Grand Central Station – New York, New York

Yesterday, I teased readers about coverage of my favorite train station in New York. Did you guess Grand Central Station? It’s the third of the noteworthy train stations in Manhattan. I started with the Oculus Center, a modern wonder of a building built on Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Next was the newest, Moynihan Train Hall which extends Penn Station and tries to make amends for a significant architectural loss. All three are Photo Essays, my designation for posts packed with many images.

All three structures are exceptional in their way. The Oculus Center is the most daring architecturally. Moynihan is a modern refit of an old Post Office with traditional design touches. While infinitely better than the current Penn Station, it lacks the finesse of the grand old structures.

Grand Central Station is the most traditional. I like it the most, not because it’s old. But of its scale and detailing. Thankfully, the structure is unadorned with elaborate ornamentation. Instead, it timelessly wears its minimal elegance.

I used the 28mm equivalent focal length on my Fujifilm GFX 50S II. Adequately wide to capture the entire width but not its height. The lens is not enough to document the scale of the whole station.

I shot 2nd picture from the balcony with a slow shutter to create a motion blur. The image following is from ground level, though not wholly perspective corrected. Thus, you see the tilt of walls on the left and right.

Shooting in the portrait orientation captures more of the ceiling, though still incomplete. However, the pictures are perspective corrected, so the vertical lines run straight up and down. I’ve come to appreciate corrected architectural images. They have a preciseness about them.

I didn’t document the entire station, opting to stay in the main hallway. However, I grabbed details from the periphery. I made several motion blur photos in a crowded hallway, standing dead center. I was a slight nuisance for about a minute. I like this version because the woman in red in the center adds that visual pop.

Beyond the architecture, my favorite elements are the golden clock in the center of the station and the U.S. Flag. Four of the nine pictures contain both elements. They help create a timeless and patriotic set of images.

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