From the weekend

This past weekend our house took a retreat to Harpers Ferry, here are a few shots from the weekend.

The Unseen

This is my attempt at the 'unseen.' I just tried to look for views that most people wouldn't see. Not many people look through a bus from the floor.

Cork Restaurant

One of my assignments for The Hill was to do a restaurant review. This was my first attempt at photographing food. The 2nd image was published...

What is Easter? One shot.

Easter to me is new life....

Spring

Some flowers that I found on my walk back from the Metro on 10th street. Spring is close...

Easter Break

These are just a couple of shots that I took over easter while I was in Virginia Beach. I think they both work fairly well, I don't really have a favorite. They both have good qualities. I like the wideness of the second one because it shows more color variation but I like the reeds in the close up one.

Protesters

Here are a few shots of the the protesters from the Supreme Court yesterday.

The Unexpected

This is Lawyer Walter Dellinger, he represented the District of Colombia in the District of Colombia vs. Heller. The recent Supreme Court case about the gun ban in DC. Many would expect him to arrive in a nice car with a driver, but he rode his bike. I heard from another photographer that he rode his bike so after his press conference I followed him and got some very unique shots that no other photographers got.

Adrian Fenty

I took this outside the US Supreme court. It is DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. He was speaking about the court case District of Colombia v. Heller about the gun ban in DC. I think both black and white and color work well.

Spring Break Repeat

Here are a few more pictures I took over spring break. I like both of them, I think I went outside the "normal" snapshot and made them a little more creative by putting the subject in the upper half and changed my vantage point to really low (I had the camera on the floor for each shot). I think it gives the shots a little something extra.

A few more...

Here are a couple of more flower shots.

Top Light

Full light again but with a tilt. Tilt is probably a little distracting.

Full light again.

I think it is really interesting how the lighting is so much different in all of the pictures. I think that is why I like them so much. Each of them is unique and holds a something a little different than all of the others.

Lighting

All of these shots were taken with long exposures. Some of them pushed 6 seconds. The lighting came from a flashlight that I was holding. The red lighting was from an exit sign that was above the table. The kitchen, where I was taking them was all black, you could not see the glow of red from the sign, however since the exposures were long the red glowed in the background.

Almost completely black background because of fast exposure.

Double shadow because I moved where the light was coming from half way through the exposure.

Black again because of fast exposure.

Red glow in the back because of long exposure. To get the lighting on the flowers I moved the flashlight equally around to give ample light to the entire bouquet.

This lighting came from the back and the top. I started in the back and then moved to the top half way through the exposure.

Clarence Thomas

Here are a few shots of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. It shots a few difference expressions through out the hearing I attended. The guy in the background of the third image is Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. These three pictures also involve some rules of framing, especially the rule of thirds and biggest boldest point of interest.

Bit of spring...

This is my nephew Caleb. I really like how I captured his expression with this shot. Granted, the kid is happy most of the time so it isn't the hardest thing in the world to capture, but I still think this is a successful shot. He is so happy with himself that he can clap... The perks of being an uncle... Get to take good pictures, and you give him to Mommy or Grandma when he has a stinky diaper.

John Sarbanes

One thing that I try to do at hearings is catch Senators expressions. I think I did a fairly good job of doing that in this photo. This photo shows a side of John Sarbanes, D-MD that most people don't see. He was actually looking at the clock while the chairmen of the committee was speaking, the chairmen talked for a long, long time.

Balance

While I was reviewing for the exam I was going over the rules for composition a and I was reminded of balance. I think this image has good balance, his hands are equal on each side and he fits well in the middle because of his hand placement.

Back on Capital Hill

This is Kay Granger, R-TX. I was able to be in on an interview she did for The Hill. It was a little difficult photographing, but I thought I was able to get a few successful shots. I like the first one a lot because it shows some of the interviewer. It gives it a more intimate feel because you can see both sides of the interview.