evening

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This week has been kinda crazy, weather wise. During the day it is hot and humid and at night time we’ll get these awesome lightning storms. In fact, it was so bad on Tuesday morning that it woke me up from my sleep around 3a. Craziness.

To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to the weather like I should have. I have been busy with Snap DC and things that I didn’t think these storms were as intense as they actually are. Holy cow was I wrong. Around 6p on Monday I was getting ready to go workout when this loud alarm started going off on my phone. It was a tornado warning. It took me about 20 minutes to change out of my gym clothes into some long pants and long sleeves, eat dinner and I was out the door! I really didn’t even hesitate to leave the house because I knew I’d get some awesome images.

I made my way over to the Jefferson Memorial. Actually, no. I ran to the Jefferson Memorial from my car and was soaked head to toe. The winds were so strong that it actually got all my clothes inside my jacket soaking wet. Once I actually stepped into the memorial it was like it was still raining because all the wind was blowing the rain inside. CRAZYYYYY….. fun.

Once the wind settled down I was able to set up my tripod in between two columns and started shooting. I was probably out there for 2 hours and this was the best image I could come up with. I definietly would have considered this storm a practice run and it is getting me even more excited for the summer. I can’t wait!

My camera settings for this image is F4.5 at 0.3 seconds ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens on a tripod.

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So yesterday was one of the best days ever! I’m still trying to comedown from the high.  Andrew and I attended the Ball for the Mall and it was the most beautiful, exciting, and inspiring evening ever. Thanks again to the Trust of the National Mall for the invitation and using my images throughout the entire event. Everything was absolutely incredible. Promise I’ll share some images from the evening soon. I’m still trying to gather all my thoughts about the night.

In the meaning time, here’s a pretty picture of the cherry blossoms 🙂 LOL. Like I said yesterday, I didn’t create too many images with the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms this year. I feel like it’s been done so many times that it’s difficult to make it different. So on that same day that I managed to shoot with very low battery, I grabbed this image. Initially it was the sun burst that caught my attention, but I’m a sucker for using the cherry trees to frame subjects. My favorite is the light that’s coming through the flowers. Doesn’t it make you feel all warm inside?

This is why we need to help preserve the National Mall and other national parks across the country. So that people can appreciate beautiful scenes like this forever and ever. Government funding only goes so far. We need additional resources that will help keep the cherry blossom trees healthy and all of our monuments and memorials safe and clean. The National Mall is a unique national park because it’s located within a city. We get so much foot traffic that eventually things are going to wear and tear. Please click here to find out how you can help.

My camera settings for this image is F22 at 1/100th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 27-70mm handheld. 

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Taken back in December, somehow I missed the rising of the supermoon. I’m not sure how it happened since I marked in on my calendar but I wasn’t able to capture it. In my opinion, catching the moon rise is always better than the moon set. I think the moon appears to be much bigger or maybe that just depends where you are standing, but it’s always exciting to watch it come above the horizon. And if you miss the moon rise, the next best thing is moon set, right?

So I woke up super early in the morning. 3:30a to be exact. I met up with my friend, Larry, who seems to have no trouble waking up at that time since he does it on a regular basis. Not always to shoot, but I swear, this guy does not sleep. We wanted to try to capture the moon setting over the Lincoln Memorial but when you’re up that early, it’s still going to be a while. We decided to walk around the National Mall and find some cool compositions in the mean time.

I really like the way this one turned out. Although the warm red color is caused by light pollution, it’s a really cool effect that showcases the color transitions that I’m always talking about. You may not have noticed this but there are some cherry blossoms growing on those trees too! It’s weird because some of them actually start blooming in the beginning of winter. They die off pretty quick but you know me, if there are cherry blossoms, I will shoot them.

