VIBRANT TIME SQUARE

Even when I wasn´t much into photography (a couple of years ago), my aunt had alredy named me the official photographer of her USA visit. So I walked around New York with a digital camera in one hand and another digital camera in the other hand, swapping back and forth from each other to take as many photos as possible as she filmed every little piece of the Big Apple with her video camera. 

I think she was the very first person who actually noticed my liking of all things photography. I even remember her saying to me "vos, que sacás tan lindas fotos, sos la fotógrafa de mi viaje" as she handed me her compact camera and turned me into its official owner for the trip.

With the winter and the icy winds from the North Pole right on us, we braved the City during the weekends. I tried to cover as much of New York as possible so she could see with her own eyes the object of my affection. I must say that being a bit used to NYC and the subway system was a big help. It surely made it easier to move around from place to place with little time and inconvinience. So we visited downtown, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Ellis Island, took the ferry to Lady Liberty, Brooklyn bridge, a bit of South Street seaport, Chinatown, moving all the way uptown to the MET, the Museum of Natural History, icy Central Park, fancy Fifth Avenue and then we made it to Time Square.

I´m still wondering if I´ve ever seen a place more lit up than Time Square! It´s daylight and still all the lights are on. All those neon lights shining right and left, making you turn your head in every possible direction, trying to drink in all the things going on at the same time. 

I also wonder if there is a moment, a single moment, a minimal bit of a second, when Time Square is quiet and still and silent? I don´t really think that´s possible. I believe that part of NYC never knew a moment of complete silence and dark because, even when it´s midnight or the wee hours of the morning, the lights are shining and people is on the streets and cars and yellow cabs go from here to there make it impossible for the square to sleep.

Needless to say, my aunt LOVED the Big Apple. Regardless of the below zero temperatures and the gelid wind blowing hard, creeping up on us in every corner of the city, New York is a marvellous place and it´s difficult not to love it.