Best seat in the city: The NYC/Macy's fireworks balcony shot
I think I found the best place to watch the New York City/Macy's 4th of July fireworks spectacular -- and it's, of course, not open to the public. I couldn't even get in.
But I snapped a shot that I think proves my theory. Now, I'll let you decide.
There's a discreet column of balconies in the upper section of a high-rise building in Long Island City (Queens) with an unobstructed view of the East River and the Manhattan skyline. Somehow, by good fortune or some other means, these balconies are perfectly centered between two of the barges that discharge the world-famous Independence Day fireworks.
In other words, these people who live in this apartments and their closest friends get a patriotic pampering each July 4th.
So on that night, about a quarter-mile inland from this luxury high-rise, I stood on my apartment building's rooftop deck, armed with my "superzoom" telephone lens -- the Tamron 150-600mm g2.
Here's a look at the frame that caught my eye as I looked through the viewfinder at 500mm:
When I saw the glow of the sky creating silhouettes of the balcony spectators, I knew this could be a unique and memorable moment. In fact, I captured a similar shot in 2017, just moments before that show ended. This year, I had a little more time to invest in getting a different and perhaps better version of the shot.
Here's a look at last year's photo:
The 2017 version was shot with the exact same lens/camera/tripod setup, but the lens was adjusted to 400mm to get a little wider perspective. I had found this frame by accident during the grand finale and only ended up with a couple decent, non-blurry shots.
I was so glad to have had the opportunity to try for the same shot again. It's not like an event like this happens every weekend in New York.
And if you're wondering how my rooftop compared to those balconies -- I'm not complaining, though I can really only see a small portion of the display. Here's a different shot I took looking toward the World Trade Center (south of the balcony building):
What do you think? Could those balconies be the best seat in town? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.