Speaking of which, they’re supposed to be peaking in two weeks! Can’t waittttttttt. First comes the magnolias which is like the pre-party. Then the main event! Holllllaaaaaaa

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 6 seconds at ISO 80 on my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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While I was shooting the sunset on Pacific Beach in San Diego, CA, my eyes were strictly on the water. I was watching people run in and out of the ocean and the waves were glowing in the sunlight when Andrew stopped me and told me we had to go watch this bubble guy. I had no idea what he was talking about but I stopped shooting and started following him to the boardwalk. Apparently this guy comes out everyday to create these bubbles. I don’t even think he had a tip jar. He just does it for the pure joy of it which is so awesome. And he had a huge crowd surrounding him as well. Kids of all ages wanted to check out this bubble guy.

We only stood there for a few minutes but you can tell he was making everyone so happy. But don’t be fooled, these bubbles were no joke. These kids got so soaked when they bursted on top of them. It was kind of funny. He even had some dogs barking at him too.

My favorite part of this image is the actual bubble itself. I love looking at the left hand side where it has already burst and in the center, above the sun where it has so many light variations.  It’s so interesting to look at the different ‘stages’ of the bubble. But I also really like the children that are in it. They add so much to the story, especially with their hands.

Props to this bubble guy for doing this everyday. I’m sure he has so many stories to tell just from standing in this one spot.

My settings for this image is F/25 at 1/125th of a second and ISO 125 on my Sony A7II and my 28-70mm lens.

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Its been a couple of years since it’s been built and guess what. I still haven’t been on the Capital Wheel. I should really put that on my to-do list. I bet the views from there are real nice. For some reason every time I’ve been to the National Harbor, it’s closed. But then again, I’m usually there just to eat and not really anything else. Have you had Grace’s Mandarin? OMG so good. LOL.

I captured this image about a year ago just by luck. I happened to be driving home from my friend’s house in Maryland and noticed how insanely foggy it was getting outside. But when I crossed over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, I noticed how the fog was effecting the colors of the ferris wheel. It was like something I had never seen before. It was sooo foggy that the fog was actually carrying the colors from the lights. I had to make a quick U-turn to check things out. Luckily I had my camera and tripod with me. Oh man, I would have been so upset if I didn’t. But as I got closer to the ferris wheel, the cooler it looked. The fog blocked everything else out and the only thing visible was the wheel. If I shot this without the fog, you would have probably seen so much many more lights from the National Harbor or even the roads leading up to it. I’m so grateful that I had my gear with me.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 0.8 seconds at ISO 125 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm camera.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Can you believe it’s already December 15th? Luckily I finished all my holiday shopping earlier this week. Thank you Amazon! I’ve never been so prepared 🙂

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And we’re in the home stretch. Today we’ll be arriving in San Diego which is our final destination for our great American road trip and we’ll be spending the rest of the weekend here. I’m not going to lie, this has been the time of my life but it has also been exhausting. Driving across country is something that I never thought I’d do but I’ve learned so much from it. Next time I do this, I want to drive through the northern part of the country like South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming. Theres so much more to the country that I haven’t seen. Seeing it from the road is a great way to appreciate it all. Hopefully Andrew and Frankie will be able to join. That would be sooo much fun.

This image was taken on top of the parking garage at Union Station. Pro tip- Union Station itself is amazing to photograph. Interior, exterior, beautiful views it has it all. Then after you’re all done, you can go down to the restaurants and get an adult beverage. But seriously, this an amazing spot for sunset with an unique view of the Capitol. There aren’t many places where you can go on a rooftop or shoot from a very tall point of view in Washington DC. Especially now since the Washington Monument is closed for who knows how long. So for a great birds eye view of things, Union Station is one of the best places to go to.

My settings for this image was F6.3 at 1/10th of a second at ISO 160. I did not have my tripod with me at this time but I should of. The wall of the parking garage is pretty tall. Taller than what I’m used to, so shooting for me was a little difficult. The whole time I was standing on my tipy-toes but like Tim Gunn says, ‘I made it work‘ 🙂