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Great Walk at Great Falls

Over 25 photographers from Gainesville to Baltimore gathered in the early morning hours for a photowalk at the Cheasapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park (aka Great Falls on the Maryland side) Saturday morning. I believe we even had a couple show up on the Virginia side as well (sorry George, next time I’ll do better at getting the proper directions out).

Along with many of the normal cast of characters from the Photowalk DC Facebook group we had a number of new faces  (we even had our first canine photowalker).  Though I’m glad to see everyone at these events I was especially happy to see Rob Jones and Mike Palmer.  Mike probably only showed up to get me off his back, I’ve been hounding him for the past two weeks to come out .

Unfortunately for me I decided to try my hand at the Billy Goat trail to try and catch up with some of our group.  The name is extremely applicable for this trail.  I spent over an hour climbing over and around rocks of all sizes with not a lot of photography to show for it.  I almost had my own great fall off a 40 foot cliff.  Not only that but I never caught up with the group so I spent too much time not being a good walk leader.

Here’s a sampling of some of the shots I took.  Be sure and check out our Photowalk DC Flickr group to see everyone else’s shots.

Tags: good company, good conversation, Great Falls, Maryland, Nature, outdoors, photowalk, photowalk dc, Potomac River

Late Afternoon Calm over the Potomac

My family spent a couple of relaxing hours at Riverbend Park a few days back. While we usually enjoy the Maryland side of Great Falls, in the late afternoon the light is much better on the Virginia side. The calm water of the Potamac River combined with the setting sunlight made for a nice relaxing image.

Tags: calm, Maryland, Potamac River, relaxing, Riverbend Park, sunlight, Virginia

Announcing Great Falls Photowalk July 25

Event - Photowalk DC #5

This is a combined photowalk of the Photowalk DC Facebook Group and Photoblogging DC.  I hope you consider joining the Photowalk DC Group and becoming a fan of Photoblogging DC on our Facebook page.

Location - Great Falls National Park on the Maryland Side

When - July 25, 2009 at 7:00am to 10:00am

We’ll beat the heat and the crowds.  We stand a better chance of seeing some of the parks four legged residents before they disappear for the day.

We’ll start gathering at the picnic tables near the entrance at 7:00 am.  At 7:15 I hope to have a speaker for a short 20 minute presentation on photography at Great Falls.   After that we can spread out, find our favorite or new favorite spots and get to shooting.

Directions - http://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/greatfallstavernvisitorcenter.htm

Maryland: Take exit 41 (Carderock /Great Falls, MD), follow Clara Barton Parkway to the end. At the stop sign, turn left onto MacArthur Blvd. Follow MacArthur approximately 3.5 miles into the park. MacArthur Blvd. ends at the park.

Virginia: Cross into Maryland over the American Legion Bridge (beltway inner loop) and take exit 41 (Clara Barton Parkway) Westbound, left at fork. Follow Clara Barton to the end. At the stop sign, turn left onto MacArthur Blvd. Follow MacArthur Blvd approximately 3.5 miles into the park. MacArthur Blvd. ends at the park.

From Washington DC: Take M Street to fork. You can follow either MacArthur Blvd, the right fork or take Canal Road, the fork to the left.

MacArthur Blvd.: Follow MacArthur until it ends at the entrance to the Great Falls section of the park, approximately 8 miles.

Canal Road: Follow to Chain Bridge. At stop light continue straight ahead. Canal Road changes into Clara Barton Parkway.  Follow Clara Barton Parkway to the end. At the stop sign, turn left onto MacArthur Blvd., and follow it for approximately 3.5 miles until it ends at the park.

Bring - There is a $5 per vehicle fee to enter the part or you can purchase an annual pass for $20.

This is an outdoor shoot in a nature environment.  You can expect to see creatures such as raccoons, snakes, turtles, tons of lizards and skinks, interesting spiders, dragonflys, and maybe a few deer.  Long lenses are best and maybe a wide angle to get shots of the falls.

There is a refreshment stand at the entrance to the park but I’m not sure what time it opens.  Its best to bring your own water just in case.

Registration - Please leave a comment here or register on our Facebook event page.

