Dgrin Does DC

schmoo

This weekend just a few out-of-towners came this way for some good old-fashioned shooting and sightseeing. Of course I had to join in on the fun, even though I ran out of steam about 8 hours into the 10 hours of walking.

I arrived a little early at the meeting site, the courtyard at the Smithsonian castle. I've never seen this part of town so quiet as it is at 7:30 AM on a weekend. I took some time to photograph the tulips in the Enid Haupt garden while the raindrops were being kissed by the rising sun:



Muench star over the African Art gallery:


After Ann, Christina, Winston and Cassis arrived, we headed for a hike down to the tidal basin to see what was left of the cherry blossom carnage. The trees were all bare, looking kind of like they'd sneezed and left all their petals on the floor. :lol3

A lot of this residue had collected in the quieter parts of the water, mixing with yummy pollen and city scum. The ducks don't mind, of course, and cut their own path:



We crossed back to the WWII memorial to meet Eyal while the clouds were
shifting and seething above us. We saw so many lovely godbeams, and many opportunities. At one point we were running full tilt to get to a spot to catch them:



Carnation at the monument:



From there we walked to the Lincoln memorial. Because it was raining off and on, there were many tourists congregating for shelter inside, including several groups of dashing military folk.

In the sun:



In the rain:



While walking around the outer perimeter of the monument, we came across a young couple who were taking photos of each other with the Washington monument in the background. They were examining their shots in-camera... quite a moving moment for them, no doubt, because he had just proposed to her. I thought she'd looked awfully happy about how those photos turned out. :lol3



The rest of the day was pretty good with quite interesting sights, but I didn't get any keepers from them. If the rest of our group has anything to add, the floor is open!

Thanks for a great day, folks! I had a great time, I really do take the proximity of DC for granted and it's really nice to be able to see it properly.

Cuong

Nice series. I'll make it to DC one of these days.

Cuong

aktse

clapclap

I love the ducks photo!

And I can't wait to see the rest of the group!

Ann McRae

I have just had a quick peak, and I think I got some really nice shots! My eyes are burning so I won't be doing any quick processing tonight. But I will get some photos up here, I promise.

BTW, good thing schmoo started the thread cuz I was going to title it:
"canadi-ann does DC"....

eoren1

Wow Schmoo - great shots!
I especially like the composition and dof of the carnation. Great midshipmen captures as well.
Great meeting you.
E

VisualXpressions

I was able to retrieve some of my shots!!! Will process and post tonight when I get home from work...

Late in the afternoon we were sitting at the base of the Capital building... I was totally fried by then, I had put a long lens on camera to capture some candid street shots... don't really know what happened? but I think I was reviwing and deleting a shot or 2, not something I normally do... anyway I must have formatted the card by accident... Thanks to Schmoo and Travis encouraging me to look for a recovery program I was able to get most of the shots back...

Schmoo, nice shooting, running for the God beams to get the right angle paid off! I love it in BW!

My Daughter Cassis and I had a great time meeting and shoooting with everyone...

More to follow, with pics.

Winston

zweiblumen

VisualXpressions wrote:

I was able to retrieve some of my shots!!! Will process and post tonight when I get home from work...

Late in the afternoon we were sitting at the base of the Capital building... I was totally fried by then, I had put a long lens on camera to capture some candid street shots... don't really know what happened? but I think I was reviwing and deleting a shot or 2, not something I normally do... anyway I must have formatted the card by accident... Thanks to Schmoo and Travis encouraging me to look for a recovery program I was able to get most of the shots back...

Schmoo, nice shooting, running for the God beams to get the right angle paid off! I love it in BW!

My Daughter Cassis and I had a great time meeting and shoooting with everyone...

More to follow, with pics.

Winston

Whew!!! Glad you were able to recover the data. It was a pleasure meeting you.

schmoo

Winston I'm so glad you were able to get your shots back! You were imcredibly calm. I wouldn't have been so calm if I had been in that position...

I hope everyone got home safely and that the weekend was worth the trek! Even though the blossoms were all on the ground, I think the day was absolutely beautiful. Thanks for making it happen, guys!

Awais Yaqub

Amazing series great photos !

OsirisPhoto

Very nice!

"godbeams" - excellent, another word to add to my mental dictionary

schmoo

OsirisPhoto wrote:

Very nice!

"godbeams" - excellent, another word to add to my mental dictionary

I don't take credit for that - I'd heard that one from Marc!

javierplumey

Very nice series. Our capital is a wonderful place full of color, architecture, and great opportunities for photos.

VisualXpressions

My Daughter, Cassis and I arrived at about 0700 we wandered around... completely missing Schmoo... we waited at the metro stop for Anna and Christine to arrive...

Christine arriving...



Once introductions were made we picked up Schmoo and made the monument circuit...

Jefferson and Cherry blosoms...






The end of the cherry blosoms...





We met up with Eyal at some point and continued on...

Lincoln memorial from the WWII memorial




God beams...



Lincoln reflection...



Lincoln...



First year Midshipmen from the Naval Academy looking at Lincoln’s back…



Vietnam memorial...



We ate lunch at the American Indian Museum...



And of course... not complete without Dgrinners who I managed to get shots of...











These are potential Dgrinners



Cassis really has the best images... She hasn't processed them yet...

link to the gallery... http://vxphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4723320_e37gB/2/279650516_RUEiV#P-1-15

Winston

eoren1

Great shots Winston. How could you not post this one though???


We'll have to do this again...this time in Boston.
Eyal

VisualXpressions

eoren1 wrote:

Great shots Winston. How could you not post this one though???


We'll have to do this again...this time in Boston.
Eyal

Because Cassis has a way better one with the guys Wife looking directly at him, I'll get on her to process them and post a few...

gluwater

VisualXpressions wrote:

They may look innocent enough but that's trouble heading your way . Looks like you all had a fun time. How could anything else happen with that great group of people. I'm jealous!

