Landscape Photo Walk

It finally got up into the 40s, so I could go out on another photo walk. This time it was to the Key Bridge. I do so love a good bridge. The path to the bridge is called the Potomac Heritage Trail. I think it's funny because the George Washington Parkway is all of 10 feet to my left. And National Airport is 1 mile up the Parkway, so traffic and planes are heard at all times. It's not a very peaceful trail, but it's peaceful enough for being in the middle of a city.

I was surprised to find the Potomac frozen over. It has been pretty cold though.

And this shot I like because of the white trees. They remind me of a Bob Ross painting. The picture doesn't do the scenery justice really. I have to figure out the right way to photograph those trees so they really stand out. It's my next challenge.

Caught in the Act

I am enjoying this series. The on-board flash is hard for me to master. Truly, it's hard for me to accept harsh, crappy lighting as a viable option, but I think I'm doing it! And it's not my normal style to make more out of the environment then the model, so that's a neat challenge for me as well.

I shoot this series for trade and I wonder if the models really get anything out of it. It's not a portrait shot like many of my others. And sometimes you really can't make out the model in the image which is especially true in this shot. I hope they at least enjoy the experience!

Photo Walk along the Potomac

Today I did my photo walk along the Potomac on the Virginia side. What I like about Virginia is that you can go from one end of the state to the other on a bike path. The paths are many and well linked. Here's a picture of the path by the river.

And I'm still into reflections, so here's a reflection of the Memorial Bridge. This is one of my favorite bridges, I just love a beautiful arched bridge. There are numerous bridges that cross the Potomac, most of them utilitarian, steel monstrosities, but the Memorial Bridge is different. It's wide and functional with a large pedestrian path. It has 9 arches and is faced with beautiful granite. 

I had to walk quite far to get this shot. I wanted to get the sunny side of the bridge and there's not any parking nearby. As you can see in the path picture, the shaded side is not nearly as impressive. And autumn really seems to be a good time for taking pictures of the Potomac, it really makes that water seem blue.

A little aside: about three years ago I was doing a photo shoot at the Lincoln Memorial end of the bridge when my cell phone fell out of my pocket and over the edge never to be seen again. I hold no grudges against the bridge. It's still one of my favorites.

More Pink

I guess when you have a pink wall in your studio, you have to shoot pink. I liked my last shoot with the pink wall so much, I decided to redo my business cards. But I had the problem of not having any images of men in pink. So I asked my new friend Andrew if he wouldn't mind shooting in pink.

Here's my favorite shot from today.

And here's how I plan to use it on the back of my business card. I know it's a risk going all out pink on my business cards, but I still have a bunch of my old ones to hand out to the more stodgy types. This card makes me smile.

More Landscapes

I discovered a new place to walk in DC. The Zoo owns some land around the Zoo, they bought it as a buffer from the urban development, and they have a path that runs along Rock Creek.

Since I'm too cheap to pay for parking, I parked in Adam's Morgan and walked down to the Zoo. That's no small feat considering the hill. Here's a picture from the top of the hill where I parked. Fall is still in bloom here although it's fading.

Here's Rock Creek.

The bridges in DC always fascinate me. They are just so big.

And if you get bored of walking on the path, you can always cut back through the Zoo, which is free —that makes it one of my all time favorite zoos.

I'm trying to go on a long photo walk every weekend. It has a two-fold purpose, one to keep me healthy, and two, to get me to practice taking landscape shots which I feel is a weakness of mine. So far, I think it's working out perfectly.

Shooting Models Again

I'm happy to be shooting models again. Chelsea organized a shoot to capture her pink hair before she dyed it another color and I'm glad she did. It's been a while since I've done full-on model shoots with hair and makeup and clothes styling. It can be overwhelming because there are many people to organize just to do a shoot. And on the day of the shoot, hair and makeup can take hours (which means I'm trying to entertain myself for that time). But when it all comes together, it really can be a lot of fun.

This shot of Jasper, who was incredibly well behaved in the studio, is really my style. I even did my old texture edit to it. It speaks to me. And I finally got to shoot the pink wall I painted. Everybody else has shot it but me. I prefer wall textures to seamless paper, it just feels more natural to me. So when I get bored of a wall color, I just paint it. Reject paint from the Lowe's is a great, cheap way to keep my pictures fresh. And the color doesn't put any color cast on the seamless because the seamless is in front of this wall.

This shot in the window is really different from my style. It screams more fashion than portrait to me. It's shot with a ring flash and edited to have some punch in the colors. I like that Chelsea fits into the small space of the window. It makes a nice frame. And the lanterns? Well, I found those while I was cleaning out the studio closet (did I mention that hair and makeup takes hours?) and I thought they would be a fun addition.

Arlington National Cemetery

It took me years to go there, but now it's one of my favorite places to go for a walk in DC. And today was a perfect fall day. We've been lucky in DC this fall with warm weather and vibrant blue skies.

Somebody left hero rocks on several of the head stones in one section. I'm guessing they all served and died together in Vietnam. I know they were heroes even without the stones to tell me, but I wonder what made somebody leave the hero stones behind.

And it seems that I'm big into photographing reflections lately. This is outside of the Women's Memorial.

This is taken from the top of that building looking towards JFK's grave.

Blue Water

Today I had to meet a model down by the Smithsonian so I got there early to take some landscape pictures. I was completely surprised by how blue the Tidal Basin was photographing. It's always a hideous shade of brown/green. Here's what it looks like when you shoot it straight on:

And here is how it photographed when I took in the whole scene. Honestly, I didn't have a polarizing filter on my camera, and I didn't edit the sky or water in photoshop. It was really shooting that blue. I guess the water was reflecting the perfectly blue sky. I just kept taking pictures because I couldn't believe how blue everything was! I thought it was a fluke.

