Look at People
If you don’t want to look like a tourist …
make eye contact with a passerby, say “hello” or “how you doing?” as you’re walking, follow up with a few more words with those who respond with a smile and/or say something. Chat for awhile. Now you know a local, and that local is your best resource for that place and someone you will always remember, maybe even know as a longtime friend.
Be sure to click/tap on photos for a closer view. And check out other ways to see New York City … Look Around, Look Down, Look Up.
In NYC, everyone must stop for a red light. Everyone!
Life is good when your fairy godmother buys you ice cream.
You’re standing 1,100 ft on the sky deck at The Edge in Hudson Yards. You may want want to find a spiritual person to talk with.
Exhaustion and prayer often appear the same on a beaten-down face.
Two dudes get talking. The small one has questions, they swap stories. Good memory-building time on a sunny afternoon.
New Yorkers claim public spaces for their private space, albeit temporarily, to entertain themselves (and others).
Some New Yorkers may be difficult to spot because they avoid exposure to people, such as this fashion model.
Other New Yorkers are easily visible because they expose almost everything to the Central Park sun.
A cigarette is about sophistication for the fashionable.
Any kind of butt is one of life’s few pleasures for homeless folks.
Your soul needs to know Harlem. Take a free walking tour with this guy (Ryan), and then eat at Sylvia’s Restaurant.
You’ll meet lots of folks at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Get there soon after dawn and assume no bathrooms.
Dog-walking may be the morst popular — or mandatory — form of exercise in NYC. You can do it in your nightgown, between selfies, and as a lucrative source of income.
Want to see similar photos?
Look Up
Manhattan is an island of canyons; they’re called streets and avenues. As you walk them, focus on the canyon walls: their variety, textures, and how light plays on them.
Look Down
The subway system is the fastest, cheapest way to move around the City. Sure, some stations can be dim and grim. But look into the dark and down at the floors and experience something new and interesting.
Look At the Unusual
Even on a drizzly evening unusual things are happening around you, so keep your eyes open and ask yourself not only what but why.
Want to travel to other places?
Barcelona
Barcelona is an explosive visual experience of architecture, markets, and street folks, dominated by the billiant imagination of architect Antoni Gaudí whose mystifying church, La Sagrada Familia, has been under construction for over 140 years. Then there is the brilliant colors of the marketplace and the absorbing daily lives of locals.
Ireland
This is my visual take of over 150 waking hours of experiencing the contradictioins of Ireland, a landscape strewn with rocks and bogs and yet stunning beauty; a history of internal conflict and surprising reconciliation; and interminable struggles with famine, money, and dependency and yet determined problem-solving and amazing business acumen.
New York+
Do cities intimidate you? Cities scared me as a kid. It still takes some confidence-building to visit a new place. But after spending time in many of the world’s biggest cities — Tokyo, Bangalore, Riyadh, San Francisco — I now know how to see, really see, and enjoy the urban experience. Here’s what I recommend for one of my favorite metropolises: NEW YORK CITY.
Saudi Arabia+
Over the years I consulted in Saudi Arabia and explored the Arab Gulf region, I was fascinated by the area’s opulence of magnificent mosques and ambitious commercial developments, by the implosion of multicultural people in the “oasis” cities — Riyadh, Jubail, Dubai — by the graciousness of everyone, especially Saudis, and by the love for the desert.
Sicily
Sicily is a place for drifting and sifting — and, consequently, of surprises. Recognizable, must-see landmarks are few. So you go there relatively uninformed and open to drifting around the island. Then comes the joy of sifting through the centuries of invaders — Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans – while experiencing the surprises of unforgettable food, welcoming locals, and camera-grabbing scenery.