Tags: event, Great Falls, Great Falls National Park, Maryland, nature photography, photoblogging dc, photowalk, Photowalk DC Facebook Group

PhotoBlogging DC

While surfing the net for Wordpress photoblog themes to include in my presentation on photoblogging at WordCamp I came across Autofocus by Allan Cole.  This theme really stood out to me as the epitome of a photoblog with it’s minimalistic approach. The photo is really the subject of the post, no sidebars or widgets to draw your eye away from the image.  I started to think of a way to utilize this theme in a new project.  Yes thats a little backwards for most projects, normally the project is defined and then a theme identified.  This was a unique case though.

Last month I launched PhotoBlogging DC.  Just like the theme, my purpose was minimalistic:  Bring together and spotlight photos from some of the Washington DC and surrounding area’s talented photographers.

To begin I sent out invitations to contribute to about 15 of my photography friends.  Word spread and as of today we are up to 32 contributors.  Our photographers are of all experience levels, amateur to professional, but they all have one thing in common…they all have a love of photography.  So far I have not turned any prospective contributor away and all but one of the original 15 invites were accepted (you know who you are ).

I didn’t set any hard rules for photo submissions other than they needed to be taken within the DC and surrounding area.  I’ve defined that area as North to the border of Baltimore, West to the Shenandoah Mountains, South to Fredricksburg, and all points East.  This gives us a broad range of subjects from the monuments on the mall to horses in Loudon county.

Each day a new photo is posted so be sure and visit the site and subscribe to our RSS feed.  We also released new badges today so consider adding one to your site.  If you would like to become a PBDC contributor then contact me or leave a comment here with a link to a sample of your photos.

Tags: Digital Photography, Maryland, Photoblog, photoblogging dc, photographers, Virginia, washington dc

Ritz Camera Store Closings in DC/MD/VA Area

Saturday April 4th is a banner day for local photographers.  Downtown DC will be the place to be for cherry blossoms, parades, Japanese culture and lots of crowds.  The weather should be good, a little chilly in the morning and kinda windy, but we’re supposed to have a clear sunny day.

There are at least two photowalks prepared to take advantage of these activities.  For the early birds there is Shawn Duffy’s at 5:00am and another for the people that like a little more sleep at 10:00am.  You can find information on these and other events here.

Also Ritz Camera will start the liquidation of more than 300 of their stores which includes a number of them in the local area.  Here’s a list of local closings:

Virginia

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Seven Corners Center
6328 Seven Corners Center Falls Church VA 22044-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Dulles Town Center
#156 21100 Dulles Town Cir Sterling VA 20166-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Potomac Mills
2700 Potomac Mills Cir Ste 737 Woodbridge VA 22192-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Ballston Common Mall
4238 Wilson Blvd #3076 Arlington VA 22203-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Pentagon City
1100 S Hayes St #T2 Arlington VA 22202-0000

Ritz Camera Big Print One Hour Fort Evans Plaza
210A Fort Evans Road Ne Leesburg VA 20176-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Courthouse Square
2050 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA 22201-0000

Ritz Camera Big Print One Hour Bailey’S Crossroads Crossroads Center
5874 Crossroads Ctr Way #500 Falls Church VA 22041-0000

Ritz Camera Ashbrook Commons
20035 Ashbrook Commons Plz Unit 114 Ashburn VA 20147-0000

Ritz Camera Parkway Crossings
William Parkway Woodbridge VA 22192-0000

Ritz Camera Atlas Walk Virginia Gateway Center
7352 Atlas Walk Way Gainesville VA 20156-0000

Washington DC

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Homer Building
601 13Th Street Nw Store # 3 Washington DC 20005-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Capitol Hill
233 Pennsylvania Ave Se Washington DC 20003-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo
1017 15Th St N W Washington DC 20005-0000

Maryland

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Lakeforest Mall
701 Russell Avenue Lakeforest Mall Gaithersburg MD 20877-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo Wheaton Plaza
Wheaton MD 20902-0000

Ritz Camera One Hour Photo White Flint Mall 1
1301 Rockville Pike Kensington MD 20895-0000

Ritz Camera Big Print One Hour Shops At Sumner Place
4611 Sangamore Rd Ste F Bethesda MD 20816-0000

Ritz Camera Colesville Joint Venture Downtown Silver Spring
8551 Fenton Street Silver Spring MD 20910-0000

Tags: Liquidation, Maryland, ritz camera, Shawn Duffy, Store Closings, Virginia, washington dc