5:27 PM Arrival-Morristown, NJ
The Morristown Train Station has become my local photographic sanctuary—a place where the mundane transforms into the magical through my viewfinder. There's an electric anticipation that fills the air as the NJ Transit train approaches, its final destination the bustling hub of Penn Station in New York City. The station platform becomes my stage, offering a different performance with each visit.
Dawn's golden hour blankets the tracks in warm, directional light that sculpts the approaching train in dramatic relief. While evening shoots bathe the scene in cooler tones with artificial lighting creating compelling contrasts against the darkening sky. The seasonal dance of daylight savings time continually reshapes my canvas, forcing creative adaptation throughout the year.
Perhaps most exhilarating are those rare mornings after a snowfall, when the familiar scene transforms into a winter tableau—steel rails cutting through pristine white, steam rising from the train's underbelly to mingle with falling snowflakes. These fleeting moments create a photographer's perfect storm of opportunity and pressure.
The anticipation mirrors what I feel when positioning to capture the moon cresting above Manhattan's skyline—that perfect confluence of preparation and chance. My mind races through a photographer's checklist as the train thunders closer: exposure settings balanced for moving light, composition framed, focus locked. Will I freeze the motion or let the lights streak dramatically? Have I chosen an aperture that will render the scene with appropriate depth while capturing those coveted starbursts from the train's headlights?
This particular image reveals the fruits of that technical preparation—captured during a February evening with settings deliberately chosen: f/22 for maximum depth of field and those signature light starbursts, combined with a one-second exposure that allowed the train's lights to punctuate the composition with dramatic effect. Only later, reviewing the images on my Mac's display, could I finally exhale and appreciate what that moment of anticipation had yielded.
New York City Train Arriving Morristown Train Station