Supreme Court

It's not often that you find a major tourist destination in Washington, DC barren and empty of visitors.  But such was my luck a few days ago when my family and I visited the Supreme Court - a building which had been, up until recently, covered by some sort of construction drapery.  The more I look at this photo, the more I marvel at it as I very well could have taken it as a color photo and gotten nearly the same result.  Also, my family and I sitting on the steps look so small.  It cannot be overstated how large buildings are in Washington, DC., and while from the sidewalk this building doesn't appear to be unusually big, the long run from my camera to the seated position on the steps was just far enough to match the length of the timer on my camera.

Taken with a Canon Rebel XS with the stock lens and the 10 second timer, I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at this one.

Looking Up in the Russell Building

Sometimes its not a bad idea to stop where you are, pause, and look up.  There's something about this image of the Russell Senate Office Building Caucus Room's foyer that grabs my attention.  Perhaps it's the warm colors, or the stately architecture.  Whatever it is, I liked it enough to make it the background on my phone.

Taken with an iPhone 5s, this is not a well known location, nor a particularly glamorous site, but photography isn't always about those things.  This one is about pausing in the midst of a busy day and noticing the mundane and beautiful in a place you wouldn't normally look for it.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

I think black and whites are over done these days.  Taking photos of modern objects or settings, then turning it into a black and white for the sake of adding a hint of romance, or something doesn't work for me.  There's no appeal to me unless the subject of the photo looks like something that belongs in the era of black and white photography.  Take the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, for example.  Back in the day it was known as the War Department, it sits immediately adjacent to the White House and currently houses White House staff not senior enough to get a desk in the West Wing of the White House.

Taken with a Canon Rebel XS with the stock lens, the hardest part of getting this image was framing it correctly.

General Grant Standing Between the Capitol and the South...er...West

I had always wondered who that figure is standing in front (actually, in back) of the Capitol Building. Recently, I went to get a closer look, and to my delight, it is General Ulysses S. Grant, the general who finally got the job done.  The tricky part of capturing this image is that Mr. Grant was not lit up, as I had anticipated.  Indeed, in contrast with the gleaming Capitol dome in the background, Mr. Grant was a blackened silhouette.  But long exposure and lighting adjustments on the mac brought him out of the darkness.

Taken with a Canon Rebel XS with an EFS 55-250mm telephoto lens, this was the in the middle of photos I captured.  (I wonder if the lights were off that night because of the government shutdown....)

Jefferson

Sometimes it is more about the framing than it is the angle.  Although, the angle didn't hurt with this one.  Shot from across the Tidal Basin, I didn't think the base level telephoto I was using had the reach I was hoping for to get a decent shot of Mr. Jefferson.  Indeed, it couldn't zoom in as far as I hoped.  That shortcoming, however, turned out to be a good thing, as I was forced to rely on framing it properly to get this shot.

Taken with a Canon Rebel XS with an EFS 55-250mm telephoto lens, this was the first photo I captured, proving that sometimes the ones you think are stinkers turn out to be the best when you view them on your computer.

Fall Moon over the Capitol

On September 23, 2013 I drove to the Capitol to get a few shots of this magnificent building.  I was hoping to get one that I could perhaps blow up and put on my wall at home.  I posted up at several locations around the building snapping a few shots, trying to get a unique angle - one that most people don't see.  In the end, this straight on shot from 7th Street West (not NW, not SW, but right in the middle) seemed to be my last chance.  Still not satisfied with what I saw on my camera's display screen, I picked up my tripod a little disappointed and began disassembling my gear.  Just then, the moon started to come out from behind the clouds, and I thought in excited tones "the moon!, the moon!, the moon!"  Plunked down my tripod and took a few more shots.

Taken with a Canon Rebel XS with an EFS 55-250mm telephoto lens, this was the last photo I captured.  At home, on my mac, I was delighted to find that it looked better than it had on my camera's display screen.