“Gotham 7.5K” Photo Project Soars Above New York at Night

An evocative series shot for Men’s Health Magazine, “Gotham 7.5K” looks down on New York City from 7,500 feet up. That’s higher than airplane level. The shots were taken by photographer-filmmaker Vincent Laforet while leaning out of a helicopter and secured in a full body harness. Extreme even for a seasoned aerial photographer such as Laforet, the experience was frightening and cold but worth it for the breathtaking results. The night photography shows the Big Apple as a system of lights against a backdrop of blue-black water and sky. As the photographer notes, the electric colors of the city are reminiscent of how the brain’s synapses appear on a scan. Though taken from a great distance, the pictures show New York at its core, as a complex beauty, a symbol, and a relic of the human imagination.