Statue of Liberty

One of my long time wishes was to visit the Statue of Liberty. Not just to have a look at the outside, but also the inside. After Randy Pausch, you could say it is a childhood dream. However since 9/11, the Crown access was cancelled. Earlier this year, I found out that the Statue of Liberty Crown was opened again, but there was a waiting list. Book your Crown visit. So I signed up for a ‘Crown ticket’ for today. Before you can embark on the ferry to Liberty Island, you have to pass security. Last year, I had to stand about an hour in bitter cold. So this year, I was prepared for the worst, i.e. gloves, cap, scarf, winter coat and a warm sweater. I could have guessed what happened because this year there was hardly a line.

To prepare for my trip to NY, I bought the book: ‘The 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in New York City’. This book suggested standing on the right side of the ferry. By looking at the photo of the sea gull you might wonder if a bought a very long zoom lens, but these sea gulls flew about six feet from the railing at a stationary position to the ferry (because of the very strong wind).


The good thing about the wind was that no one stood longer than 1 minute at the railing. Since by now I practiced in operating my camera while wearing gloves, I could stand there a little longer and end with a few keepers (i.e. succefull photos). Shooting from the ferry will give you better picture than shooting from Liberty Island because of the sheer size of the statue. By pointing your camera to much up, which will make the focal plane of your camera not being aligned with the object, will deform the image.




Looking at the crown of the Statue of Liberty, I got the impression that these windows are rather large. I was in for a surprise.


Once you got passed the 354 steps you will reach the crown. According to a website I found, the windows represent the natural minerals of the earth. To my surprise the crown of the statue was rather small. The windows in the crown are as large as the windows in an airplane.


Access to the pedestal is included in the crown visit.


It was rather difficult to take a picture from the inside of the statue, because of the low light. For the photo below I laid my camera on a platform inside the statue. On the top side you see the spiral stairs to the crown, the white truss structure carries the entire statue and finally the brownish wall is the green colored outside of the statue.


The next step of the ferry is Ellis Island. I visited Ellis Island last year. Therefore I knew I would get some nice sunset shots just before the last ferry would leave for Manhattan, this is what some photographers call the golden hour. In Houston this golden hours only lasts 15 minutes. On the photo below, the lower buildings on the left side are the barracks on Ellis Island.