building

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If you’re like me and drive on 66 past the Kennedy Center, you must have been wondering what they are building there? I feel like there have been a massive hole and cranes by the Kennedy Center for at least 2 years now, but never knew what it was.

I finally got my answer a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to visit the Reach at the Kennedy Center. I was so excited to hear that it’s an extension of the Kennedy Center that’s all about interaction and inspiring art. To be honest, it’s way cooler than I thought it would be.

Set to open this weekend, we got invited while the building was still getting its final touches. So despite the construction that was going on, I was still awestruck by the beauty. I loved how simple and clean the lines of the building were. It’s very minimalistic but with beautiful details just like the Kennedy Center.

Besides the architecture and beauty of the building, my favorite part was when we stumbled upon a class of dancers practicing ballet. If I remember correctly, these young adults were from New York and were there for a performance. I loved being able to peek at them from a window above. What an inspiring place for art.

Since I couldn’t decide which were my favorite images, I decided to include a couple more. I hope you enjoy and get a chance to visit the Reach this weekend!

My camera settings for the first image is F4 at 1/1250sec and ISO 640 and my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

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While in Aruba, we stayed at the Renaissance Resort and Casino. I’d recommend it if you really want to go to Flamingo Beach and stay in Oranjestad. I liked it because the location was really convient to a lot of shopping, restaurants and bars. It made life so much easier when you could just walk across the street and get the best dutch pancakes on the island.

This image was taken on our first morning in Oranjestad, just like this one. Apparently Sue and I had a great photowalk because I got so many images that I am happy with including this one. This building is right by our hotel. We could actually see it from our balcony everyday. If I remember correctly, it was a church. But I just loved the vibrant yellow color with the black trimming on the windows. It made it a very unique looking building. The red sign was just the focal pointed need to make this even more interesting. It took a couple of frames for me to get it just right but I love the way it turned out.

I hope you’re liking these Aruba images because I still have a ton more to go through. I’ve literally just scratched the surface. I’ve been pretty busy lately working on a couple of projects here and there but hopefully I’ll have some time to work on those images soon as well as an Aruba vlog! I can’t wait to check out the gopro footage of when we went snorkeling in the ocean 🙂

One last reminder, if you’re not busy tonight, come join me, my friends Geoff and Focus on the Story International Photo Festival for an Evening with the Monuments. Click here for the details.

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/1000th of a second at ISO 320 with my 70-200mm lens.

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What’s crazy is that I’m still not even close to done with all my cherry blossom images from this year! We had great bloom and I tried to go out as often as I could. You would say that I went pretty hard! Out of the two weeks, I think I only missed two sunrises. Even if it was really grey and windy, I still went out to see what I could find.

This was captured at the National Gallery of Art. The same time I took this image. But at this point the sun had already come up so there was a little more light available. If you’re not familiar with the gallery, then it may be a little difficult to see what’s really going on. The blue part is just the side of the building. The orange/warm part is the inside of a corner of the building. It goes in a little bit and it has it’s own special uplighting which is causing the warmer tones. I love how the cherry blossom branch just unifies everything in this image.  I have a couple more variations of this image that I still need to play around with but if you’ve been following my blog then you’ll know I love the contrast between warm and cool tones that this image is bringing. It would be really neat to see this as a series. So many ideas, so little time! One day.

And the cherry blossom vlog is coming! It’s been taking me a while because I finally downloaded Final Cut Pro X. I figured it was time to upgrade my video workflow as well. Thanks to my friend, Andy for the extra push! I love how creative you can get with the videos but it’s just taking me a while because I literally have to google every single thing that I want to do. It will be worth it though. Just taking time… apologies.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/25th of a second at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.

 

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I hope you don’t mind but there are going to be a lot of flowers on my blog from now til about June. LOL. The cherry blossoms are starting to look real nice around the city and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and shooting them. For now, I’m enjoying all the other flowers that are popping up. These flowers are actually the same ones as the ones I captured in the snow. Turns out they weren’t cherry blossoms after all. LOL they look so different covered in all that cold white stuff.

As I was out shooting this, I was thinking to myself how nice and peaceful it was. It’s probably because I was just doing what I love, with my ear phones in listening to my favorite music and just enjoying the early morning air. There weren’t a lot of people around so I felt so free to try different compositions and ideas with my images. Thats when it came to me. I have a new goal for this year’s cherry blossom season. I want to capture the cherry blossoms in other places around the city other than the Tidal Basin. Don’t get me wrong though. I’ll still be down by the water and monuments, I just want to spend that extra time in other places too.

If you have not seen this already, the US Capitol came out with a map showing exactly where cherry blossoms are blossoming around the grounds. It inspired me to further research other places. I have a couple in mind already but if you know of any other places where there’s some good cherry blossoms, please let me know!

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/8th of a second and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II 28-70mm lens.

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Recently I was asked about my favorite place east of the US Capitol. First, I had to look on a map. LOL. Then found out that there were so many places that I could list – Union Station, the Arboretum, etc but it always came back to the US Capitol. Does that count? I don’t know what it is about the Capitol, but it’s such a beautiful building. My favorite is just walking around it. From all points of view its amazing. My favorite for sunrise is this spot right here. Right in front of the reflecting pool while watching the ducks swim past.

But have you ever been inside? It’s the best part, in my opinion. The Rotunda is stunning. As soon as you walk in you are overwhelmed with beauty. And then when you look up! OMG. Breath taking. So the only way to see the Rotunda is to take the Capitol tour. They’re free and highly recommended. I really should go back again soon. Last time I went was during the restoration and most of the dome was covered up. This may have sounded like a paid advertisement for the tour, but it’s not. LOL. Just a huge fan in the interior of this building.

In reality, I captured this sunrise a while ago. I think it was during cherry blossom season. I was just so consumed by the beautiful blooms that I didn’t have time to work on this image. My favorite part is definietly the sun burst coming out of the Capitol. I think it’s what really makes this image pop. The camera settings on this one was F22 for 1/13th of a second ISO 250. If I remember correctly, this was a handheld. I think it was the day after my ‘little’ tripod incident and wasn’t about risking it again.

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Man, why don’t people photograph this building more often? Actually, why don’t I photograph this building more often? Its so beautiful and right across the street from the US Capitol. It should be one of those places that people love to visit.

It’s crazy, I shot this image last fall but never got around to editing it. I think that happens a lot. I just get so carried away with shooting sometimes that I forget I have to spend more time sitting in front of a computer and edit them. I dont mind though because I like editing almost as much as I like shooting. I didn’t even remember that I shot this until a client of mine asked me for Supreme Court shots. I was like ‘I know I’ve been there before…’ LOL.

It’s kind of intimidating place to be there though. Theres ALWAYS security officers all around the grounds. You feel like you’re being watched with every move you make. Not like how it is at the US Capitol or any of the other memorials I usually visit where you can run around buck naked and no one would even care. JUST KIDDING. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that.

This was shot at f/7.1 1/25th of a second at ISO 250 with my 16-35mm handheld. The only way to get a shot like this is to shoot with a wide angle. I love the contrast between the columns and the sky. Luckily this was around the time of sunset so the sun was doing amazing things on the marble. I also like the natural leading lines the columns create.

Washington DC is so great for architecture and the Supreme Court is just one example of that. Hope to explore more in the city and find more interesting angles like this one.