D.C. Miscellany

None of these fall into any particular story, they're just snapshots from the month of December, some in color, some in grayscale. I think I used an Olympus OM-1 for all of these, with Fuji Provia 100f for the color shots and Kodak Tri-X 400 for the black and white.

I'll do the grayscale photos first.

And here are the color photos.

Of this second batch, I am a big fan of the tree photo and of the cat with its shadows. I don't even remember taking that shot, but I like it a lot.

Cars (Again)

I can't resist a photo of a good car. Here are a few of the good cars I saw throughout December. Color photos were shot on Fuji Provia 100f, greyscale on Ilford Delta 400, and all photos with the Olympus OM-1.

Some guy on my block owns at least 6 of these. 

I can't resist a good Beetle. 

Inauguration/Women's March

A ton of people are coming into the city for a political event? Obviously I am taking photos. On Friday and most of Saturday, I wandered through and around the crowds with two cameras, one digital and one film. These shots are from the digital camera, a Fujifilm X100T. I used the 50mm telephoto lens for the first set of photos, taken on inauguration, and the 28mm wide-angle lens for the second set, taking at the Women's March on the National Mall. I used the in-camera monochrome conversion, slightly adjusted for my own aesthetic tastes.

Both days were cloudy and a little damp, and you can tell; where they sky is visible, it's clearly gray, and the overcast eliminates any shadows, evenly diffusing the light from the sun.

I don't know that I had a particular goal with these photos, other than to document when I saw during both days. These first few, as I said earlier, are from inauguration day.

"Fuck this Shit" was the last photo I took on Friday. The remaining photos are from the Women's March. I should say I've become much economical with my digital shooting. Of the roughly 100 photos I took, I used 16, which is a decent ratio given that you have unlimited space to shoot with digital. I also brought a Fuji 6x7 camera, and for that, it took me two days to shoot ten exposures. You'll see those in a few weeks, I think.  Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of the set.

On Grounds

I spent a chunk of Christmas break in Charlottesville, visiting my in-laws. I walked around UVA a bit, and took a few photos, including this one of my favorite building on Grounds, Brooks Hall. It's a neo-Gothic structure that is completely out of place among the Roman-esque stylings of UVA, which is why I like it. It's different. I actually like this photo enough that I may make a wet print with the negative.

The second photo is of the shadow cast by the statue of Thomas Jefferson outside of the Rotuna, and the last one is just of an advertisement I've always liked. Oh, and in case you're wondering, photos shot with an Olympus OM-1, a 24mm lens, and Ilford Delta 400.

Charlottesville Walk-around

This post is pretty self-explanatory. While in Charlottesville last month, I took a walk around the town proper with my wife and father-in law. I had my camera, and snapped photos of anything that looked even a little interesting. I should say that the mural in the first photo is very good and very unusual—it's one of just a handful of genuine murals I've seen in town. Obviously it's quite colorful in real life, but I like how it looks in greyscale. The second set of street art is near downtown, and is easy to spot if you ever make your way to Champion Brewery (you should). At this point in the month, I was still using the Olympus OM-1, and still shooting a roll of Ilford Delta 400.

Side 1. 

Side 2. 

This is underneath an abandoned coal tower that I kind of like. 

Nice symmetry.

This was really hard to frame with the 24mm and I'm not even sure I accomplished what I was going for. 

Clothes line. 

Some kind of weird figurine. 

This is one of those photos I kind of just took to take and I actually really like it.

Should be familiar to anyone who goes to the Downtown Mall. 

Ah, classic Charlottesville. 

Fort Lincoln Cemetery

Not long ago I was running errands in NE Washington and used the occasion to drive through Fort Lincoln Cemetery, which sits just outside the city in Brentwood, Maryland. Other than this statue of Lincoln, it doesn't have much in the way of statuary. Still, it's a beautiful area, with gardens and memorials throughout. It takes its name from the fact that it was a Civil War-era fort, constructed in 1861 for the defense of Washington.

I had an Olympus OM-1 with me, loaded with Fuji Provia 100f transparency film and attached to a 35mm lens.

Graveyard of Trucks

What I love about photography, as a hobby, is that it has pushed me to explore my surroundings. At home, in DC, that means exploring every inch of the city in an effort to find interesting buildings, hidden gems, and otherwise see people live their lives. in my other home, Charlottesville, that means exploring the whole of central Virginia.

To that end, over holiday break, I went with my wife and in-laws to a truck graveyard near Columbia, Virginia; an aging town, long past it's former glory. The graveyard itself sits on a field about 20 minutes from town, and is owned part of an actual trucking company, which rents out tractor trailers for use. There is no admission, but you do have to contact the owners and ask permission to visit. we did that, and brought some beer as a "thank you" for letting us take pictures.

I brought two cameras. The first, a fixed-lens, medium format rangefinder, is equipped with a "normal lens" that gives you a perspective roughly equivalent to what you see. The second was an Olympus OM-1 with a 24mm lens, for an ultra-wide perspective. The rangefinder had a roll of Kodak Porta 400, with 10 exposures. And I was finishing a roll of Ilford Delta 400 in the Olympus. Sunset was approaching as we got there, so we were racing against time a bit for photos, but I think the results were great.

With my shots, I tried to capture as much as the graveyard as I could, with an emphasis on color. I love the way the rust and decay looks, how it interacts with light, how it looks in its surroundings. Also, every so often, I think about giving up medium format, and then I look at the sharpness and tonality of these shots and I immediately think—no way.

Anywho, I hope you like these shots. Let me know what you think.

New Year's Day—2017

I went to a friend's house for New Year's Day, where we indulged in food and alcohol for the better part of the afternoon and evening. I brought my digital camera (a Fuji X100T) and my Polaroid Spectra, loaded with some film. I didn't take a lot of photos, but the ones I did, I liked. Here are the digital photos, shot using a flash, and edited in VSCO for iOS. The subjects are dogs and children, which is how these things go.

Here are the digital photos!

And here is what I shot on my Polaroid Spectra, using Impossible Project film.

Footprints

I took exactly one photo on my digital camera when we were in California this past month. It was on the beach. I like it quite a bit. Edited in VSCO for iOS.

Admonition

I walk, bike, or run by this high school all the time, but this is the first time I've taken a photo of its sign. Shot digitally with a Fuji X100T, and edited in VSCO for iOS.