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Night Photowalk DC

Last weekend, as you’ve seen me mention a few times before, Sherri and I attended Shawn Duffy’s Night Photowalk DC.  I was really excited about this one as it was a route I had not taken before and was curious to learn where he took some of the great shots I admire on his site.  His skyline photos of Rosslyn, VA at night from the Memorial Bridge have stunned me before and I couldn’t wait to try it out myself.

We arrived at the Lincoln Memorial a bit early and took some shots inside before looking for the group. I had only met a couple of the people that had signed up so was a little worried about finding them.  Our direction was to look for people with cameras.  Well I think I might have seen three people on the steps WITHOUT a camera.  Luckily Shawn was set up at the base of the steps and was already surrounded by around 20 of the group.  After checking in we waited another 15 minutes for the rest of the group to show up.  Eventually we were 40 strong.

Forty people gathered with cameras in hand (most 40D’s or better), large lens, Manfrotto or better tripods, and bulging photography bags can gain some attention.  A Japanese tourist approached us and asked who was coming.  I believe she had a fleeting hope that President Obama was going to stop by and we were the press corps gathering to record it.

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Tags: Digital Photography, Lincoln Memorial, long exposure, Memorial Bridge, night photography, photowalk, Rosslyn, Shawn Duffy, Virginia, washington monument

PaW 2009 Week 10 – Lincoln Memorial

Camera specs; Canon EOS Rebel XS fitted with a Canon EF-S 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, f4.6 @ 1/15 a second, ISO 800 at 60mm, hand held.

Sherri and I attended Shawn Duffy’s Night Photowalk in DC this weekend and got to the Lincoln Memorial a few minutes early. It gave us enough time to take a few shots inside before launching the walk across the Memorial Bridge.  Its hard to get an original shot here but I tried for some angles I haven’t seen too often.  Let me know what you think.

Tags: Digital Photography, Lincoln Memorial, PAW 2009, photo a week, project, washington dc

February Free Study

Camera specs; Canon EOS Rebel XS fitted with a Canon EF-S 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, f7.0 @ 1/100 a second, ISO 800 at 135mm.

Its funny how Chinese fortunes work. Yes I did get laid off, I found out the day before I opened the fortune cookie. For some odd reason I kept that fortune as a piece of cruel irony to laugh at if times got tough. Funny enough though, the day after my layoff took effect my old manager called me and asked if I would be interested in coming back as a department head (promotion from my previous position). I guess these things do come true given time.

It took me a couple more orders from our local take-out to get enough cookies for this shot. This is my first “studio” photo using a tabletop setup I bought my wife for Christmas.

Unfortunately the photo did not do as well as I’d hoped in the DPChallenge free study challenge for February.  It brought me a 4.79 which is my lowest score yet.  Very disappointing for a shot that I put that much thought into.  Time to go back to the drawing board and work on my March entry.

Tags: Digital Photography, DPChallenge.com, Free Study Challenge, project

On the 4th of February

Camera specs; Canon EOS Rebel XS fitted with a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens, f4.6 @ 1/4 a second, ISO 640 at 75mm.

My February submission to Jason D. Moore Photography’s On the 4th project.  Last month I went into DC to take an advanced look at an upcoming photowalk route near the Memorial Bridge.  With temperatures in the low 20s and winds around 20 knots it was an extremely frigid evening.  I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted there as the wind off the Potomac cut right through me.  I could barely keep my tripod steady in most spots.  I did manage to take a few shots I liked though.

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Tags: Digital Photography, Jason D. Moore Photography, on the 4th, project