5th Avenue in Manhattan is the center of the consumer commercial culture.  All the famous high-end American brands have their flagship stores on 5th Avenue.  In the foreground on the right is the roofline of Bergdorf Goodmans.  The building behind is the Crown Building which is a beautiful piece of 1920’s architecture and especially striking when lit up at night.

As I walked through Manhattan on a cold November evening, I was feeling negative about the place.  The temperatures were frigid, the cold wind was burning my skin and the crowds were large in the stores.  New York City was feeling like a hard place to be.  But then I looked up and saw the Empire State Building, one of the icons of the city and I felt better about being there.

New York City place in the popular imagination is cemented with its iconic structures and the Brooklyn Bridge is one that evokes the late 19th century, before the age of sky scrapers.   This image was created on a cold November morning.   The walkway was mostly empty as most of the tourists were waiting for later in the day when it would be less frigid.