Train platforms at night are right up there on my list of favorite things to photograph. Besides all those wonderful angles and glowing lamps, there is something hopeful and expectant about an empty train platform. (A chance to escape? A long-awaited homecoming? Both?) An empty freeway just doesn't have the same poetry.Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Mission Station Nocturne
Train platforms at night are right up there on my list of favorite things to photograph. Besides all those wonderful angles and glowing lamps, there is something hopeful and expectant about an empty train platform. (A chance to escape? A long-awaited homecoming? Both?) An empty freeway just doesn't have the same poetry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
Homecomings? Expectations? Hope? Escape? Nah ... not for me. For me it is the tracks: the tracks and the sleepers. And in this image of yourn, also the diagonal orange line. Oh that diagonal orange line - how gorgeous is that?
Gorgeous. Love the color and the street lights. explain to this country girl what the pole is smack dab in the middle of the track. Looks like a smash up waiting to happen!
Your photos are beautiful as well as your writing! I plan to visit your blog often!
This could be titled, "Trip to Indigo." I love the color wheel motion between opposites, orange to purple. Also the visual trick played by that center pole, which must be in the corridor separating two side-by-side tracks.
In this scene, nobody's heart gets broken. Daddy is coming home, and the family is waiting to welcome him.
This is a really nice photo. I love the way everything lines up - the tracks, the lights, the fences. Wonderful symmetry and something I probably wouldn't notice in everyday life!
I agree with Hope. Your photos are indeed beautiful, you have a good feel for interesting subjects and you write very well.
They just have this amazing look don't they? Kind of like peaceful but a bit magical at the same time and I love that.
Ciao
http://scarletsculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com
beautiful indeed. symmetry but a little curve an some blur to it all. I love the little plants growing in the line on our right side, as if maybe it is not used all that much--this station looks deserted sot hat would be appropriate. Does your camera have a night setting to clarify the shot?
btw---the pole is not in the middle of the track, it is between them---there are 2 lines running through this station, ergo, 4 rails.
Laurie, how many times have I told you not to play on the train tracks!?
You've done it again, it's a terrific shot.
Your photo today is beautiful. Great lighting.
To answer you question on Phoenix Daily Photo, the medallions were installed in 1990. A couple of my friends said they hardly notice them, but I see them all the time and love them.
The night time usually is the right time. I like the shape of those lamps.
That indigo sky, that orange foreground, those lamps, everything in perspective. I love all of the old movies with plots that include trains. There is something so romantic about trains that is missing in planes. Air travel is fast, after you take off your shoes and get patted down. Train travel offers a free show out the windows and dining cars also. A white tablecloth with a rose. No peanuts. Or at least that is the way it used to be. Thanks for glorifying one of my favorite things. Choo Choos.
oooh, I like that shot lots. It reminds me of the film color from the 40's. Was it ecktachrome?
When I recently had to go into L.A., I took the Gold Line for about a week. The Mission Station is by far the most inviting of all the stations along the way. I was tempted to get off the train and wander around. Looks like I missed out not being there at night.
Terrific composition and color. I like the orangey brown in contrast to the cool violet of the sky and green of the lights in the upper part of the shot. So linear - I love the leading line and vanishing point!!! Symbolic too on so many levels. I could even get into some Ozzie Osborne doing "Crazy Train."
It's the way it drifts into infinity. It could be looking where you've been or yet to be. Really captured those warm tones and deep purple night sky we rarely get here.
Nothing short of outstanding.
Frankie
At our moment in history, railways are simultaneously modern and old-fashioned, with the excitement and romance of both. There was an unusual novel set in the London Metro [253: The Journey of 253 Lifetimes, by Geoff Ryman, 1998] that ended badly, but was notable for giving each page to the description of someone riding on a train, often with connections to other people also on the train, knowingly or unknowingly. I had never read anything structured quite like it.
A very evocative photo and post.
Hi kids,
Welcome Frankie and Bertn!
Virginia, Yak Pate and Trish explained the pole situation. But I'm glad you had the reaction that you did. It was my intention when I framed this shot! Oh, and also capturing that gorgeous diagonal line. (Julie and I share part of the same brain!)
Pasadena Adj, from my film school days I remember that Kodachrome was pretty popular -- everybody sing Simon and Garfunkle with me now,
"Kodachrome...
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away..."
But actually, ektachrome is probably what you were thinking of. It had that classic colorful look that the movie magazines and National Geographic used. Smaller labs and home dark rooms could develop it, too.
Trish, I realized this shot wasn't tack sharp -- because I used such a slow shutter speed without my tripod -- but I kind of liked the ever-so-slight blurriness. Usually I'm a stickler for that kind of thing but here, for whatever reason, I thought it was kind of nice.
Thanks Yak and Dixie-Mom for your beautiful descriptions. ANd Uselaine, darn you for giving me yet another book to add to my Amazon shopping cart. It sounds fascinating. I love trains and train stories.
ANd thanks all of you for such lovely comments. You are all inspiring!
Hello Laurie ,
Where was You too take this shot ? You was driving the train ???
See You later !
Thanks for clearing up the pole thing for me. Now I see it! Two rails. Got it.
Great shot capturing all the color and glowing lights. Please stay off the train tracks, we worry.
This great picture reminds me about how its all the little details that add up to give South Pas a certain "feel".
I'll mention that I replaced my newer stove with a Wedgewood dated 1939. All the chrome has now been refinished. I'm convinced that it looks as good as when it first came out on the showroom floor.
The Batchelder House is currently resided in by architectural historian Robert Winter. Great guy and oh what a home. The fireplace is floor to ceiling tiles! I still have the tape of the oral history interview (of Robert Winter) I did inside the home.
Thanks again for the photo. So many little nooks and crannies and yet just one skilled photographer to capture it all!
I can't believe it, I missed the train again.
Wonderful sky and really great lights colour. I ever hated those night yellowish photo. In this one, street lamps are white and vivid like our eyes usually see them in real.
Post a Comment