Elizabeth McSpiritt

Brooklyn bridge on a fiery hot summer day.

Kurt Rieke

While walking on the Fire Island beach while an electrician was re-wiring our house after Sandy, I came upon this wonderfully detailed, about half-size sand sculpture of an Orca. The creativity, craftsmanship and focus on the ocean's beauty that is why we love the beach contrasted with the chaos and damage all of our neighbors were involved with reversing.

Jon Ferrer

People share lots of photos of sunsets, but sunrises are more elusive - especially if you hate waking up early as much as I do.

This sunrise photo was take at Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu City just a couple of weeks after Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. A storm devastated Tacloban is about a hundred miles off to the left and Bohol, which was rocked by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake just weeks before the Haiyan, is about 50 miles off to the right.

It was surreal to wake up to such a beautiful sight with the knowledge that so much destruction lay just over the horizon.

Shortly after taking this photo, a 4.8 magnitude quake hit Cebu City and I could feel the building shaking beneath my feet.

The proximity of this picture and the minor quake are reminders that Nature is capricious -- beauty and terror can strike at any time.

Dan Sagarin

Kids cooling off on a hot summer day at Brooklyn Bridge Park, near Atlantic avenue, in Brooklyn.

Amy Zorn

I visited the Paterson Falls this fall for the first time although I have lived in New Jersey for 15 years. I was unprepared for how breathtaking it is. I like this photo because it shows the power and beauty of the falls but also the metal fencing that calls to mind the usefulness of the falls as a power generator for manufacturing, so important for Paterson and New Jersey.

Amy Zorn

The Palisades view was taken from a terrace at the Cloisters in fall '13. I like it because this is the view that will no longer exist if LG is allowed to build it's headquarters across the river. That is also why I took the photo; so that we will know what was destroyed and what the view looked like pre-LG.

I visited the Paterson Falls this fall for the first time although I have lived in New Jersey for 15 years. I was unprepared for how breathtaking it is. I like this photo because it shows the power and beauty of the falls but also the metal fencing that calls to mind the usefulness of the falls as a power generator for manufacturing, so important for Paterson and New Jersey.

oksana udovitska

Traffic on the bridge:)

oksana udovitska

This photo is from our October tip to the Storm King Art Center(http://www.stormking.org/). The fall was in a full swing and I think this photo with the Andy Goldsworthy's sculpture in the background captures my reflective mood this day

Alyson Slutzky

I photograph birds flying also, as I enjoy their formations, and capturing their presence in the sky above me. I took this photo on 12/20/13, as I was on a morning walk in Memorial Park in Maplewood, NJ, with my friend, Risa, who gets me outside in all seasons to exercise.

megan pickarski

It was halloween night and I was sitting on the L train when this couple sat down. They were so comically dressed, but so intensly serious for the whole ride. It was a strange juxtaposition. I couldn't help but snap a photo

Alyson Slutzky

I photograph mannekins, documenting the different types of mannekins, and what situations they appear in. I took this photo on 12/20/13, as I was to my car after a yoga class in South Orange, NJ. A local store is going out of business, and I couldn't resist taking a photo of their "naked" mannekins.

Giovanni Romeo

This picture was taken in September in Camden New Jersey at around 2 am. Every bench in sight was being slept on. It really said a lot to me about the problem of homelessness in this area.

megan pickarski

I was walking up into the subway on 34th and 8th after a long shift (I moonlight as a waitress) and I was walking slowly bc I was tired, and I saw these lines and was just like 'I must take this picture'. So I did. .. and then instagrammed it like any other 20-something of course.

Olga Hiiva

I took this photograph of my college-bound friend Zoya this summer at Kelders Farm in Hudson Valley, NY. She was posing for the picture when a nearby cow made a dive for her bouquet of flowers. Zoya is an NYU freshman now. The photograph captures the essence of Zoya, a Manhattan girl who loves the country.

Tamar Ashdot-Bari

Rupert Gardener

Glenn Tilbrook. Singer / Songwriter / Fender Genius. It took me 45 years but finally got to meet the man who's music I have listened to and loved the most. Rarely do your heroes live up to expectations - Glenn did.

dan

Douglas Lake

Aubrey Stimola-Ryan

I spent a month in Tanzania and had the amazing, life-changing experience of spending some time in a Maasai Boma. I was privileged to witness, this, the "jumping dance," or Adamu, where men display how high they can jump as a sign of their worthiness and strength. I was struck by how little they have by western standards, but how happy they were. Their wealth is measured in family size, cattle and artistic expression in attire, beadwork and dress. I see this image and I think of how much we westerners often have and yet STILL feel so much need and want. Travel gives us context we all need. I'm going back in March.

Joseph Mitchell

My office is on the 43rd floor of the Empire State Building looking south. Years ago I stopped taking pictures of the red and pink sunsets over New Jersey, but this view was different. I like the clear light coming in low from the west in the mid-ground, the Financial District in the mist, and the clearing sky in the upper left hand corner. It has the components of three different views.

Beth

Awesome holiday lights on the Champs-Élysées shot with my iphone 4s earlier this month!

Ashley cunningham

For all the time that my husband and I have lived in New York we've never walked the Brooklyn Bridge together. This past October we finally decided we needed to check it off of our list. It was freezing cold and windy but we still enjoyed our stroll.