DC United

A really quick post on the DC United match this past weekend. A chance to relax on a beautifully sunny day and enjoy the first game of many I'm sure this season.

Even though there was no score, it was still a battle filled with dramatic tackles, faked injuries (what soccer game is without a few), and some contested cards. Sounds like a perfect Saturday afternoon if you ask me.

Vamos United!

Cherry Blossoms

Despite my best laid plans this year of seeing the cherry blossoms in full bloom, Mother Nature had other plans. It was such a mild winter and unseasonably warm spring, that the trees became confused. So what would have been the peek of blossom time here in DC, turned out to be the slowly petering end of the last of the blooms. There was perhaps one tree still in full bloom that everyone flocked to in attempts to get that one beautiful photo of a full spring.

I honestly feel bad for the people who came to visit specifically for the blossoms, and for the planners of the 100 year celebration. By the time the parade and festival comes around, there will be little but a memory to celebrate. Perhaps they can look at these photos and take away a small measure of beauty to redeem the loss. :-) Ha. But I digress, while it was unfortunate at the lack of trees fully in bloom, I was able to capture a few nice shots.

Nothing like petal carpets, little kids enjoying outdoor freedom, and buds right off a trunk, right?

Enjoy.

A Weekend of Museums

Not sure how many of you have been to DC, let alone the National Aquarium, but if perchance you happen to be able to visit DC…don’t bother with the National Aquarium. My friends and I, fresh off the metro and ready to see some museums, bought a museum pass pack for Madame Tussaude’s, the Crime and Punishment museum, and the National Aquarium. 3 museums, 3 days that the passes were good, just over 40$, good deal you’d think. Nope, one third of that deal is not worth it. But we’ll get to that in a second.

How about the good stuff before the bad? Madame Tussaude’s was awesome. Even though it was 1/4th the size of the original in London (that one is wicked awesome), this little DC row house of a museum was a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed the interactive exhibits in the presidents gallery that allowed me to shake Jefferson’s hand, sit in on a meeting with Grant, watch a play with Lincoln (we tried to overlook the morbid side of that particular display), disembark Air Force One with the Kennedys…you get the point. I’m such a history nerd so I loved walking through and picking out the pose references. Also, with it being a museum and my friends and I completely embracing the tourist guise, enjoyed coming up with ways to goof off with said historical pose references. Give Teddy a kiss, lean lovingly into Lincoln arms; all with complete respect and admiration for our country’s leaders of course.

Skipping over the long line for pictures in the “Oval Office,” we dashed to the celebrities section of the museum, where again, goofing off ensued. Prom photos with Will Smith, lounging with Madonna, a kiss to George Clooney (of course), and a height picture to prove that I, in fact, am around the same height as Tom Cruise. To those of you that have stood next to me…so almost all of you…that means he’s short.

My favorite part of the museum however was the music artist section. I fulfilled a life dream in getting my picture with the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald; and, as an added bonus, shared a piano bench with the legendary Duke Ellington. The other highlight for me was strapping on a hockey helmet and sitting next to Alex Ovechkin. The Caps may not be my number one team but, due to them being so accessible, I’ve come to support them and occasionally have been known to Rock the Red.

Like I said, the wax museum was the fun part. The aquarium left the day on a sad note. (We ran out of time for C&P Museum.) First off, the entrance is not where Google said it was, so wandering the block surrounding 14th and Constitution in the bitter January wind added some extra fun. But once inside, you head downstairs to what looks like a dark basement and pay $10 (I didn’t actually get the 3 museum deal so had to purchase separately) to walk a very small loop lined with very small aquariums set into the wall. It looked like a Zoology professor’s basement with very sad, in most cases, not cute fish.

Maybe I’m spoiled with the aquariums that I’ve been to before in the past and set my expectations too high, but normally it’s safe to assume that something with the word “National,” while in our nation’s capitol, would be spectacular. But alas, it was not. I guess I’ll have to make a trip up to Baltimore for their aquarium, which I have heard from several sources, is amazing. (Plus, they say it has penguins, so win-win there.)

Not wanting to end on a negative note and even though the aquarium was less than impressive, I still do really enjoy getting to explore DC. It’s so easy to get into a routine—get up, go to work, go home, eat dinner while watching TV, sleep, repeat—but really there is so much that you should be doing regardless of where you live. Big city, little city, odd suburb, there’s bound to be something to explore and on which to form an opinion.

So with that, anyone want to go exploring? I’ll bring the camera.

Wedding Scouts

One of the most terrifying and yet flattering things that can happen to a person is to be asked to be your friend's one and only wedding photographer. Having no professional experience, or really event photographing experience, before, it would be an understatement to say I was a nervous wreck. For months I stalked wedding blogs, read article, and even bought a new, very nice digital SLR in preparation for the event.

