"The real scary part was that there's just simply nothing quite like leaning out of that chopper over the sea of darkness and light, held in only by a full body harness…" So writes photographer Vincent Laforet of the daredevil jaunt—and you know what? We'll take his word for it. Rather than dangling ourselves out of a helicopter 7,500 feet above New York City in the freezing cold, we prefer to feast our eyes on these gorgeous photographs. And we really do mean feast—for fans of NYC, which is basically all of us, these photos are the visual equivalent of a gourmet banquet. You've seen NYC in the fog, you've seen it looking all dazzling and crisp in the snow, and gorgeous in the rain. But we guarantee you've never seen the city like this before. You can read more of Laforet's thoughts on his photo mission at Storehouse, including the technical requirements for his equipment, given that "helicopters vibrate pretty significantly" and the fact that the airline traffic for JFK, Newark and LGA airports passed underneath the 'copter as it hovered. Oof.