I couldn't find as good a spot to shoot sunset tonight as I found to shoot the rainbow earlier in the afternoon. Shame, because it was a nice sunset. Those big dark clouds out on the horizon mean it's probably going to rain some more overnight. I shot this from the Best Buy parking lot up in Tampa, in case you can't read the sign.
I've been seeing a lot of rainbows the past couple of months, but I've had no luck photographing them. They're either just small sections of arc, or they don't last until I can find a spot to shoot, or it starts raining and I can't get the shot. But I got lucky today. I spotted this full arc as I was on Gandy Blvd, in St. Pete, and I had time to drive down to the bayshore to shoot some shots. The sun was still pretty high in the sky behind me, which worked to my advantage. That meant the bow was low to the ground, and I could fit it all into the frame. However, when the light got really bright and conditions were just right, I couldn't get the entire secondary bow into the shot. Maybe next time. I think these shots really show the difference in light levels above and below the bow. It's darker above because the light that should be there is making the colors of the bow. You can see the difference quite clearly in the two close-up shots below. The shot at the bottom, which is the one that showed the most of the second bow, shows that the dark area is darkest between the two bows. I believe that's called Alexander's Dark Band.
And in case you were wondering, I didn't just shoot Mr. Lincoln in the Capitol Rotunda, I also visited him in his Memorial. Several times, in fact, but only once at night. It's an awesome sight to see his larger-than-life statue all lit up in front of you. He's visible for over a mile away as you walk up, sitting there in quiet repose. Very humbling.
While in DC, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the US Capitol Building. Inside the Rotunda, I was there at just the right time to catch Abraham Lincoln being lit by a beam of sunlight coming in through the windows high above. I think it's a pretty impressive shot, especially when you consider it was taken in a room with well over 100 yammering tourists and their tour guides who are trying to keep everyone in line, including photographers who think they can get a better shot if they move somewhere they shouldn't be.
On the North-West and South-West corner of the Capitol Building grounds in DC, there are a couple of little round structures. I asked around a few times, and it turns out that they are air vents for all of the underground stuff near The Capitol. Now I know. This one is the NW corner. I thought I took a picture of the other one, which is much darker, but I can't seem to find it right this second.
When I walked past the Supreme Court in DC a couple of weeks ago, these two were standing out front, at the bottom of the courthouse steps, protesting something or other. I didn't stop to ask, and I'm pretty sure they couldn't have told me anyway, since their mouths were taped shut. The girl was pregnant, so I'm guessing it was a pro-life thing. I'd hoped to get a shot of them pulling off the tape to get a drink, but I got bored waiting and headed off for some photos elsewhere. Oh, wait. Detailed examination of the picture reveals that the red tape on their mouths says 'Life'. I guess that makes them a member of this group. I love the Internets!
One of my three devoted fans sent me a note today alerting me to another blog sharing out a record featuring a Demilio cover. That blog is Schadenfreudian Therapy, and the record is Edmundo Ros-Baions. I think this is one of the covers I've seen on the web but never in real life. And now, you can head on over there and not only see the cover, you can download the music from the vinyl inside that cover! What a bargain! For the full story, or at least all I know, read up on all these blog entries.
Here's something I bet you didn't know about Washington, DC. What's the only state with an embassy there? Why, Florida, of course. Seems that many years ago, the wife of Lawton Chiles had the idea to open up an embassy for the many Florida visitors to DC, and she called it Florida House. Try as she might to spread the idea, none of the other 49 loser states picked up on the idea, though. It's really just a restored row house right across the street from the Capitol Building, and all Florida residents are welcome to come by, hang out, get a glass of orange juice and talk about how much hotter it is in Florida than in Washington. Well, actually they do a lot more than that, but I don't want to get into boring details. They also have a nice-sized collection of original paintings by The Florida Highwaymen, but that's a story for another day. Oh, and here's a little tip. They don't check IDs at the door. So you can just pretend you're from Florida and get the same treatment. Don't tell them I told you that, though.
I stumbled across a familiar sight in downtown DC at a Navy memorial. I'd seen this seaman before, on another coast, several years ago. The statue above is part of The US Navy Memorial in DC, while the seaman below is at the northern visitor center at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. The bottom picture might illustrate his position a little bit better.
I've heard there are other copies of this guy out there, perhaps at the WWII Museum in LA? I need to do some research, I guess.
Ahh, Wikipedia to the rescue. The DC version is considered the original, and the others are copies. He's called The Lone Sailor, and the artist is Stanley Bleifeld. Now you know.
One of the things I searched for but didn't find during my first trip to DC was this portrait of TV blowhard Stephen Colbert. It had been hanging at the National Portrait Gallery for some weeks prior to my visit, but had been removed not long before I got there, perhaps because the joke had worn thin. However, the enterprising Mr. Colbert found a willing recipient in The Smithsonian and their National Museum of American History. They had this portrait hung in an area with other, more popular pop culture icons such as Archie Bunker's chair and Minnie Pearl's hat. Oh, and check out the bottom picture. It's still hung across from the bathroom. When I was there, the velvet ropes didn't have much of a crowd to guide. I'm sure that was just a temporary lull, though.
Just a little demonstration here about why it's important to tell your camera what to focus on. The shot above is focused on the foreground. It's a nice shot of some purple flowers. Similar shot below, but the focus is now the background, showing you the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and The Capitol Building. Perhaps a more competent photographer than myself would have gotten everything in focus in one picture, but I doubt it.
