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DC Cherry Blossom Centennial
DC Cherry Blossoms Framed with centennial cherry blossoms, the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial sit across the tidal basin.
Washington Monument
Washington Monument Above Cherry Blossoms
Washington Monument, National Mall
Washington Monument In Morning Sun
Washington Monument Warm sunlight graces the stonework on the Washington Monument. Click on Image to enlarge and zoom
Cherry Blossoms And Jefferson Memorial Mouse over image for black and white rendering
Cherry Blossoms and Jefferson Memorial Scenes like this one are common around the tidal basin, as over hanging cherry blossoms frame the DC landscape.
Washington Monument BW Click on image to enlarge and zoom
Smart Phone Snapshot Two friends stop for a quick snapshot under the cherry blossoms. My 18-200 zoom made it possible to quickly capture this great human interest shot. Candid "street" photography is always a challenge to undertake successfully. Where people are involved, it is difficult to get all of the elements in a given composition to work together. Here we see the rule of thirds at work in a diagonal composition isolated by a very smooth out of focus background. The final and most important element of good facial expressions make this a fine example of portraiture. The 18-200 VR is an amazing do it all lens. The smooth "bokeh" (quality of out of focus background), at this focal length anyway, is as good as it gets. Image retouched and cropped in Photoshop CS5 Here is the EXIF meta data for those who are interested: f 5.6 / 250 / ISO 100 @ 200mm
Washington Monument And Blossoms Mouse over image for black and white rendering
Washington Monument And Blossoms Mouse over image for color rendering - click to super size and zoom
Monument And Blossoms Late afternoon sun washing over the tidal basin.
Cherry Blossoms The blossoms were in their peak bloom due to an early warm spring - made to order weather for the centennial celebration.
Shooting with the Rollei Mouse over image to get my attention Shooting with my Rolleiflex in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Me In DC With Mark along for the ride, I am in front of the camera for a change.
Shooting Gear
DC Metro My friend and DC guide, Mark, accompanied me on this shoot. Being fellow "Nikonians" we have no problem lugging camera gear around all day just for the fun of it. He knows his way around the metro system and if he had not come along I would probably still be lost somewhere under Washington.
DC Metro Tunnel
DC Metro Detail
Another Rolleiflex In DC Later in the afternoon the path around the tidal basin became crowded with thousands of people. As we made our way around the basin we encountered another Rolleiflex. It's owner let me take this quick snapshot. Unlike my Rolleiflex "T", this version had slightly different optics and the more common control knobs on either side of the lenses. As with all twin lens Rolleis, the top lens is the viewing lens and the bottom lens is the taking lens. These cameras, with their tessar lenses, produces sharp and contrasty square format images, on a big 120 film negative. Fully mechanical, Rolleis (w/o light meters) use no batteries. They are designed and made very well and last for decades and decades. Having certain limitations, they are not the most user friendly cameras and were superseded by the more useful and "state of the art" single lens reflex design common today. I still shoot mine for the nostalgic, "fun of it," and for the sparkling detail rich black and white film images it produces. The square format negatives are fun to print in the darkroom (when I can find the time).
Fishin
Jefferson Memorial I took the opportunity to make a few exposures at the Jefferson Memorial. A beautiful marble edifice.
Jefferson Memorial, High Columns This photograph is a good example of HDR (high dynamic range) photography. This image as with all others in this collection was "roughed out" in DXO 7 (to correct lens distortion and lost shadow detail) and then further reworked in Photoshop CS5. With HDR photography, I personally do not care for tone mapping technique which often produces images that look far too surreal and artificial. I prefer to simply extend the dynamic range from a 12-14 bit RAW file and carefully dodge and burn, or composite two exposures together and blend them as layers. The result is much more realistic. Though I rework my images extensively, in the digital darkroom, I try to preserve a "real photograph" look in all of my images. I do not push it too far in an attempt to force a high end look.
Xi Wang with Rolleiflex In the Jefferson Memorial I was stopped by a couple and their daughter named Xi who asked me about my Rolleiflex camera. She just loved the camera so I placed it around her neck and opened the waist level finder so she could sample the Rolleiflex experience. I asked her if I could take her picture to post it on my site and she was happy to be featured. I enjoyed conversation with them for a while and was still somewhat surprised by all the attention the camera had drawn. Xi, that camera is definitely you, start saving your dollars and, before too long, you could own your very own Rolleiflex. This very same thing happened a few hours earlier at the Lincoln Memorial. A mother approached me and told me her daughter loved old film cameras and that she "liked my camera". I let her daughter try it out too. Actually, all day long my Rollei was a point of interest to most people who walked by. It drew a lot of looks and I must have had a dozen people stop me and ask me about the camera. "Wow, what kind of camera is that?" Can you still get film for that?" "What a beautiful Camera?" "Where did you get that camera?" It is a great conversation piece that captures much attention.
"Against Every Form Of Tyranny" The dome ceiling of the Jefferson Memorial.
Jefferson Click on image to enlarge and zoom Thomas Jefferson, one of our country's founding fathers, was the author of the Declaration of Independence; a Diplomat; Governor of Virginia; Secretary of State; and Third President of the United States. A lover of freedom, he was a brilliant and talented man who's influences did much to define and secure this nation's liberty.
ON TO THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL >
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