Fill ‘Er Up
“The only other thing I can really remember wanting to do besides acting was a gas station attendant. At the time, that seemed like a great job – wash the windows, pump the gas – it looks so cool coming home with black hands. There’s a natural transition, from wanting to be a gas station attendant to being an actor, right?” ~ Daniel Stern
I recently read an interesting piece on the Fast Company Design web site on some of the most beautiful gas stations in history.
I know, right?
But I was drawn to it because I’m drawn to gas stations. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because New Jersey is such a driving state, from our Turnpike to our Garden State Parkway. As we drive our machines up and down the veins of asphalt taking us from the cities to the shore, we’re inevitably going to have to fill up.
Then there’s the famous Cherry Hill, NJ gas station photo by New Jersey native George Tice. And, Bruce Springsteen singing about meeting beneath the giant Exxon sign, that gives this fair city light.
Probably what draws me to shooting gas stations (as an aside: remember when they used to be called “service stations”? Not much service anymore, though New Jersey is one of only two states when someone, by law, has to pump your gas for you. Oregon is the other.) is the light. Whether sparsely lit, or with big fluorescent lights, whether dead of clear night or wrapped in fog, I have to shoot them.
Route 130, Central New Jersey
Hightstown, New Jersey
Valero, Cream Ridge, New Jersey
Even out of the Great State of New Jersey, I’m drawn to the neon glows of gas stations. Just the magical lighting.
Exxon Station, somewhere in Georgia
Citgo, Bear Creek, Pennsylvania
And, as I like to say wherever I pull into a gas station….”Fill ‘er up, regular, cash.”
(c)Mark Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | 2015
JerseyStyle Photography 
Love the series!
Great series. I live the first shot with the fog.