Brooklyn Bridge View
The Brooklyn Bridge is a New York icon, annually attracting millions of visitors. On a given day, thousands walk its promenade to take everything from travel selfies and wedding portraits to fitness photos and landscape photography, with the bridge’s recognizable arches and Manhattan high-rises as the backdrop. If you’re visiting NYC or a local looking to take the best photos of the bridge and the massive New York skyline, there are a few tips to help you create the perfect shot.
Tourists photograph the Brooklyn Bridge
Capturing the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
Hudson River and East River bridges provide iconic skyline views from unique vantage points around New York City. But the view from the Brooklyn Bridge is arguably the best. Skyscrapers such as One World Trade Center, Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street, New York City Hall, and the historic Woolworth building are just a sample of the architectural gems on display. The skyline is perfectly framed behind the Brooklyn Bridge’s famous Neo-Gothic arches, making for beautiful compositions for landscape photography, portraiture, or selfies.
Midtown and the Manhattan Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade's center section delivers breathtaking views of Midtown Manhattan and the Manhattan Bridge. Though not quite as famous as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge is no slouch. The blue suspension bridge is a hit with travelers as it is the focal point in the artwork for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. Those instantly recognizable suspension towers, and the ability to frame the Empire State Building between them, spurs millions of tourists to flock to Washington Street in the DUMBO neighborhood for selfies and other stylized travel photos.
Cars cross the Brooklyn Bridge with Manhattan Bridge in the distance
But if you want to capture the city and Manhattan Bridge from a different perspective, the view from the center of the Brooklyn Bridge is unbeatable. The Empire State Building and Manhattan Bridge are visible from this vantage. With good composition, you will easily capture a Brooklyn Bridge arch and or spans, the Manhattan Bridge, the Midtown Manhattan Skyline, and the Empire State Building in a single frame.
Facing east on the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade offers views of Downtown Brooklyn, the New York Harbor, Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan Bridge
Photoing the Brooklyn Side
An overlooked photography opportunity is snapping the eastern side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Most tourists focus on Manhattan, but, the Brooklyn side offers views of architectural gems. The contemporary steel and concrete skyscrapers in Downtown Brooklyn, classic pre-war architecture in Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO's renovated warehouses, and new stylish mid-rises are visible when facing Brooklyn. Additionally, you can capture Manhattan Bridge and the spectacular Jane’s Carousel from this viewpoint.
Photographing the Brooklyn Bridge
Across the River from Manhattan
No session is complete without photos of the Brooklyn Bridge itself. There are key areas around the bridge with incredible angles and sight lines that will make your photos pop.
Brooklyn Bridge Park is a noted spot to take pictures of Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Skyline, and the action along the East River. Walk to the waterfront area beneath Brooklyn Bridge to snap a spectacular shot of the span against the Manhattan Skyline. The DUMBO side of the park offers impressive views that incorporate Jane’s Carousel.
Nearby St. Ann’s Warehouse has a triangular garden that frames the Brooklyn Bridge arch overhead. These locations are ideal for fitness photography, travel photos, and engagement/wedding photos.
The Brooklyn Bridge overlooks St. Anne’s Warehouse in DUMBO
Walk up the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian path for beautiful shots of the Brooklyn Bridge. Enter the pedestrian path at Jay Street and Nassau Street, then walk to the first tower. Peek your lens through the openings of the chainlink fence to capture the photograph. This angle provides unobstructed, panoramic photos of the Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan, and DUMBO, Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan and DUMBO
Getting There
Access the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan by entering the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade at Center Street and Park Row or via the Park Row staircase. From Brooklyn, enter the promenade at Tillary and Boerum Place or via the staircase at Washington Street and Prospect Street.
If you are visiting NYC or a local needing more than a selfie at the Brooklyn Bridge, Marques Jackson Photography is here to serve your needs. Services include portraiture, travel and lifestyle photography, fitness photography, and social media photography that will capture you, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the New York skyline in their best light.
Fill out this form to get started.
