Sunday, July 27, 2014

Long time no pics...

It's been a while, hasn't it? There is a reason for that. Let's just say that I don't feel totally comfortable ranting and raving like I used to with the job I now have. It's not political or anything, but it's public enough that my opinions could be construed in ways I don't want them to. 

That said, here's an opinion I don't mind sharing: U.S. government agencies need to immediately stop supporting the Washington football team in any way. No more fly-overs of military aircraft. No more color guards. No tax breaks for the team, its owner and, just for fun, the NFL. Definitely no consideration for tearing down RFK and building a new stadium there. 

It may not force the owner to change the team's racist nickname, but the government shouldn't be supporting him in his racism. 

All right. Who wants to see some pictures? Thought so. This is a selection from the past couple of months ranging from the Cherry Blossom Festival, to the Clarendon Cup to the Fourth of July. I kinda caught the cherry blossoms at the very end, actually on the very last day since it rained the next day taking all the flowers down. 





This next group are from the Clarendon Cup women's and men's races. 



The picture below is what it looks like from the inside of the corner across from Whitlow's. Not quite a Tour de France selfie, but the ladies were flying by me. 





Now these next two from the men's race are a bit special. I was testing a technique I'd been dying to try. What you do is slow the shutter speed way down - about 1/20 of a second - pick a point and then move with the target. It leave one point in focus and blurs the rest of the shot. It worked, to a point, but I need more practice. 




And the obligatory Fourth of July fireworks pictures. This year, instead of setting up down by the river, I switched it up and rode my bike to the Netherlands Carillon (right next to the Marine Corps War Memorial). The angle let me get the Capitol in the frame, but it was a bit of a shit show. Packed with people and no where to set up.

Almost. I wedged myself in by some other photographers and set up. I shot about 250 or so pictures using two different methods: A short exposure of about 1.3 seconds, and a longer "burst" method of about 4 seconds. I think they turned out pretty well. 








Hope to be back soon.