Friday's parting shot

The view downtown earlier today from the East Village ... photo by Bobby Williams

Monday's parting shot

A look at the early evening downtown skyline via Bobby Williams...

Capturing lightning on a building

EVG reader Eben Hall shared this photo from last night ... a composite of the lightning strikes on One World Trade Center, as viewed from Avenue C. Captured between 11 p.m and midnight.

Monday's parting shot

A view downtown early this evening via Bobby Williams...

Saturday's parting shot

A view downtown earlier via Bobby Williams...

Monday's parting shot (a.m. edition)

A look downtown from this morning via Bobby Williams...

Capturing 2 lightning strikes early this morning at One World Trade Center

EVG reader Gregory Patrick had been wanting a shot of lightning striking the steel spire atop One World Trade Center.

He got his wish early this morning around 4 — twice.





"I go out for storms, and I’ve been watching radar looking for a storm to head downtown," said Patrick, who usually photographs circus performers for his entertainment company. "I've gotten shots of lightning hitting the tower from my roof in the East Village, but I wanted a shot from looking straight up."

Several photographers captured a lightning strike here last month. (The lightning rod atop the building reportedly measures 16 feet.)

While there isn't any documentation on the number of strikes at One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building is reportedly struck about 25 times per year.

Anyway...this seems necessary now...

Night shift

A view downtown early this evening via Bobby Williams...

The view downtown this morning

Looking south from the East Village around 9 via Bobby Williams...

Starting out in the evening

Before this rain earlier this evening… via Bobby Williams…

A beacon atop One World Trade Center

From his perch in the East Village, Bobby Williams noticed the revolving spotlight atop One World Trade Center...



I hadn't noticed this lighthouse effect before...? Have you?

A company in Omaha produced the lights. Per this article in the Omaha World-Herald:

The twin beams will revolve horizontally, like a beacon from a lighthouse, 1,776 feet above the city, the company said. They are intended to symbolize resilience, democracy and freedom by illuminating the skies above where the World Trade Center's twin towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.

An East Village view of what will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere

Bobby Williams took this photo from his perch in the East Village... showing the glass nearing the top of One World Trade Center ... Still waiting for that last piece of the spire and a steel beacon to cap the building at 1,776 feet.

Per The Atlantic, "it will officially become the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest building in the world, behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Abraj Al Bait Clock Tower in Mecca."

And did you see the views from inside the 100th-Floor Observation Deck from last month?

On the horizon

Photo by Bobby Williams.

This is what 1 WTC looked like on Jan. 13, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

5 views of One World Trade Center from the East Village

Photos by Bobby Williams.