Lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building Observation deck, ca. 2002.
This picture says a lot more to me than any of the histrionics that have attended upon the events of the eleventh of September, 2001: this puts the image into scale with the rest of the world for me. This gives me more of a solid frame for the negative space that lacks a pair of tall buildings.
my thanks to http://www.payphone-project.com (this is the view you get from one of the payphones on the observation deck, which is why the guy took the photo).