear and I hope they bloody did hear what I said because it was just not cool.

So yeah, those jerks nearly ruined the experience because there were a lot of other people there who would have appreciated the view, and you could tell they had come up way earlier and just stayed well beyond the allotted time they should have been there for. To be fair, everyone stayed longer than they should have which is also not cool (myself included oops!) but you get to a point where you think.. well everyone else is pissing all over the rules so why the hell should I not take advantage also? After all, no one was enforcing this rule. Anyway, I started balancing my camera over the guy's head with my camera strap slapping him in the side of the head.. (I can be such an ass.. but screw it).

So yeah, it was rather frustrating, and at one point they did give me this look of 'how rude!' but I didn't care, they were selfish. I stayed at that spot after they left to get a few more shots as things got darker (i'll show you those tomorrow) and then I turned to see a young girl and her family who couldn't see a thing and no one was letting her in to see... So I waved her and her parents over, and said 'Here take my spot so you can see.' Then I made damn sure she was in place before I left. I could already see the vultures circling because some other guy tried to push past and into the spot I was vacating. I made sure he knew that wasn't happening with a strategic elbow in his ribcage. The little girl got to enjoy the view with her parents instead.

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Thanks for Looking.
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