The start of a long day

Big Timber commuter rail station, Elgin Illinois. May 2, 2006, 12:01 a.m. This photo heralded the start of a long day of picture taking for me. Midnight marked the start of the Elgin 1440 project, where dozens of photographers criss-crossed the city in 24 hours, capturing one day in the life of a community. See the previous post for more details.

In actuality, I conked out early. At the time of this writing, there is still almost three hours to go. I packed it in this evening at 8:25 p.m., at the same spot I started – Big Timber.

This train was scheduled to pull in at 11:59 p.m. It did me a great favor by barreling into the station two minutes late. The last train of May 1 became the first train of May 2. Just five minutes before the train arrived, a heavy rain began to fall. I draped a jacket over the camera and tripod and waited until the train made its entrance before removing the jacket and tripping the shutter.

Through the miracle of daily posting, I can make this day last for two weeks. More to come.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2006 James Jordan.