The Times Square New Years Eve Queue – My Final Rolls of 2025

My phone notes from this day begin “cold, minus 5, strong light” which more or less sums it up. I usually try and give myself a little more detail when possible, but the cold made it difficult to type, and to photograph. 31st December, 2025, I arrived in New York City early, having commuted in from New Jersey, getting in at 8am with a plan to leave at around 4pm, quite early to avoid the commuter and tourist and party-goer rush on the trains.

I set a few timers on my phone which would serve as reminders to lock in every so often, and within the first hour I had walked about six kilometres and taken just two or three photographs, a slow start. Once I reached the corner between Bryant Park and Times Square, where people had already been queuing since 3am to get in for the Times Square countdown and ball-drop, I knew I’d be able to get some decent frames made.

The last queue that really stands out in my mind as being a photographic situation was the line in London for darshan of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II back in September 2022, and while this was a less unique or momentus queue there were some interesting aspects to document.

I spoke briefly with, and photographed, the man who was the first in line, who showed me a photo of himself on his phone from last year, where dressed in the exact same clothing, he was again first in line. I hope he manages to keep that up and be first in line for as long as it’s significant for him!

Further down, outside along the shopfronts, people sat or lay down shivering, or huddled together for warmth, on newspaper, cardboard boxes, and other makeshift bedding and seating arrangements, which lent those areas something of a homeless encampment vibe, if not for the expensive warm puffer jackets and other accessories. I think some of the images from here would work well juxtaposed against actual imagery of New York homelessness, and someone somewhere is missing a trick not using the situation for some kind of campaign, highlighting that what some do for fun on New Year’s Eve is somebody else’s everyday, except much colder and without the amenities or the ability to give up on waiting and go home, as some chose to.

I finished my roll within an hour or so here, but after loading the next and framing up for another shot, I realised the batteries, despite being freshly charged last night, had died. Replacing these with my spares allowed me a few frames before those too perished. In very cold conditions, especially in New York in the winter, I’ve found that electronic cameras serve me better than mechanical, as I’ve had issues with cloth shutter freezing up and giving me uneven exposures. Electronics solve this, but suffer from the effect the cold has on batteries, and I needed to improvise, slowing down and rotating batteries from a warm inner pocket close to my body into the camera, which allowed me to keep shooting a few images at a time before switching again.

Not ideal, but still preferable to the alternative of half frames from a stuck frozen shutter. I missed quite a few quality moments, and as with any “one that got away” these will haunt me, and drive me to do better in future. I would bring the viewfinder to my eye, press the shutter, only for the internal screen to die, and then watch the scene dissolve as I rotated the batteries.

After some time, the cold drove me into Grand Central, where I warmed up both myself and my batteries, and in this time I spotted New York legend Louis Mendes in the corner putting out the vibe, with his iconic Speed Graphic setup ready to make polaroids of passers-by. I previously met Louis at the San Gennaro parade in September, and had made his portrait which I carried in my bag in the hopes of giving him a copy, as I often do. This was a lovely moment which I caught on my chest mounted GoPro.

Not long after this I walked around a few blocks, but it was mostly quiet so I returned to the queue, where the crowds meant maximising my chances of getting some good frames. At this point I switched things up a bit, my approach becoming more snapshot and frantic, somewhat channeling the wonderful Cal Holland, whose approach I am always impressed by, but especially when walking with him in New York earlier in the year. While my results were nowhere near as strong as his, I’m always happy to try out new techniques and styles, and I know with practice I would be able to incorporate this speedy method in some way.

Around midday there was a rush as it seemed that people were being allowed in (only a few), and this led to some dangerous crushes and stampede-adjacent conditions. I didn’t make many photographs as people ran, not for lack of trying, but the battery situation made it very difficult. These missed moments would have been the best of the day if I’d managed to make them, I’m certain of it.

Feeling somewhat deflated I walked around to the front of the library, where the NYPD officers were being briefed for their evening postings to police the event and area. I snapped only a couple of frames here, but the main frame I’m happy with was this girl who was screaming while pigeons landed on her.

After this I finished the remainder of my film while walking back to Penn Station, in order to have empty cameras so I can start the year with a fresh roll (works fantastically for my filing system to). While working in this area I was surprised to only bump into one other press photographer I know, I had expected to see a few more but they must have had different plans. I know many are planning on going to the inauguration for Mamdani, which I’m annoyed to be missing, but I have plans already to be at the Polar Plunge in Asbury Park, and can’t make the commute afterwards.

All in all, a lovely way to round off the year.

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