hidden gems

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Officially home from California and could not be happier. Our trip to San Diego was a blast. I had such a great time being on the west coast. I spent everyday but one (when it was raining) photographing the city and I loved every minute of it. Now, I have so many images to go through. I’m pretty sure I took almost a thousand if not more. LOL. So get ready for some foggy ocean images coming soon 🙂

On my way home I picked up two copies of the Washingtonian Magazine, one for me and one for my mom, because I have 2 images published in the January issue! It’s their “Our Favorite Places” issue and they’ve highlighted some pretty cool places in the city. One of them being the image above, Dumbarton Oaks. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that I went there for the very first time this past summer. I can’t wait to go back again in the spring. I know that place will be flourishing in all kinds of beauty.

The second image I have on there is on page 76 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial I took back in 2012. It’s a full page image and was so excited to see how well it turned out! You may remember it because I captured it at the same time I took this one.

So if you haven’t already, pick up the January issue of the Washingtonian and let me know if you think they’ve left out any places that should be on the list. And a big MUCHAS GRACIAS to Washingtonian for publishing my work. It’s always such an honor to see my images in print.

My camera settings for this image is F/7.1 at 1/30th of a second and ISO 80 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.

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If you’re in the Washington DC metro area, please let me know if it is just me or is it so hot outside? October is next week and it is still 90 degrees at 5p now? It feels like it is the hottest it’s been all summer. And it’s not even summer anymore. It’s FALL Y’ALL (I’m sorry, but I’m probably going to be saying ‘Fall Y’all’ at least 100x more times in the next month or two. Just a fair warning.)

PUMPKIN!

Anyways, this image was taken right before “summer” hit at Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, Washington DC. I know you’re used to seeing huge monuments and big skies from me, but taking the time out to explore the other parts of the city has been a priority for me this year. I can’t even believe this was my first time visiting Dumbarton Oaks. It’s gorgeous! And I really fell in love with this little corner of the park. I’ve already set a reminder on my calendar to make sure I go back again in the middle of spring so I can capture some more flowers and blossoms. I’m thinking a good time to go would be after the cherry blossoms have peaked. They seem to be one of the first ones out every year.

But now that I think of it, I wonder what this garden would look like in the fall with the leaves changing. I’m sure it will be just as amazing as it was in spring. Can’t wait to visit again!

My camera settings for this image is 1/25th of a second F/10 with ISO 80.

So if you ARE in the DC area and you know of some cool places to go take pics, let me know. I love exploring new places and seeing new things.

 

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My favorite interior in all of DC! The Main Reading Room in the Library of Congress. When you walk in for the first time, you can help but to say “Wow”. With all the beautiful windows and light coming from the ceiling your immediate reaction is just to look up. I remember the first time I visited the main reading room, I just kept on clicking and clicking away on my camera. I was stunned by how amazing it all was, especially all the fine details. Now that I’ve been a couple of times, I love to walk around and just appreciate all that is there.

I love how it’s still a library. The card catalogue is kinda like an ancient artifact all on it’s own. I bet my nephews who are in elementary school right now have no idea what it is or even how to use it. Which is funny and kinda sad all at the same time. Sad only because I remember when I was in elementary school, it was a fun game to learn how to use the card catalogue. All of us would run around the library looking for a particular book. It was a fun race to find the book first. Funny because they probably have a way better computerized system now to located their books and they would consider all of those cards so ancient. Either way, it’s just fun to run my finger tips along the cards and imagine how each one of those little cards represent so much knowledge from one book.

On a side note, I’m sick. So if that was a little rambley for no reason and a little like ‘why are you talking so much about card catalogues’, that’s why. I’m usually not that passionate about library’s organizational systems.