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. 

Fireworks! Ohhhh! Ahhhhh!

It's been so long since I've posted here it seems like one of the last posts I did was of my pictures from last Fourth of July. Actually, that's pretty close to the truth. Also, there's a strange new interface. Not sure I like it.

Anyway, forgive me?

A lot of you may have seen these elsewhere, but for those who haven't, I present them for your approval. This picture was shot at my standard fireworks setting: ISO 100 at f/8 for 1.6 seconds. Over the years I've come to rely on this setting since it generally produces some pretty good pictures.  



  
That's not to say I'm afraid to try new things. Since the show was about 20 minutes long, I reset my camera to test the "burst" method I'd read about earlier this week. Using the burst technique, the camera is set to ISO 200 at f/11, but the exposure is set to bulb. In this case, the exposure is about 5 seconds and multiple bursts are captured. 

I kinda like it. 

The rest of these are back to the standard ISO 100, f/8 with slightly varying shutter speeds. I didn't want to rely completely on a new technique.

This final shot was a bit of luck combine with my keeping my head up as I was riding my bike home. I caught a glimpse of the almost full buck moon rising through the pines along the Potomac and had to stop. Even luckier, they were still shooting fireworks over in PG county. All the streaks of light you see at the bottom of the frame are boats heading down the Potomac after the fireworks. It was just like the Queen's flotilla. OK, maybe not.

If you'd like to see more of my fireworks pictures, head over to my Flickr page linked over there on the right side of this page. Hope everyone had a good Fourth, and I promise to try to post more. Yep, I know, famous last words. 

Look! Up in the sky...

Hope everyone's recovering from America's big birthday party yesterday. Two hundred and thirty-five years old and we barely look a day over 200. Especially when you look at some of the roads around here.

Kidding.

Anyway, instead of battling the traffic or the barbarian hoards on Metro yesterday, I decided to risk Mother Nature's fickle mood and ride my bike downtown for the firework on the Mall. Although I didn't go to the Mall, I'm sure it would have worked just as well. All told, about an hour of commuting (30 minutes up and 30 or so back).

Except for the idiots around Gravely Point who thought it was a great idea to let their little kids play on the path, it was relatively painless. I'm thinking the bike is the way to go for all things outdoors, in the evenings in D.C. (basically, Screen on the Green or jazz in the sculpture garden).

And, for the moment you've all been waiting for, the pictures. Unlike previous years when I shot from the Mall, this year I went to the other side of the display and made my pictures from the Virginia side of the Potomac down by the Lincoln Memorial. I have to say, the crowds were a lot less and you're a lot, a lot, closer to the fireworks. You can feel them explode and don't have to worry about the sweaty stranger next to you getting in your space. For those who are wondering about the technical aspects of the pictures, they were all shot at 100 ISO equivalent, an f/8 apeture and, generally speaking, 1.6 second shutter speed.

Enjoy.

This picture shows one of the main reasons I decided to forgo the Mall - you get very few reflections off a mass of sweaty humanity.

I really, really liked these ground-bursting shells. Very cool effect.

More ground-bursts.

And, finally, I got a whole bunch of shots where this guy in the kayak slowly drifted through the frame. I kinda like it.

If you want more from the fireworks display, they're posted on my Flickr page.

Oooooo! Ahhhhh!

Seeing as how it's Friday (even if the date above does say Thursday, this is a Friday Picture Post), and I guess it's time for some more pictures. As it's easy to see, these were all shot last Saturday night from the balcony of my good friend the Disaffected Scanner Jockey.

It was the first time I'd taken my new camera out for a spin at night and, well, I'm pretty darn happy with the results. The fireworks on the National Mall lasted about 13 minutes by my watch and, during that time, I shot about 200 or so pictures. For those interested in the technical details: they were shot from a tripod, using a remote shutter release, with an f8 aperture, shutter speeds ranging from 1.6 seconds to 2.5 seconds and an ISO (film speed equivalent) of 100.

Now, in no particular order, onto the pictures!

Got a little of the Washington Monument in this one

A close-up

An extreme close-up

I really like the feathery effects from this one

Next year, I'm planning on being on the Mall, even if I have to camp out there. I want the shot of the fireworks exploding right behind the Washington Monument. Just 359 days to go...