The New York cab

In 2016, I made my first trip to New York. I arrived on Election Night, completely unintentionally, but it did mean New York was quiet and subdued for the days I was there, making photography easier. A couple of days into the week-long stay, I planned to take a photograph from New Jersey, at Hoboken, looking east across to Manhattan to capture the sunrise over the metropolis. The previous day I had taken public transport across the Hudson and I had found the spot I planned to take my photograph. I woke early at 4am, left the hotel and jumped in the first available yellow cab. I explained where I wanted to go and to my surprise the cab driver told me the journey, which I calculated would take 10-15 minutes, would cost $70! My initial thought was that I am being taken for a ride, literally. There was no hiding my British accent and I was quite clearly a tourist donning my new ‘I [heart] NY’ hat. I made my excuses and hastily exited the cab, disappointed that tourists were being taken advantage of. Fortunately, another yellow cab was along shortly afterwards. I went through the same routine: I got in the back, explained where I’d like to go and then he got out a book with prices in. Now, although it was my first time in a NY yellow cab, I did assume it would be metered. He quoted $70 too. I accepted this could be no coincidence and so I inquired why it was so expensive for such a short journey: it was the mandatory cost for crossing the State line between New York and New Jersey. Whilst slightly frustrated I didn’t pick this up in my research, as a true Yorkshireman I could not bear to pay this for such a short journey. I quickly evaluated my options and I settled to go to Brooklyn Bridge. $10 in a cab felt much better. I was dropped off at the City Hall end and I proceeded to the bridge walkway to set up my tripod for the arrival of the morning light. Despite being a Thursday it was relatively quiet, even at 7am, attesting to the fact it is primarily a tourist destination! Narrowly avoiding being run over by a cyclist (admittedly I was dressed in all black and hard to see) I captured this image of Brooklyn Bridge which remains one of my favourite images of New York.

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