7Scape No.25 - A Sunset Meet at Hunters Point

7Scape No.25 - A Sunset Meet at Hunters Point

It had been a brutally cold and windy day with rather unphotogenically gray skies, so I felt very fortunate when a frontal passage sunset began to light up the western sky over Midtown Manhattan as a November afternoon spent capturing autumn's last golds against an unremitting gray cityscape became colorfully promising.

Thus inspired, I went subterranean - but with a purpose!

The hope was to capture some 7 Train action where the (underground) Hunters Point Avenue Station opens on its eastern end to the rail- and cityscape of Long Island City. The vivid palette of the sunset was painting the frontal passage clouds to the east in some irresistible hues - a perfect backdrop for a meet of rush hour 7 Trains.

The one approaching is descending a long ramp beside the Sunnyside railyards, after winding through L-I-C on elevated structures. It departed Court Square Station (*) a few minutes earlier and will continue its Manhattan-bound journey underground. The train in the foreground is about to depart for its eastern terminus in Flushing, Queens.

Taken in November 2019, the photo makes its first appearance here today.

© Steve Ember
(*) Court Square on a different day...