The Fall Fruit

If there is one fruit that represents the season of fall it is probably the pumpkin. Its shade of color is represented in the nature of the season.  We put them up for display next to our doorsteps or in our windows. For Halloween, we decorate them. For Thanksgiving, we eat them. Since those holidays are over for the year now and December will be arriving soon, I wanted to dedicate a post to the pumpkin.

Fall Road Work

 

A few weeks ago, on a Saturday I found myself walking along the Taft Memorial Bridge in the Wooley Park Neighborhood of DC. The view from the bridge looking down on Rock Creek Parkway is quite pretty during the fall season. Down below, next to the Rock Creek Parkway, there was road construction taking place. I thought the perspective looking down at the work from the bridge was interesting so I decided to shoot the work as it was taking place. Periodically, there were red dump trucks that would drop their load down below and then climb up onto Connecticut Avenue to cross the Taft Memorial Bridge.

Fall Sunrise on Pennsylvania Avenue

 A few weeks ago, I got up early and headed downtown. Just as I arrived in Freedom Plaza the sun had just started to rise on the Capitol building. I took a few shots as the sun began to rise on Pennsylvania Avenue. As it was a weekday morning, such photos show people heading to work, some with a morning beverage in their hand. These photos shows the various buses that run along Pennsylvania Avenue. Moreover, one can see one of the many commuter buses that bring people to work into DC each from places usually far outside of DC and beyond the reach of the metro. One can of course see the tents of the Occupy DC movement located on Freedom Plaza. All photos were shot with my 55-200mm VR kit zoom.

 

A Fall Commute at the Van Ness Station

This post is related to my last one. Yes it is fall and people are catching the metro at the Van Ness Station to head downtown to work. Many even stop by the Starbucks right next to the station for a morning coffee. The Van Ness station is the furthest stop north on la grande avenue de Connecticut. For those who live too far up Connecticut Avenue and therefore not within relative walking distance of the Van Ness Metro Station, they get to the station via a local bus.

These photos were shot with my 50mm manual focus E series prime. It was the only lens I had with me. The last two shots are similar to the shot in my previous post. I stopped down the aperture to f/8 (from f/4 in the previous post) in order to better make out the commuters in the background. I was slightly off on the focus in the second to last shot. I ended up focusing on the back of the cup instead of the front. Manual focus with my 50 Series E on my D50 can be a challenge.

A Fall Starbucks Moment

Les pleasures simple dans la vie, j'aime ça! Last Friday morning before work, I went to the Starbucks in my quartier. I ordered a coffee with soy milk in one of their porcelain cups. Listening to the French radio station podcast RTL Matin that I usually download each morning, I was enjoying my coffee with a banana. A nearby tree next to a metro station was at its peak for the fall season. Vive l'automne!

For Adults... and Kids...

During my morning down at Dupont Circle last week when I captured the photo on my last post "L'Interdit", I was heading towards Starbucks when I passed by Kramerbooks. This independent bookseller is probably one of the key establishments in Dupont Circle. Someone had just cleaned the store's windows when I captured this shot. I thought the reflection of the blue sky made for a pretty shot. After reviewing the photo later on, I discovered that some of the books visible in the window include those from the Bernstein Bears series. Growing up, I have found memories reading the different books from the Bernstein Bears series. Notably, I remember the cover from the book in their series titled "GET IN A FIGHT" which is displayed in the window. The cover of the book doesn't appear to have changed a whole lot +20 years later.

L'Interdit

A few days ago I woke up early to observe the sunrise downtown. The nice thing about the fall/winter seasons is that the sun rises later in the morning. Thus you don't have to get up as early as you would during the summer time to capture some early morning light exposures. I was at Dupont Circle when I took this photo of the sun rising on Massachusetts Avenue. I have given the photo the title L'Interdit or "The Forbidden" in English. I leave it up to the viewer to figure out the meaning of the title.

A Red Light District

For those of you thinking that this post was going to be about a red light district in the District of Columbia, I guess that I tricked you with the title of the post. I was photographing the Occupy DC protest in Freedom Square last month when I took this shot looking down Pennsylvania Avenue of the sun setting on the Capitol Building. Being a Sunday evening, I suppose you would see more cars' red lights during an weekday evening rush hour.