It’s been a while since I’ve had an update blog post. Mostly because I didn’t have much to update on. However, I was going through my catalog the other day and realized I have some images that I wanted to share!
Since coming back from New Hampshire, I tried my best to capture the fall colors around the Washington DC area. Even though Washington DC is a city, there are still some great places to go to see fall colors! All the different shades of red, yellow, and orange make me so happy. So this is a compilation of the images I’ve created from mid-October to the very end of November.
Shenandoah Sunrise
It was my friend, Larry and I’s 4th year anniversary of capturing the sunrise in Shenandoah National Park in the autumn time. I love this tradition. Mostly because it’s fun to reminisce on our friendship. Each year we go has been extremely different. But there has always been one thing in common, awesome fall colors!
This time around, we were lucky to get some fog. It was crazy because the entire time we were driving to and from Shenandoah, there was a lot of fog. So when we got to the top of the mountain, it was really cool to see it from above. They kind of look like spider webs!
Mt Vernon Trail Sunrise
The same week that I captured the fog in Shenandoah, turned out to be almost an entire week of fog in the DC area. It was absolutely incredible. One morning I decided that I needed to be by water so I went to the Mount Vernon Trail to go for a little solo photo walk. When I thought I was going to be capturing more fog with the monuments ended up being an architectural photo walk. I love some of the angles I was able to capture with my 70-200mm from the trail that I ended up walking a little further than I had anticipated.
National Arboretum
I was honored to have been asked to host a photo walk with a Washington DC photo club. Although it wasn’t my typical photo walk where we try to invite as many people as possible, it was a very pleasant 5-person photo walk, socially distant, outdoor adventure. We went to the National Arboretum in search of fall colors. The forecast called for light rain and it was a last-minute discussion whether or not we would reschedule and I’m so glad we didn’t! I feel like the rain just added another beautiful element to the landscape. It was a challenge balancing my camera and my umbrella, but I think it all turned out for the better. We were able to come home with some really unique images of the Arboretum in the fall time that I’ve never captured before.
Tidal Basin Sunrise
Yes, the Jefferson Memorial is still under scaffolding 👎 But the good news is that it looks like it’s slowly coming down. I’m not sure if there is more cleaning or repairs that need to be done but the dome is looking quite nice.
These two images were taken on two different mornings walking around the Tidal Basin. I think it’s an example of how you can visit the same place over and over again and still be able to capture some different but interesting images.
The image on the left was on a particularly cloudy day. The sky was really dark but that allowed for the reflection of the Jefferson Memorial really pop in the water. The image on the right was captured on a really bright morning. The total opposite of what happened on my previous trip to the Tidal Basin. I just love all the gold framing around the Jefferson.
Ginkgos
Ginkgos are probably one of the prettiest trees in the fall in the DC area. They are so big and vibrant. I could not resist going out to take pictures of them. Luckily, Andrew and Frankie wanted to come to so we had a great Saturday morning walking around and ginkgo hunting. These particular images were taken on Swann St but you can probably see ginkgo trees every few blocks in that area.
Sidenote, ginkgos have berries growing on them that are not good for dogs. I’m glad Frankie doesn’t even seem to notice them!
WWII Sunrise
The past two weeks, my friend Birch and I held a workshop in collaboration with the Phillips Collection and IGDC. The sign-ups were limited and I was shocked when we “sold out” of the free tickets within 3 hours of us posting about it! I was pumped!
And putting together this workshop really inspired me to go out shooting more. One day I decided that I really wanted to go shooting and I didn’t even check the weather. I just went out on a random Friday morning to watch the sunrise. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky but I still came home with some images I really like. Both of these images were captured at the WWII Memorial but it’s funny how I didn’t even capture the memorial itself.
US Capitol Sunrise
The same thing happened the following week. I felt so inspired to shoot that I went to the US Capitol for a little morning walk. At first, I found the roses that I had photographed in previous years and was trying to find a new to photograph them when I saw these helicopters fly by. There were 4 of them. 2 of them were going at a time and I had to stop and watch because they were flying particularly low. Then I saw one at the very end of the pact look like it was landing on the west side of the Capitol so obviously, I had to run to try to capture it. It was so cool! This is when it was taking off again and about to fly over the National Mall. Too bad I couldn’t get closer since the US Capitol is currently closed off due to the inauguration setup.
But if you look closely enough, you can see someone looking out the window in the helicopter.
Union Station Wreaths
You know it’s the holiday season when the wreaths at Union Station are hung up. But it seems like they came out a bit earlier than they usually do. I’m not mad about it!
This image was taken along a walk from the US Capitol building to Union Station along Deleware Ave. My friend, Andy, and I had met up to try to capture the wreaths in all their glory but the third one on the very right was half-lit. It was so strange! So to cover it up, I used the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain to cover it up but I like how you can still see the glow coming from the sides.
Washington Monument Sunset
On Sunday, November 29th, Andrew and I went out to try to capture the Full Moon by the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, the clouds in the sky had a different plan and we weren’t able to see the moon. But while I was waiting for the moon to rise, I watched these little humans play at the Washington Monument and it was so fun to see. I couldn’t help but photograph them.
I hope you enjoyed these images and the little update of what I’ve been doing. Now that it’s December, I’m already planning the annual blog post of my favorite images of the year. This year is going to be a little different than others considering the pandemic but I also changed the format of my blog dramatically! So we’ll see how that goes 🙂
Happy December everyone!