Photos: Tribute in Light casts light over lively New York City

Of all of the annual memorials that commemorate the victims of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the Tribute in Light is the one that continues to stop New Yorkers in their tracks — even after almost two decades.

But in 2020, the tone was different. NYC has been inching out of the cocoon of a deadly pandemic that suppressed the city’s energy for months. After nearly a half year of Covid-19 quarantine, the city started showing life again. And on this day, of all days, this city was determined to show its resiliency.

With a different feeling in the air, I thought it would be most appropriate to capture images of the light memorial from different perspectives — all around the city where there is life.

Seeing the lights, both up close and far away, is a very emotional experience. Check out my images of the 2020 Tribute in Light below.

Here is the view from in front of the Flatiron Building on Broadway.

Below is the view of the Tribute in Light reaching high into the sky, as viewed from Long Island City in Queens.

At East 29th Street in Midtown, the dual beams of the Tribute in Light can be seen above some bicyclists who were both admiring the lights and the blue color of the Empire State Building (in the opposite direction).

The the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, the beams of light could be seen reflecting in the puddle of an empty New York City street.

Despite how it may appear, the light display is not located at the footprint of the the original Twin Towers — it’s installed on top of a parking garage near the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel entrance several blocks from the World Trade Center site.

The lights can be seen from all over the city — including here at 42nd Street near Bryant Park.

The beams of the Tribute in Light shine in front of the entrance to the Oculus transportation hub, building next to the site of the former Twin Towers.

Even the bright lights of 30 Rock and the Radio City Music Hall didn’t hide the 88 7,000-watt lights making up the special display.

From the West Side Highway, the view looking up at the current World Trade Center with the beams of light behind it is humbling.

Looking south from the Queensboro Bridge, the Tribute in Light shines next to the World Trade Center in the Lower Manhattan skyline.

Thank you for checking out my photos. All feedback is welcome in the comment section below.