A Warm Winter's Afternoon at Dupont

A few weeks ago I spent my Sunday afternoon at Dupont Circle. The weather was nice for March in DC, in the high 60s (19-20C). I wanted to focus on capturing life as it is. I think the humanistic element is one of the most interesting in photography. I converted most of these photos to black and white using the yellow filter in Lightroom.

A Spring before the Earthquake

Today is the first day of spring, although this photo is from the spring of 2011. I would not be able to capture the same exact photo this spring. The steeples on the central tower of the National Cathedral are now of course surrounded by scaffolds from the damage they suffered during the earthquake last August (see my previous post for reference). It could take several years to complete the repairs and thus have the opportunity to capture such a photo again.

Baseball Practice at Saint Albans School

For those who have been following my blog, this place may appear familiar to you (see my posting L'Arrivé d'Autonme). It can often be interesting to capture the same place during a different time of the year. I returned to capture once again such a place near the National Cathedral last week. There is an all boys prep school near the cathedral known as Saint Albans School. Their baseball team was practicing that afternoon when I captured this photo through a chain linked fence. The trees appear bare in this photo, but should began blossom as spring arrives this week.

A Hancock Sunset

In my last post, it was about a sunrise, for this posting it is all about a sunset... a late winter sunset.  I am really found of the late afternoon sunlight as it can lead to interesting shadows and silhouettes. This photo was taken on the last day of winter of 2011. I was out on the Mall when I captured the sun as it set behind the John Hancock Monument.  This shot was taken with my Nikon D50 which recently died after six years and more than 110k shutter actualizations (the camera was designed to work up to 50k).  This photo was shot as a JPEG and as a result, the photo has a few clipped portions in the shadow areas of the photo. Having better control of such clipped areas in post processing is one of the reasons why I now shot in RAW instead of JPEG format. For those who think the photo is still interesting thank you for not noticing.

In the Tranquility of a Sunrise

This photo is from a recent trip to California. I got up early one morning and headed over to a park in my neighborhood where I grew up to photograph the sunrise. The park was nearly empty at that hour of the morning. From the tennis courts at the park, however, I could hear music. Curious, I decided to check it out. Inside the courts, there was a man playing a musical instrument. He was all by himself. Was he just enjoying the pleasure of playing his instrument in the tranquility of a sunrise? Perhaps...