Only one problem remained, no matter how much I researched and prepared, I couldn't be in all the places I needed to be at once to capture each pivotal moment of a wedding. The procession alone has 4 angles that should be covered, at least. That's where my saint of a friend, Justin, came in. With previous wedding recording experience and after some pleading on my part, he agreed to my photographer in crime. And thank goodness he did. I could not have done it without him.

For being two non-professional photographers, I think we did rather well. From the location scouting the night before, to brainstorming poses, to scrambling together backup plans in case we got kicked out of the bridal party photoshoot location, I think we covered it all. (photos of the wedding itself are forthcoming on the Events tab. Still editing those....)

These are some of my favorite shots from our scouting adventures around DC.

Enjoy!

Christmas Time is Here

When the only snow on Christmas you see is on your tv screen while watching White Christmas, something is wrong. The holiday world is off kilter. Things out of the ordinary are happening...my family came to visit me for Christmas and we spent the week wandering a very mild, very calm DC.

Instead of a Christmas eve spent watching holiday movies on my grandparent's couch, we wandered the Mall, Eastern Market, and some of the Smithsonian museums. Some traditions were upheld, my dad made pizza, my sisters baked, my mom played Christmas music, and I flitted between orchestrating logistics and those DC-y things.

So here are a few shots of our DC Christmas wanderings.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

It's Up to You New York, NY

One of the things I love about living on the East coast is how close everything is to each other. It's like Europe in that way. Drive 2 or 3 hours in any direction in most cases and you will find yourself in a new country or state, depending on continent. For example, this past weekend I was able to hop on a bus to NYC and arrived before lunch. It was fast, affordable, and comfortable. The perfect way to start a weekend in the city that never sleeps.

It was also exciting because this was the first trip to the city with my new camera. I'll be the first to admit I'm still figuring out the settings and how to function with a camera that weighs the same as a small infant, but I think I was able to walk away with some good ones.

The occasion for this trip was to visit my uncle who has recently moved from California to NYC. I could not be happier that I'm no longer alone in the Eastern time zone, and, bonus, I now have someone to stay with/visit while getting my Broadway fix. This blog has never had opportunity to unveil that side of me before, but I am a huge Broadway theater nut; specifically musicals. I grew up on the classics, Rodger and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Gilbert and Sullivan, spent my school years filling the chorus lines and minor parts of my schools' drama productions, and every year, to this day, I block off my night to watch the Tony Awards with a figurative Do Not Disturb sign on my forehead.

I love the music, I love the songs, I love the dancing, I love the jokes, I love when they make me cry, I love the lights, I love stepping out of my world for two and a half hours to live in a place where people really do breakout into song and where music helps translate the significance in an action or feeling the way words never can. I do love the lines and the lyrics, they too can be irrevocably true, but the level to which a swell of music can just make you feel and know something is true is as close to perfect understanding as I think possible. The escape from needing words to register an idea in the mind of someone and instead push that thought or emotion or choice through to the core so that they can feel it is true because it is sitting square in their chest; spreading from heart to fingertips and toes with the stroke of a bow or the croon of a horn. That, is an incredible feeling, and while imperfectly (and perhaps verbosely) described here, it is one that I will always keep coming back for.

It was a blissful weekend well spent loving every step along the NY streets: passing the crowds waiting at the stage door for Huge Jackman, along the holiday windows on 5th Avenue, and through the maze of subway lines. And there's one thing left to say: Sing it Frankie!

North Woods Thanksgiving

I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA! Seriously it is the sexiest camera alive. I’m sure everyone says that when they make the giant leap from automatic point and shoot to a Digital SLR…but really, sexy sexy camera. I’m obsessed with my camera so much so that I chose it over my laptop for my carry-on on my most recent flight home for Thanksgiving.

And as these photos will show, I am so glad I made that choice. Hayward is and forever will be my favorite place on earth. It’s calm, quiet, beautiful, and endlessly interesting with its wildlife, winding roads, and forest paths. I took these wandering down our (very long) driveway with my sister and my uncle. You’d think with everything being brown, dead, and unfortunately not wildly snow covered, there would be little of interest to photograph. Oh contraire with this camera. Its detail is amazing and opens up my “artistic eye,” if I’m able to even it that, even more to the random photo ideas that jump into my head.

This was the vacation of abandoned chairs, “snow balls,” tree climbing, pinwheel finding, blaze orange, breaking ice, and candles. All while trying to figure out a fancy new camera that I’m pretty sure is smarter than me. I’ll get the hang of it eventually though…I hope.

I hope even a quarter of my photographic excitement shines through these because, believe me, I was having a blast.

Enjoy!