Adams Morgan, Two Years Later

I mentioned right before Thanksgiving that a friend and I were planning to return to the Adams Morgan area of DC to take pictures together. I was really looking forward to the outing for several reasons:

1) My friend and I are the types to bounce ideas off each other - I knew I'd see things in a different light.

2) It was a sunny day, so I could practice taking pictures under adverse conditions.

3) I wanted to see if I'd actually learned anything in the last few years.

Well, it was definitely an adventure - cold, sunny, and crowded. Some tips I gave my friend:

1) It's the camera, not the photographer (you've heard this before).

2) Quit while you're ahead - if you've taken several versions of the shot and you don't like it, and you can't fix it - walk away. It's okay. Don't frustrate yourself.

3) Don't hesitate to take multiple versions of the same shot with different settings. You never know what you might like best.

My friend got some terrific shots of leaves and reflections. I'm hoping he'll post them and let me reference them in this blog. There was one in particular that I LOVED.

As for me, it was an interesting outing. Some examples:





The first and third pictures are my favorites. The third reminds me of an Alice in Wonderland scene - distorted, strange, and colorful. My friend and I discovered that although we loved this street, we couldn't get a decent picture straight-on. I then proceeded to tilt my camera, something I've done often. He was a little skeptical, but I don't blame him. :)

The first was taken off of one of the main streets in the neighborhood. Here, my telephoto lens came in handy. It worked great, actually.

The second is from a mural in the neighborhood. I took many more pictures. I think I did a better job with these than with the ones I took a few years ago, because there's more of a point to them. Take a look at my older mural pictures and let me know what you think.

Another result is that I've paid more attention to the abstract aspects of architecture. I enjoyed my buildings shoot, and wanted to incorporate some of that into my DC shots. They're not the same, of course - these are daytime shots, and the others are nighttime shots, but that's okay with me. I'm just trying to push my boundaries as much as possible.

It's contest time! Tomorrow, I'll let you know what I've decided to enter. Till tomorrow!