Day 19: Arriving on Platform 3

2026-02-25

Hello! I traveled to Philadelphia for the day, and it was great. Busy and chaotic, but great.

First, I realize I have an enormous privilege to just hop on a train and go to an urban area alone. This weekend, I had the time and money to walk around touristy areas of the city. I also didn't need to walk with anyone else or keep my guard up all the time, which is something I sometimes take for granted...

What you see here is the final photo I took of Philadelphia before I left — that was my train home in the afternoon, as bright daylight turned into sunset. I might be able to share another photo or two from my trip, but it's unlikely.

I didn't even intend to take this photo specifically. I wanted a composition of the train station at large, showing all platforms and the sunset leaking through all the massive metal bars. I couldn't get that all in frame, and I would rather not deal with people who would have thought I was taking a picture of them specifically.

I was about to put my camera away, but I turned around and there was my ride home. I took a quick snap, stuffed the camera in my bag, and didn't look back on my shot until I was already home an hour or two later.

It seems that my camera's autofocus was tracking the front of the train cab, but the background is pretty sharp in focus. When it's not, there's these great golden-brown globs of sunlight. It was brighter in reality than the photo shows, but I think the deep blacks help the globs of sunlight just stand out better.

One day in the future, when I give abstract photography a shot, I want to experiment with filtering light and making interesting shapes with shadows. A flat surface imprinted with a design from sunlight off to the left would be cool.

Finally, some cool things made by Davids. I know none of them:

David Imel — tech journalist and cool photographer. Was part of the reason I bought the phone I still use now (it's a Google Pixel).

David Bergman — professional concert photographer. Consistently makes informational videos on photography for beginners.

David Lastname — Scottish Internet cool weirdo. Inspired me to write silly. Probably has a real last name.

Thank you for visiting this blog! Special thanks to the newsletter subscribers; you get this photo a week before the internet does :-).

Cheers,
David