“No one knows what it’s like to be the Batman, to be the sad man, behind blue eyes.”

An outdoor shoot in a coastal park in Long Island City, taken late at night. Although the actual shot itself was rather easy and straightforward, the preparation was indescribably frustrating — simply because the park was populated with obnoxious people. I wanted to get a good shot with both the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building framed in the background, but the only spots where I could take an unobstructed photo had too many people wandering around and getting in my way. Some areas had spots where I could get the necessary shot, but had obstructed views (due to trees), or the street lights were orange rather than white. I must have paced around back and forth for an hour or so, hoping people would finally leave. I’m guessing because it was a warm summer night, everyone found the need to stay out after midnight and play videos off their smartphone in a park.

Around 1 AM, I found a good spot on top of a steel trashcan in front of the giant neon Pepsi sign. The first set of photos were taken while the sign was still lit, hence there was a red glow on the minifigures. Since the exposure time was slow (5-6 seconds), I’d dangle my cell phone above the scene with the flashlight app in order to properly diffuse the lighting — as a result, the colors are less distorted, while the background railing is still tinted red. I also ran into issues with the wind blowing around the Batman and Robin minifigures during the long exposure, namely due to a low-flying helicopter that was circling the area. This photo was shot in raw, and edited in Lightroom to adjust the colors and clarity.