I don't know why I find squirrels so funny, I just do. I spotted this guy on a tree near the South lawn of the White House in Washington DC, just hanging around, chomping down on a nut. Why he chose to hang like this, I'll never know. But he seems happy enough while doing it.
Here's another minor monument in Washington DC that you're liable to miss is you aren't looking for it. On the North side of The Ellipse, just South of the White House, this is the Zero Milestone, the point from which all distances to and from DC were to be measured. This one never quite worked out that was either, but the monument is still there.
Washington is a town filled with monuments. They're everywhere. This small one is near the base of the Washington Monument, and is a spot most people miss. I would have missed it if I hadn't read about it and stumbled across it on my last day in DC. This is the Jefferson Pier, and marks the intersections of a line drawn due South from the White House and due West from the Capitol Building. I believe that Jefferson originally wanted this to be a sort of Prime Meridian for the US, but it never worked out that way. If you zoom in on the face of the Pier, there's some well-weather text, one line of which seems to have been chiseled off. I can't find any reference to what it used to say, unfortunately.
You can see the White House in the background of this shot looking North from the Pier. It's hard to get the Capitol Building in a similar shot looking East, due to the hill on which the Washington Monument sits. Due South of the Pier is the Jefferson Memorial, but you can't see that for all the trees.
I did find this shot, taken from the Zero Milestone, that shows the Jefferson Memorial, way on the other side of the Tidal Basin, and you can see the Jefferson Pier, nearly centered below the statue of Jefferson. I took this two days before the other shots above, so I didn't know the Jefferson Pier was there. If I'd known, I'd have stepped to the left a little and gotten the two monuments perfectly aligned.
Did I ever show you this? I don't think I did, or if I did, I can't find it on the blog. Anyhow, this is a sculpture that sat between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. When the towers came down on 9/11, they fell on this sculpture. It was recovered from the rubble and laid in storage for some time, but is on display (or at least it was last year when I shot it on 9/11/08) in Battery Park in lower Manhattan. It's simply called The Sphere and was created by Fritz Koenig.
You might be able to tell from these pictures that The Sphere was heavily damaged in the attacks. They reportedly pulled a seat from one of the two aircraft out of the sculpture after it's recovery. And I think I read somewhere that it weighs somewhat less now than when it was initially created due to lost pieces.
Anyhow, I was just sitting here sharing some other pictures regarding 9/11 with you, so I wanted to throw these up as well.
While I'm all worked up about the events of 9/11, here's a picture of two beams recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Centers in New York City. These beams came from, I think, the 77th floor of the 110-story towers. They are on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. This may have been the only thing I saw in DC that made me cry.
I took a tour of the US Capitol Building on September 10th, and the day before I was there, they dedicated this large plaque. It's a memorial to the people who died aboard Flight 93 when they chose to overpower the terrorists and crash the plane into a field into Pennsylvania rather than allowing the plane to be flown into the Capitol Building as many now believe the terrorists intended. I don't know if I'll ever make it to that field, so I'll have to show you this instead. I've visited the other two locations where terrorists struck that day, and paid my respects to the fallen.
Since I'm unlikely to be back in Washington DC anytime real soon, I took the best of my photos from atop the Washington Monument, and enhanced them quite a bit. These are not the same pictures as the ones I showed you a second ago, but they were taken at the same time. I zoomed in on some of the more prominent monuments, adjusted the contrast, lightened things up a little bit, cropped around the worst of the raindrops, and voila! To the West is the Lincoln Memorial.
To the South, the Jefferson Memorial.
Back East, the Capitol Building. Oh, that's the Supreme Court behind the Capitol to the left, and the Library of Congress on the right, the Thomas Jefferson Building to be exact.
And to the North, The White House. I think by law I'm not allowed to show you the roof of the White House. Even Google Earth has to blur it out. Sorry about that. Can you see that the flag atop the White House is at half-staff? Remember, I took these photos on September 11, 2009, the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Oh, in the foreground is the National Christmas Tree, inside the little round fence. I thought they brought in a new one every year, but not according to the little plaque on the ground.
One of my reasons for visiting Washington DC when I did was to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon, site of one of the September 11th terrorist attacks. I got up early that morning, rode three different trains to get to the Pentagon station, only to find out the ceremony was for family members of the victims, invited guests and press. So I was turned away. Just as well, I guess, because it was raining cats and dogs. I decided to make the best of it, since I was up anyway, and headed on into town. But few things open in DC before 10 am, and this was around 8 am. I eventually made my way to the Washington Monument, where they begin giving out tour passes early. Because of the rain, I was able to get a pass for immediate access. These four pictures are the view from the four faces of the monument, albeit through a little rain. The picture above is looking West, over the Reflecting Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial, then across the Potomac to Arlington.
This is the Southerly view, across the Tidal Pool to the Jefferson Memorial. One of those bridges you see is for the Metro, DC's version of the subway. Coming from the airport, it pops up out of a hole in the ground right before crossing the bridge, and that's your first great view of DC. Then it drops back down into another hole, and you don't get anymore cool views from the subway.
West, down The Mall, towards The Capitol. Behind the Capitol, if you look close, is a football stadium. Is that RFK? On either side of the Mall are various Smithsonian museums, and behind those are government offices.
And looking North, you get the Ellipse, and a little white house called The White House. I wish I'd been able to get up to the top of the monument in good weather, but that didn't happen. Hopefully next time. I'll have to make that a priority.
