'I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline,' Ayn Rand gushed in The Fountainhead. With these breathtaking photographs, she won't be the only one. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet hung out a helicopter at 7,500 feet above the city at night. And the results are mesmerizing. Scroll down for video . Bright lights, big city: Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet hung out a helicopter at 7,500 feet to capture New York City . Mesmerizing: His shots, designed to make the streets mirror brain synapses, dwarf Manhattan's towering monuments in Times Square . Colorful: Having waited years for technology to make the project possible, Laforet shot the WTC (left) and Broadway (right) in an hour . The panning shots, which took just one hour, capture the oft-fawned-over lights against the ebony-black water. 'This was quite scary,' he told ABC News. 'Your imagination starts to take over but I kept focusing on the pictures.' It was a project, Laforet explained, to illustrate a Men's Health article on psychology. The grid-like streets filled with ever-moving channels of light are like brain synapses, he told his editors. Scared: Laforet said he was petrified of falling out the helicopter as he soared over New York's Midtown taking the photographs . Toy-like: The glittering landscape often resembled a glowing Lego set with Laforet's clever use of tilt-shift . Captivating waters: The bright lights shine against the dark East River with the bridges across it into Brooklyn . Downtown: In the Financial District, there is a luminous blue hue was cars drive around 24/7 and the World Trade Center shines . It is a project Laforet has dreamed of completing for years but technology has never afforded him the right exposure to capture the landscape at night. Finally, however, he felt it would be possible. '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' he said. 'There is no chance that you will fall - the harness is tried and true. But you DO think about the fall.' The shots capture the excitement and fascination millions of visitors and residents have with the Eastern city . Light and shade: The gleaming lights of some streets leave other dark, shadowy and ominous .
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet shot the series in an hour from a helicopter over New York City .
The shots were done to illustrate a Men's Health psychology article because 'the landscape looks like brain synapses'
Laforet has wanted to do this project for years but it is only now that he has a camera with good-enough exposure .
'I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline,' Ayn Rand gushed in The Fountainhead. With these breathtaking photographs, she won't be the only one. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet hung out a helicopter at 7,500 feet above the city at night. And the results are mesmerizing. Scroll down for video . Bright lights, big city: Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet hung out a helicopter at 7,500 feet to capture New York City . Mesmerizing: His shots, designed to make the streets mirror brain synapses, dwarf Manhattan's towering monuments in Times Square . Colorful: Having waited years for technology to make the project possible, Laforet shot the WTC (left) and Broadway (right) in an hour . The panning shots, which took just one hour, capture the oft-fawned-over lights against the ebony-black water. 'This was quite scary,' he told ABC News. 'Your imagination starts to take over but I kept focusing on the pictures.' It was a project, Laforet explained, to illustrate a Men's Health article on psychology. The grid-like streets filled with ever-moving channels of light are like brain synapses, he told his editors. Scared: Laforet said he was petrified of falling out the helicopter as he soared over New York's Midtown taking the photographs . Toy-like: The glittering landscape often resembled a glowing Lego set with Laforet's clever use of tilt-shift . Captivating waters: The bright lights shine against the dark East River with the bridges across it into Brooklyn . Downtown: In the Financial District, there is a luminous blue hue was cars drive around 24/7 and the World Trade Center shines . It is a project Laforet has dreamed of completing for years but technology has never afforded him the right exposure to capture the landscape at night. Finally, however, he felt it would be possible. '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' he said. 'There is no chance that you will fall - the harness is tried and true. But you DO think about the fall.' The shots capture the excitement and fascination millions of visitors and residents have with the Eastern city . Light and shade: The gleaming lights of some streets leave other dark, shadowy and ominous .
Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet hung Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent capture New York City . Mesmerizing: His shots, shot the WTC (left) and Broadway (right) in an a project, Laforet explained, to illustrate a Men's Health article on psychology. The grid-like are like brain synapses, he told his editors. Center shines . It is a project Laforet has dreamed of completing for years but technology