Zoo Lights '13

During the holiday season, the National Zoo organizes the lighting display, Zoo Lights.  I photographed the display previously in 2011 (see posting Zoo Lights '11). Last month, I returned to the National Zoo to recapture event. Like in 2011, my objective was not just to capture the lights themselves. The tools used to make the following exposures include my D7000 (with a variety of lenses), my X100, my SB600 speed light flash and a tripod.

Waiting...

The L2 Metro Bus, Northbound

The L2 Metro Bus, Southbound

Welcome to Zoo Lights!

The Couple (1)

The Couple (2)

The Couple (3)

Welcome to Zoo Lights!

The Directory

Viewing the Directory

Crossing

Making a Penny

Posing with Panda

Pandas For Sale

The Attempt 

Kayacking

When I was in Colorado last summer, staying in Frisco, I got early one morning and walked out to nearby Lake Dillon. The waters in Lake Dillon were quite calm, although there were a few people taking their kayacks out. Using the calmness of the lake's water as a mirror, I captured this shot.

Une Prius Parisienne

I capture this shot during my stay in Paris last January. I panned this Toyota Prius Paris Taxicab as it was passing the Arc de Triumphe. There happened to be a passenger visible in the back.

Through a Keyhole

The Saint Joseph Church is one of the two main churches in Pontivy. It doesn't seem to get a lot of use though because it is always closed and when I look through the church door's keyhole, outside from the organ, it is empty inside. Note, the photo doesn't seem to appear that clear on the blog's page so you need to click on it to make it clearer.

Somewhere under a Rainbow...

It is photos like this one which make want to eventually purchase a larger sensor pocketable camera that I could have on me all the time in order to captue unexpected moments. This photo was taken on one of those days in Pontivy where the weather consistantly changes between rainstorms and sunny skies. Coming from the grocery store, I had to cross the river to get back to my place. The sun was setting on Pontivy while at the same time a rainstorm was passing through the town. Such kind of weather conditons lead to rainbows. As I was coming back from the grocery store, I didn't have my camera with me. My D7000 is a great camera but it isn't pocketable of course! So I ran back to my place to get my camera in order to come back to photograph the rainbow. Luckly, it was still there in the sky, towering over Pontivy.

Through the Harvested

It has been a little over a month since I've gone from living in a big city to a small town in the country. The corn had been already harvested from this field when I took this shot.

A Fall Afternoon at Fort Reno Park

Today is the first day of fall. I will be leaving DC in a few days and I will not be around to photograph the season at its peak in the city. Therefore, I wanted to share this photo depiciting fall at its peak that I took at Fort Reno Park a couple of years ago.

Calbary Baptist Church

I went downtown one late afternoon a few weeks ago to photograph the construction going on near Chinatown. Not far from the construction site there was a church whose red brick structure stood out in the afternoon sunlight. The sun was shinning on the church in between two buildings leaving just the center facade of the church visable in the sunlight. Just above the circular window in the front of the church, there is the shaddow of a crane from that construction site that I had gone downtown to photograph in the first place.

A Beach Stroll

As we tend to associate beaches with summer which is right around the corner, I thought this photo would be appropriate to post. It was taken last Feburary at San Gregorio State Beach in northern California.  Tempertures there, typical to the northern California coastal climate, can be on the cooler side in the summer. In addition, as this climate can change consistantly during the course of a day, the beach is perhaps a better place for taking a stroll instead of bathing in the sun. In fact, although the beach wasn't that crowded while I was there, its sand did contain evidence of traffic from previous visitors.

The Closing of a '53 Giant

The Giant on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Newark Street finally closed its doors last month after 59 years of operation. It will be replaced by a larger and more modern Giant that will open in 2014.  Compared to other Giants that I have seen, the age of this store stood out by its large neon bulb "Giant Food" signs. Located on two side sides of the store, when lit up, they glowed in the night like the"Restaurant" signs from Tom's Dinner in the TV show Seinfeld.  When looking at the opening advertisement of the store from 1953 (see below), the Giant signs appeared not to have changed much in the store's 59 years of operation.  Anyways, I went to photograph the store last month a few days before it closed. Its signs were taken down shortly after to be never again lit up.

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...

The District of Carlumbia Show

Earlier this month I went the annual auto show in the District for the second time. When attending auto shows as a child, I can remember always wanting to sit in every single car.  These days though, I focus more on the photo opportunities instead of just the cars. In fact, I didn't sit in too many cars but took a ton of photographs. As I spent overwhelmingly most of my time in the foreign auto section of the show, almost all these photos in this post except for one represent cars from foreign brands.