visitor center

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The day I wrote this blog post about fall foliage, I create a fall photo to-do list. On that list were my usual spots like Great Falls Park, the Tidal Basin, Shenandoah National Park, etc but I also added some places I’ve never been to. Falling Water in Pennsylvania and Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia were top of that list. It’s amazing how it all played out because the universe was definitely listening to me that day and, by the end of the day, I had made plans to visit both of those places I’ve never been to that weekend.

So I’m home after a long weekend full of fall adventuring. I probably got a little ahead of myself because there wasn’t much color change in either of the places I visited, but it was great to do a little photo scouting and I can never really complain when I have a camera in my hand.

This image is actually taken outside the visitor center at the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, PA. We stopped on our way home from Falling Water and it was definitely an emotional experience. But to document I was actually there, I took this reflective self-portrait that was 100% inspired by Vivian Maier who was an amazing street photographer and she would take these sorts of portraits as well. I thought this image turned out interesting with the lines in the glass but it is also very moody, which was how I felt while I was there.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/1000th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

Taken on the same day as this image and this image, I figured a little #tbt would be fun.

It was the second day of spring and we got our first real snow all season. All the weather-people in the area were calling for 2-4 inches and I went to bed really excited expecting to wake up to snow. I got up, looked out the window and I remember being disappointed because there was nothing. Not even a drop. To be honest, I went back to sleep. HAHA. And the second time I woke up it was snowing! I was so excited, I immediately put on 3 layers of clothing and headed straight to the Metro. Luckily, I live walking distance to the metro cuz I rather do that then deal with the cars on the road. At least that way I can listen to some music and relax on my way into the city.

I spent most of the morning walking around the US Capitol. The original intention was to go looking for cherry blossoms but there was something about the white snow on the white building that really captured my attention. If you’re familiar with the US Capitol, then you’ll know that these are the steps that lead down to the visitor center. I love how the white snow simplified everything and all that you can see are the lines from the steps, trees and the person walking down with an umbrella. A pretty interesting composition that I am so glad I was able to capture.

My camera settings for this image is F11 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens. For those of you wondering, I had no issues with my camera in the snow. To be honest, I don’t even remember changing my batteries… which seems a bit odd. Especially for the A7II