I had a couple of hours to kill in the ‘burbs while waiting for Linda to do something with her friends so I decided to experiment with some night photography. I am reading Michael Freeman’s “The Complete Guide to Night & Lowlight Digital Photography” (which around these parts could also be Lowlife photography) and was inspired to try some. This train station is on the commuter line from NYC to the suburban towns in northwestern New Jersey, so there are several of them arriving at this hour.
Don’t tell Amtrack, but I had the camera on a tripod with two of its legs over the yellow line. I was on the ‘good’ side of the line with an electronic cable release. This was the second arrival, so I had a reasonable sense of when to start the 2 second exposure. I was expecting the engine to stop in front of me, but it glided right by. If you notice the reflection on the side of the train, you’ll see that it is not really a reflection but is the station on the NYC bound side of the tracks. The exposure started before the train obscured it so some of it, and the tracks, have ghosted through.
This was a first attempt. Next week, I’ll get the train schedules and be prepared to try for more effects.