Union Station in Motion put to music, Phillip Glass performed by Anton Batagov.
UNION STATION
Union Station provides an extraordinary setting to study people in motion and interesting light. They are two of the elements I find most interesting in photography. The two great halls, and the platforms, and the stairways, that makeup Union Station are a little like movie sets on a sound stage. Unlike a sound stage, the ideal time to shoot each location is dictated by the time of day. The first element is the timing of rush hour. The time of each day’s rush hour is reasonably predictable. The second element is the transitioning sunlight. The time of optimal sunlight changes throughout the year with the changing time of sunrise and sunset. Also, it depends on the mood of the day. I love what the hard, low sunlight brings in the way of shadows and reflections around Union Station but it all changes with overcast and cloudy skies.
The morning sun and dramatic sunrise shadows in the modern East Portal are a photographer’s dream. At the opposite end of the station, the mission-style Great Hall, covered in iconic detail, offers late morning and late afternoon shafts of light that slash across its darkened interior. Then there is the midmorning and late afternoon sun with its shadows on the stairways leading up to the platforms. The reflections cast by the low sun on the train windows is a continuing fascination for me and I love figuring out how to photograph them.