Why a fleeting sunset moment, Phillyhenge, is still worth chasing
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Photo: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
He's shot 17 Olympics and photographed former President Bill Clinton for eight years — but there's one thing Gary Hershorn is still chasing: Phillyhenge.
Why it matters: When the sun aligns perfectly with Philly's grid twice a year, it draws everyone with a lens — from dyed-in-the-wool photographers like Hershorn to amateurs and TikTokers chasing the perfect shot.
State of play: Phillyhenge coincides with Easter weekend this year, and many in the city's photography community will camp out for hours near Dilworth Park, waiting for the moment when the sun slips softly between Center City's skyscrapers.
- Everyone is hoping for more cooperation from Mother Nature: rain and clouds are in the forecast.
What they're saying: Framed right, it's the kind of shot that can set hearts — and social media feeds — ablaze, says David Rosenblum, a photographer for the Philadelphia International Airport.
- "We all chase the light, and we all chase the sun," says Rosenblum.
Zoom in: Phillyhenge comes around twice a year, once in the spring and fall — this year around the early part of September.
- Every city, from Toronto to New York, has its own unique dates on the calendar when the sun hits just perfectly.
Zoom out: Hershorn hasn't missed Manhattanhenge in more than a decade, though as the flocks of social media influencers and amateurs have grown larger at New York's prime spot — near 42nd Street — he says he had to scout for new, less-crowded vantage points.
- For people who haven't experienced it, Hershorn says it's life-changing.
- This coming from a globe-trotting former Reuters photog (and current director of photography for ABC News), who spent years covering the nation's biggest stories, including 9/11 and "every sporting championship under the sun."
Between the buildings: "I just wish people would stop their lives for five minutes and just watch this beautiful thing happening," Hershorn, who turns 68 next week, tells Axios.
- Hershorn says he just might have to get to Philly in September.
Philly photographer Loren Berckey — who has captured both Phillyhenge and Manhattanhenge, as well as big events like the 2001 demolition of the World Trade Center's final pieces — tells Axios he thinks about the victims of 9/11 every time he photographs moments like those expected this weekend.
- "I just think of all the people who thought, 'I can see a sunset tomorrow,' and they couldn't," he says. "Those are the things I'm constantly chasing — the next moment to be inspired by the world."