Phyxius

VisualXpressions wrote:

You caught the famous Canadian Crouch!

schmoo

Great series, Winston!! You covered a lot of ground with your shots, and I'm glad you did. I can't wait to see Cassis' work

I also love seeing other Dgrinners at work, too.

Nick, we'll see what we can do... :uhoh

VisualXpressions

schmoo wrote:

Great series, Winston!! You covered a lot of ground with your shots, and I'm glad you did. I can't wait to see Cassis' work

I also love seeing other Dgrinners at work, too.

Nick, we'll see what we can do... :uhoh

Thanks Schmoo!

Being Dad, I have cracked the whip! so you should see some results from Cassis... when she gets around to it... She did capture a great shot of you!

Winston

Ann McRae

(Mostly) Great shots, Winston.....

Guess I should have looked in the mirror at some point that day!!! Left Christina's with wet hair and added wind and humidity and look what you get! And you can all see what little progress my interpretation of ETL has made! Sheeeeeesh, think I'll need to change my sig now!

In all seriousness, Winston, good work and I am looking forward to Cassis', and everyone else's shots. My first cards worth are uploading now but I'm not sure I have much different to show.


ann
(not so hot, still having flashes!)

Ann McRae

Okay, my turn.
The local DGrinners laid out the red carpet for me:


Special Nikon instructions:


We considered being wedding (photo) crashers:


Some blossoms were still attached


Duck, duck, goose:


My version of godbeams:


A great morning for a stroll:



"Jenny":


Larger than Life Einstein:


Many Einsteins:


and I have another cards worth!!!

Thanks for the great day everyone!

davev

You folks have taken some really great shots.
Kate and I really enjoyed seeing everyone again, and can't wait til Utah to pick on, I mean see everyone again.:D

We got home OK, my legs feel like they want to fall off, but hey, no pain, no need for pain relievers.:D

Here are a few shots from after you folks abandoned us.
All with a Panasonic point and shoot.

Washington at night. (OK, I used a tripod, sue me)
The air/sky was very orange on this night, I don't know why, but I like what it did to my shots.







We went to Arlington Cemetery also. we got there in time to catch
the tail end of the changing of the guard.





More to come, but it's late and I'm tired.

Ann McRae

Card II, at the arboretum:


The Capital Building:


Parade Day Costumes:
Patriotic:


Japanese:


Minnesotan:


What would a trip to a political capitol be without some political statements:




Even the squirrel had an opinion:


Evening reflections (by this time, it was just the Minnesotans and Christina and I, and us girls were absolutely beat but absolutely unwilling to surrender!!)




A muench star


And a glorious sunset pan (4 handheld images, stitched with CS2 photomerge)


Christina and I had dinner with Adam, Kendall, Dave and Kate. It was a great day and I am thankful that each of you were there!

ann

davev

Ann, I can not tell you how good of a shot your pano is of the WWII Monument.

My dad fought in that war, and lets just say, that monument means a little more to me than the others.

Great shot.

devbobo

davev wrote:

Dave,

I have always loved this memorial, the way you have captured it is amazing. The aspect, movement of the flag and colour of the sky, only add to the sense of drama depicted.

Cheers,

David

David_S85

Great shots all around!

Looks like it was a fantastic, fun and successful trip. Good to see you folks getting together for a shoot.

Phyxius

Everyone has posted really great shots already, Davev...now I wanna go back to DC at night. Maybe I can get some local photogs to come up there with me.:D

I don't have anything really processed yet, these are pretty much straight out of camera.


After lunch we caught a little bit of these exhibition dances infront of the capital reflecting pool. A little mini thunderstorm came so we went inside the botantical gardens.


I had never really played with the 50 1.8 AT 1.8, so this was interesting.


The MPD we're following the Minnesotans around.


A little birdie chilling at the castle while I was watching some camera bags on a bench.


My godbeams. I'm hoping I can make them a bit more dramatic in post and I think my pointy thing (Washington Monument) may be crooked.

VisualXpressions

Ann McRae wrote:

Okay, my turn.
The local DGrinners laid out the red carpet for me:


Special Nikon instructions:



Thanks for the great day everyone!

Great shots Ann, can't wait to see the rest! Looks more like a pink carpet... And I see you have captured my double chin profile... I guess the camera never lies... any way, Nikon rules... Thanks for joining us, you are welcome any time...

Winston

VisualXpressions

davev wrote:

You folks have taken some really great shots.
Kate and I really enjoyed seeing everyone again, and can't wait til Utah to pick on, I mean see everyone again.:D

We got home OK, my legs feel like they want to fall off, but hey, no pain, no need for pain relievers.:D

Here are a few shots from after you folks abandoned us.
All with a Panasonic point and shoot.

Washington at night. (OK, I used a tripod, sue me)
The air/sky was very orange on this night, I don't know why, but I like what it did to my shots.







If this was shot with a point and shoot I can't wait to see what you captured with your SLR!

VisualXpressions

Phyxius wrote:

Everyone has posted really great shots already, Davev...now I wanna go back to DC at night. Maybe I can get some local photogs to come up there with me.:D

Nice shots Christine... Cassis and I will do a DC night shoot with you any time...

Winston

eoren1

Awesome shots everyone! It really did turn out to be a great day. In spite of having visited these monuments countless times over the past few years, it makes a world of difference to do it with other photographers...especially when they happen to be Dgrinners!
Thanks for letting me join in and sorry I had to run out early!
E

Coming up from the metro


Those Godrays again


The midshipmen


Lincoln


Memorial Bridge from the back of the Lincoln memorial


Those ominous clouds over the Capitol