The next time you are in New York City and in the mood for something very touristy, you can try visiting One World Observatory. The view is spectacular! In fact the whole experience is very cool … it’s practically a Disney ride. Just keep in mind – you will need to plan ahead and purchase tickets.

But, as a photographer, it is very disappointing. There is no outdoor observatory. The staff insists that the building was designed as an office building and not a observatory. However, this building took over 10 years to plan and build. Are we really supposed to believe an observatory never came up? The Empire State Building, and Top of the Rock have outdoor observatories that generate quite a bit of money. Even the former Twin Towers had an outdoor observatory. More likely, the builders decided to follow the examples of more recent buildings like The Willis Tower and keep the tourists contained inside.

The BIG problem is glare! Every single window and every single view has glare! Glare! Glare! Glare! You just can’t escape it. Even using a polarizer did not help. Take a look.

All photos taken with Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 17-55mm EF-S and/or Tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 Pro DX

As long as you go as a tourist, you will enjoy it. At $35 to $65 per person, it is not cheap. And, you do need to purchase tickets ahead of time. If you want to take beautiful skyline shots of New York City, visit Top of the Rock instead.