Photographing New York: Financial District, Battery Park, and World Trade Center

(This guide is part of The New York Photographer’s Travel Book, which is available as a free digital download.)

Start your day paying respects at the World Trade Center. Get tickets and take the elevator to the top for jaw-dropping views of the city (although you can only photograph through the glass). View the 9/11 Memorial and the powerful museum. Directly east of the memorial is the massive $4 billion Oculus Train Station, a brand new 800,000 square foot transportation hub and high-end shopping mall in a structure that looks like a fish skeleton.

Walk east to visit St. Paul’s Chapel, frequented by George Washington and the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. Head south on Broadway for six blocks to Trinity Church, which dates back to 1697 (the church itself and not the current structure).


Head east to see the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall, and 40 Wall Street, which was beat out for the title of world’s tallest building in 1930 in an epic battle with the Chrysler Building. Walk back to Broadway and head south to see the famous Charging Bull sculpture by Arturo di Modica, weighing over three and a half tons and measuring 18-feet long. On an early December morning in 1989, Arturo and a few friends placed the massive Charging Bull on Broad Street right in front of the New York Stock Exchange, evading the police in between patrols. The next day, it was news all around the world, and while the city removed it at the end of the day, popular outcry forced them to put it back, nearby at Bowling Green. From here, walk one block south to visit the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.

Enter Battery Park, which has one of the best views of the Statue of Liberty that is not on a boat, but just make sure to bring a long lens. The views at sunset with the sun setting behind are spectacular. This area, known at “The Battery” since the 17th century, was originally an artillery battery that protected from sea attacks. Visit Castle Clinton, originally called “The West Battery,” which was built to prevent a British invasion in 1812, just prior to the War of 1812. While Castle Clinton was built on a small artificial island, this island was encircled and incorporated into Battery Park, which has been created mostly by landfill. Turn towards the city a little before sunset and you will see the sun shining on the skyscrapers of the financial district.



(This guide is part of The New York Photographer’s Travel Book, which is available as a free digital download.)