New York, New York: It has been sung about, cursed at, dug under, built up and photographed more than any city in the world. The man behind the camera on this night -- Sept. 20, 1962 -- was Sam Falk, who had more than 20,000 photographs published in over 40 years at The Times. He had been everywhere, from the Arctic to the tropics, and had been up in jet fighters and down in nuclear-powered submarines. But his favorite subject was always New York.

Sam Falk, a pioneer in 35-millimeter photography at The Times, joined the staff in 1925 and during his career specialized in photographs of famous people and events.

In this image at dusk, looking west from around 42nd Street, the photographer captures midtown Manhattan aglow with a galaxy of points of lights and with the Empire State Building, left, and the Chrysler Building, center, standing tallest among the skyscrapers.