I Could See Lights At The Edge of All Things

I Could See Lights At The Edge of All Things

© 2010 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening nightographers! Hope all of you are safe and healthy. Tonight I'm showing another old photograph from my photo archive. This photograph was made ten years ago on 9th July 2010, Friday.

A few months earlier, the news was reported about the closure of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station aka Keppel Road Railway Station. The station was the southern terminus of the network operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), the main railway operator in Malaysia. It was completed on 3rd May 1932 and officially opened by Sir Cecil Clementi. It was around for 79 years before it ceased operations on 1st July 2011 with the relocation of the KTM station to Woodlands Train Checkpoint.

The land on which the station and the KTM railway tracks stood was originally owned by KTM and over which Malaysia had partial sovereignty. This arrangement lasted until 30th June 2011 where the land was reverted to Singapore and to be reserved as the Singapore Railway Museum.

On that night, I visited the railway station and walked all the way to the end of the station platform and beyond, right up to this signal box where it was situated about 400 meters away. As it had since ceased operations and no one was around, I took the stairs up to the second-level balcony area, and I was in awe to see this night scenery before my eyes. Quickly I set up my tripod and mounted my camera prepared to make some exposures. However, there were motorcyclists who rode by from time to time, further into and out of a small village-like community area just around the corner, where I found out later there was a Malay food restaurant. Well, I guess people came by to enjoy the food and gathered with co-workers and friends before all are gone for good.

Initially, I wanted to capture the night scenery without any vehicle light trails, and I did try but they just kept on passing by. So I thought "What the heck!" just went along with it. A strong sodium-vapor spot light hit diagonally across this wooden house with a huge 2-seater sofa in the front and a coconut tree set in the background. The weather was great with fleeting clouds overhead. At that moment I felt everything fell into place and went on to make two exposures, and this is how the night photograph came about.