And those trees are the Cherry Blossom trees. They look amazing in the spring and also in the fall.

Caught in the Act: Dodging the Question

I managed to get another photo in this series. We shot in the men's room at the train station. It was harder than I thought it would be, especially since it was rush hour. Perhaps my timing was not the best. But it was a little funny to see the looks on the men's faces as they came rushing into the bathroom to find me in there with a camera. I'm sure if it was a man in the ladies room with a camera, security would have been called. I sometimes think I'm very lucky to look like a short, harmless woman.

I like this shot. I'm liking the on-board flash look. It was a fluke that my first shot was taken in the dark, but I think it's working for the series.

I still think my images are a bit composed, but I can't let go of that.

Caught in the Act: New Series

Caught in the Act is my new series that I'm shooting, all based around a pink briefcase. I want it to be an action-oriented series that asks the question, what's in that pink briefcase?

I'm debating whether I'm in over my head on this series. My last series, The Lonely Road, was very personal to me so it was easy to do. This series is way out of my league as I know very little about mystery and intrigue besides what I see on TV. But I wanted to push myself to shoot outside my comfort zone. And it does that both stylistically and technically. I'm trying not to be so composed in my images, creating more of a snapshot feel, and I'm using on-camera flash with no modifier! Talk about a challenge.

People seem really interested in shooting this series. I have had a good response to my casting call. Too good really. I'm running out of ideas to shoot since the underworld is not my world!

Here are my first two shots.

I thank the models who are willing to go along with my crazy ideas. I couldn't do it without them.

Teddy Roosevelt Island

Theodore Roosevelt Island is one of my favorite places in the DC area and it's on one of my favorite roads, the George Washington Parkway. It's a beautiful place to go any time of year, but autumn is especially beautiful.

The main reason I love the island is that it's flat. No kidding. I'm lazy. I'll walk if it's an easy walk, but the minute there's a hill, I get a little grouchy. The other reasons include that DC is so close that you can see it through all the trees and you can get macros of nature while at the same time get landscape images of the DC area.

Here's a picture of Rossyln.

Here's the Key Bridge going to Georgetown.

Here's some ducks that let me sit with them for a while. 

Here's part of the swamp path. They put in a boardwalk so you don't have to get your shoes all swampy. But I did anyway, because I walked a little off the beaten path.

And here's a macro of a couple leaves. I love the textures out in nature. 

Go to the island if you can, but get there early, parking is very limited.

World is Still Gray, but in a Good Way

 I guess the white on white series was a way to explore the gray that is my world, but in a positive way. And since digital black and white always feels kinda fake to me, it was a strange challenge for me. And definitely doing all white images in black and white was a tonal challenge for sure. I'm not sure I always got it right, but it was fun trying. I enjoyed it so much I completed 26 shots in 8 days.

My favorite shot is this one:

Because, it's a self portrait of sorts. I'm wearing those men's underwear, inside out (at the time that was unbeknownst to me). And I even added a bulge for some reality. I have never felt so goofy, but I just couldn't NOT do it.

All of the shots were taken with one light and a lot of white paper used for fill light.

Lighting wise this is my favorite:

First, it took forever to find an all white toothbrush (Whole Foods to the rescue and I was only there because of a fluke). Second, that is taken in my bathroom with the toothbrush on the lid of my toilet. That doesn't sound amazing until you realize my bathroom is 5x8. I barely fit in there, much less me, a light, and a tripod. I'm surprised nothing caught on fire. And now that I think about it, I could have taken the lid off that darn toilet and put it somewhere bigger! But how authentic would that be? It's just one brolly box pointed straight down at the toothbrush. Well, as straight down as it could be before hitting all the walls!

And what's odd is, while I really like that picture, I think it has more to do with the design of the toothbrush then my skills as a photographer.

White On White

Whenever I get burnt out on photography, I start a 30 Days series. I pick some basic element of photography to focus on and I take one picture every day for a month. It gets the camera back in my hands and usually sparks that creativity in my brain that has been laying dormant for a while.

This time I picked white on white as a theme. Mainly because my friend Jen left me with a bag of cotton balls and q-tips that has been sitting out on my vanity for a month. I've been looking at it everyday and the other day, I just wanted to shoot something and that's what I grabbed. And while I've never been to photography school, I've heard that one class assignment is to shoot an egg on white. That's a great way to learn to control shadows. So for a month, I'm going to play with white. By the end of the month, I should really appreciate shadows and how they define an image.

Here are my first two attempts. I'm happy to say, I'm excited about photography again.

You will be able to see the series progress here:
White on White

Finally, New Photos

I haven't taken any images since my trip to Key West in May. When I returned to my home it was still full of grief and sadness and it's hard for me to take pictures when the world looks and feels gray. But I have been working through that grief and I believe that the color is returning to my world.

I took a trip to Jarrettsville, Maryland where there are acres and acres of sunflowers. The bees and butterflies were out as well as the tourists. I even helped a few get family portraits, tourists that is. I'm not sure if the bees and butterflies were interested in portraits.

On my way back, I stopped at the old Paper Mill Road Bridge (which is a stone's throw from the new Paper Mill Road Bridge). They are hoping to make it a footbridge someday. I hope they do because it's gorgeous.

Underwater Housing

I just received my underwater housing for my point and shoot. I am planning on taking all my pictures in water from now on. This one is bubbles in the sink from the underside! I'm so excited. Actually I got this for my trip to Key West so I can go crazy on the beaches and in the water, but I'm going to give it a good workout until then.