Nice! How'd you get yourself on a helicopter? Tour or charter? I've been thinking about doing something like that here, but there seem to have been a lot of helicopter crashes here lately.
Thanks!
I just contacted a helicopter pilot a bit prior to my trip to New York, and made arrangements to use his helicopter/pilot services for an hour. I actually had to take the Metro North Railway from Grand Central up to White Plains, meet the pilot there, and then 'copter it back to the city. Wasn't too much of a hassle at all, really, and the price for the flight was a little better that way too. Plus, I thought White Plains was actually a pretty cool, smaller city.
If you feel you can justify the cost of rental, I definitely recommend the experience. Granted it can feel a little goofy hanging on the edge of a rather small helicopter with no door (they're always left at the airport when you're going on a photo flight), but you're so focused on capturing the rare vantage points up there that you forget about the perceived precariousness of dangling in the sky above a city.
I've done this two places, my home Kansas City (MO), and this trip in New York. Of course the price of renting the 'copter/pilot in New York was quite a bit higher than KC, but so it goes.
A guy I know does the aerial stock photography thing for a living, though I'm more in it just for fun maybe once a year or something and when I can afford it. With a bit of justification thrown in there that an aerial image might sell and at least cover the cost of the flight.