"Sunning in Secaucus," August 2009

Sunning in Secaucus

Waiting for his train home, this guy took a moment to absorb the sunshine.

"Fiery sky," New Jersey, November 2007

View from Clifton

So often, I find myself walking to the train station in the late afternoon or evening just as the sky is putting on a hell of a light show.

Day 304 of 365

Life at the Depot

A mural on the platform of Track 2 at the Secaucus Junction station.

Day 253 of 365

In Hoboken, remembering 9/11

Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, the Tribute in Light beam rises until it meets the cloud cover. Commuters exit the PATH and Hoboken Bus Terminal. Behind me, Steelers fans drink and talk above the DJ at Texas Arizona as the NFL season prepares to kick off.

Day 215 of 365

Waiting in Hoboken

Meryl Streep nowhere to be found, however.

Day 202 of 365

After the fire

Friday, as we're on the way to Cleveland, I get a text alert from NJ Transit saying the Clifton station is closed indefinitely because of a significant fire. The SMS cut off before I received the part about how train service would be unaffected, but until I found that info, we panicked a little. We also pictured the station as a pile of rubble, but it's not. It's this -- a hole in the roof covered by a blue tarp.

Day 26 of 365

Rush hour at Hoboken

Each night on my way to work, I pass through the Hoboken train station going against the grain of commuters spewing from the PATH tunnels and rushing to catch their above-ground trains to points west in New Jersey. (The Hobokenites stroll out into the streets through a different exit, so I don't have the pleasure of dodging them.) Tonight, I took just a few moments to pause for a couple of pictures, but if I allow myself some more time, I know I can improve upon where I stand and the composition of these two shots. And therein lies another benefit to this photo-a-day project: For those images I have in my head to take, or those I see in my daily travels, I can experiment with different angles and views and discover new ways of looking at the subjects until I get it just right.

"Waiting in Hoboken," New Jersey, July 2008

Hoboken waiting room

I would have loved to used any number of signs for a shoppe, grille or other such establishment that harkens to days of olde with the extraneous "E" in its name. But I found this shot of the waiting room at the Hoboken train terminal first and felt it fit the bill.

From the days of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to today's New Jersey Transit and PATH commuters, the station at Hoboken has served bustling New Jerseyans on their way to and from New York and to the far reaches of the Garden State. With the original and ornate Penn Station now sunk in the swamps of Jersey, going through Hoboken makes for a much more aesthetically pleasing trip each afternoon.