Sunday in DC

RocketMan

Took a little ride downtown last Sunday since it was such a pretty day and wondered around DC and Georgetown. Took a ton of shots, but with no clouds in the sky and a bright, bright sun it turned into a real challenge getting shots with any deep shadows in them not to be to constrasty. One of the great things about DC is the contrast between old and new architecture esp. when one literally surround the other as in this one.






and a shot of the Octagon House near the White House that used to be where visiting dignitaries stayed





then I went down to g-town to shoot the oldest bridge across the C&O canal (built around 1850) but with the sun right overhead none of them came out very well so just shot some other buildings and a took a couple of shots of a canal boat that has been modified for tourism. Took a couple of shot of street scenes in preparation for the alone or together challenge that I have posted there.

A new building down by the riverfront









I like the guy in this one, now that's what I call "truckin' "! Too bad about the jiffy-john and vehicle clogging up the lower right.

and a building overlooking the canal, near the stairway made famous by The Exorcist





canal barge



a couble of windows with reflections that I liked









Hope to get back down there this weekend for the last days of the celebration of the opening of the Native American Museum

any help with how to deal with such harsh lighting, Full midday sun with no clouds would be greatly appreciated.

RM

ginger_55

On the noon day sun
only mad dogs and English men (sorry Grubbs, is that not the saying), anyway, some people don't shoot at noon. Most people don't to hear them talk.

I do, and I did it yesterday. I really worried about it now that I am supposed to be a "real" photographer. I envied Andy and his train station. Inside seemed like a good way to deal with the noon harsh light, but I went to a park instead, just did, wanted to see what was there.

My shots are all over on the Challenge thread. There is one thread called
Chall 22: the final four, or something like that, I am ginger. It has two from yesterday. The boy with the birds, between noon and 1 PM, and then the fisherman, taken just before the boy, he is really in the sun, and with the water, too. Shouldn't be a good shot, I like it. (I accidentally had my camera on cloudy, don't know if that made a difference, shot at 100 ISO, and I am using my Canon Elph while my Rebel is being repaired) There are other pictures from yesterday. The ones from the day before are about 4 PM, the blk and white of the man is from the day before. They are all over, I felt bad taking up so much space, but it paid off in that I learned that the man alone should be converted to blk and white, could be and is a shot I really like.

It did not bother me, the contrast in your shots, I was looking for subject matter. I really liked the swallowed up old bldg. My daughter lives in Woodbridge. I was going to visit her next month, but that may not happen.
When I do visit, in the past, well I have only seen the sights once. She has small children and her schedule goes that way. This time I wanted to get some Damon type shots: men sleeping on park benches. I would love to see Georgetown. Actually, I would just like to see the Jefferson Memorial in the evening.

Anyway, I loved looking at your shots. Shoot when you can, you can always throw them away, lol. Look for the subject and how you can get what you want with the light you have, I don't think much about light except to stay away from flare.

I do think about sweet light. It is sweet! But this time it just happened to be noon, and I was very close to the Battery. I could have gone home. But I would have hated to miss the man with his son, three loaves of bread, and lots of pigeons.

ginger

shooter

Looks like you had a great day! I like the windows, and the contrast of old and new in that first shot! Can't wait to see more!

bruce

LBG

Looks like...
Looks like we were out on the same day in the same place:

GREAPER

But your subject was prettier.

RocketMan

LBG wrote:

Looks like we were out on the same day in the same place:

Yup, looks like!:D
I'm heading down this weekend to shoot some on the celibrations for the new Native American Museum and just found out that the mule that been pulling the canal barge is "retiring" this Sat. Her last trip is starting at 11 then they are going to throw a retirement party for her, that should make for some good shots, not something you see every day.
Thanks for the comments all, architecture has always been one of my big interests.

RM

wxwax

Rocket, nice shots. I don't think there is a solution to the harsh lighting of midday. Lots of folks simply avoid shooting at that time of day.