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Here’s something interesting. The other day I was having trouble sleeping so I started surfing the internet. One thing lead to another and I ran across this article from the Google blog. I’m a month late, but I thought this was interesting enough to share. Turns out google now can credit the creator of images in google image searches! This is such amazing news. I personally know that a lot of my images have been shared without proper credit on social media so I can only imagine where they have ended up.

Click here to read the google article.

Like, yes I did take that image of the Tidal Basin at sunrise. Thank you google for the image credit! LOL. This image was taken on the same day as this image and this image. Isn’t it amazing how much the sky can change in about 30 minutes? The image previously blogged were when I first arrived at the Tidal Basin however this one was taken when I was about to leave. The water level was still really high but the it was the cloud formations that really caught my eye at that time. By the time the sun came out, it turned all the clouds orange. An explosion of color like no other!

My camera settings for this image is F16 at 1/125th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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It’s October and it still feels like it is summer in the Washington DC area. The average temperatures have been high 70s and I still find myself walking around in shorts but believe me I’m ok with it! Totally not the cool temps that I’m used to for this time of year but my favorite part about it is that we’ve been waking up to some amazing fog these past few days.

For me, fog is a little more difficult to capture than a beautiful sunrise. I have apps and things to help me figure out if the sunrise is going to be nice but fog seems to be more elusive. It just seems to pop out of nowhere and it’s a huge surprise. So obviously, the past few times that I woke up to try to capture it, it wasn’t there. But the days I decide to “sleep in” (sleeping-in to me is waking up at 6a), it shows up when I’m out for our morning walk with Frankie. Its ok though because I actually have quite a few images of fog from earlier this year and even from a few years back.

This particular image was taken on Christmas day in 2015. It’s an image that I had wanted to capture for a while. I love how the fog is covering the bottom half of the Jefferson Memorial but you can still see the reflection in the water. It just gives off this creepy, halloween vibe and I love it.

Hopefully these foggy mornings will stay for a while so I have more opportunities to capture it in a different ways. By the way, this image is in color. It was just THAT grey out with all that fog.

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/50th sec at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm zoom lens.

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Since I’ll be away this week, I thought it would be kinda cool to pre schedule these blog posts to illustrate the importances of moving your feet while shooting. What I mean is that photographers can get so comfortable when they find one composition that they end up staying in that same exact spot for the entire sunrise, sunset or whatever period of time. To me, there’s little worse than coming home and finding a whole memory card full of the exact same images. I personally feel like I didn’t push myself enough or I could have missed an opportunity. Even something as simple as turning around and seeing what’s going on behind you can even lead to a more interesting image.

So everyday this week there will be a new image but they were all taken within an hour of each other. I would stop at each place for about 10 minutes or so. However long I felt was necessary and then kept it moving. I walked from the edge of the reflecting pool to the center to the other side of the reflecting pool. I would walk up and down the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial steps. And even go back down to the reflecting pool when I saw something cool happening over there. None of the images will be the same but all taken in the same area. I hope that you’ll find inspiration from this and keep your feet moving!

This particular image is one of the very first ones I was happy with this Sunday morning. Despite what you may think it wasn’t taken at the reflecting pool either. It was on the Lincoln Memorial steps. There just happened to be this beautiful puddle right and I stood behind it to capture the Washington Monument. I think my favorite part of this image is the little gap you see in between the trees and the reflection. I think it makes it much more interesting than if it were just a perfectly symmetrical image. The colors ain’t bad either 😉

My camera settings for this image is F11 at 1/40th of a second at ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens handheld.

 

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If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that Navin Sarma was one of my first ever photo friends…. ever.

I’m not sure how we found each other but it had to have been before instagram was even a thing. I even remember being kinda hesitant meeting up with him for the first time because I was just meeting some guy I met from the internet really early in the morning. And as usual, he was late.

But in the end, he has become one of my favorite people to go out to shoot with. It’s always been super casual and talking about the most random stuff. He was with me when I unintentionally captured my very first lightning shot! And the following year we sat on the hill by the Air Force Memorial and intentionally captured even more lightning shots like this one.

Last year he left the Washington DC area to move to California. We’ve stayed in touch so when I booked the trip to San Francisco, he was one of the first people to know about it. I definietly wanted to try to meet up and shoot again. So luckily it worked out that the first night we were in the Bay Area, Navin was able to pick Andrew and I up and take us to Marin Headlands. We noticed the fog approaching and thought a higher point of view would be really cool image  of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so great to see him again.

You can notice the fog a little bit above the Golden Gate Bridge but what I like most about this image is the light that hitting the top of the bridge. I love how it just pops. Betcha didn’t notice the sailboat in the water. I actually didn’t notice it at first either. HAHA

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/250th of a second at ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld.

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Sunrises are around 6a now. Which isn’t too bad because I can set my alarm for 4:30, leave the house by 5 and arrive in the city at around 5:15 or 5:20 depending on where I want to shoot and the traffic. Weekends is a total breeze because there is no one on the road. And this past Sunday was no exception.

I was feeling a little tired so I wanted to go to a place where I could easily park and not have to walk too far. Call me lazy but I figured the US Capitol was the perfect spot for just that. I sat on along the reflecting pool when all the sudden the sky blew up in color! It was so beautiful and one of the best sunrises that I’ve seen in a while. I was thrilled that I was out to capture it. It didn’t last too long, probably 10 minutes max but it was so worth the early morning wake up call. Later on in the day I had tickets to go to the Kennedy Center to see Hamilton. So I was taking pictures, listening to the Hamilton soundtrack and overall having the best time watching the sky.

To be honest, Hamilton was FANTASTIC. I loved every minute of the show. The singing and dancing were on point but the story was just so interesting. I had always heard of Alexander Hamilton, but I think that’s because I spend so much time in Washington DC that his name shows up in random places. Like The Hamilton restaurant, seeing his statue in the Capitol Rotunda, things like that. I never really knew who he was or what he did for our country. But now because of the show, I wont ever forget. If you ever get the opportunity to see it, I’d highly recommend going at least once. I was smiling during the entire show.

My camera settings for this image is F16 at 1/6th of a second ISO 320 with my Canon 5D Mark II and 17-40mm wide angle lens.