Photographer details how he shot iconic image of half-blacked-out New York City after Hurricane Sandy

It's already become one of the most iconic images of New York City post-Hurricane Sandy. The photo, captured by Dutch photographer Iwan Baan, shows the city's powerless southern end mostly blacked-out in the wake of Sandy, and the more fortunate midtown and northern areas still lit.

 

 

Baan shot the aerial image with a Canon EOS-1D X digital SLR from a helicopter over the city last Wednesday night. The stunning shot was chosen for the cover of this week's New York magazine.

“It was the only way to show that New York was two cities, almost,” Baan told Poynter. “One was almost like a third world country where everything was becoming scarce. Everything was complicated. And then another was a completely vibrant, alive New York.”

Baan shot the image "wide open" with Canon's new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM with the 1D X set at ISO 25,000 and 1/40th of second shutter speed.

“[It was] the kind of shot which was impossible to take before this camera was there,” Baan told Poynter about using Canon's new pro flagship DSLR to capture the image.

Read the rest of Poynter's interview with Baan here.

See more of Baan's aerial shots for New York magazine and read more of the back story here.