One of the many things I love about my job with Adobe, is the opportunity to see so many different regions in both the US and Canada. Granted, I don't often have the time to do any site-seeing, but when I do get a few free hours, I try to make the most of it. This was the case recently, when I travelled to Washington to present at the NMC 2015 Summer Conference.
The evening weather was hot and sticky, but I made my way via hotel shuttle and the Metro, down to the National Mall, walking from the Smithsonian station, down to the Washington Monument, then on to the Lincoln Memorial.
I'm sure every image I've captured here has been captured before, thousands of times, but to be standing near these massive structures certainly pulled at my emotions. A sense of wonder, to be sure, and awe, to see these amazing works of beauty and construction. The passion, loss, hope and strength of my neighbours to the south impacted me deeply. I hope this shows in some small way in these images.
Washington Monument
My first glimpse of this building was while landing at Reagan National Airport. I even managed to get a quick shot on my phone. At that moment, I promised myself to visit it if time permitted. Thankfully, it did!
Technical note: This was the only HDR image I shot, and I did it handheld.
I really loved the shadow of the flag, blending in with the monument. Lots of symbolism, here. But as can often be the case, what I saw was more mentally emphasized because of how I felt. In the actual capture, the shadow was very subtle. So, a little work with an Adjustment Brush in Lightroom helped me to realize my vision and give the image the impact it needed. The repetition of the flags in the background also helps to identify the shadow. I kept the people in the background, rather than cropping them out, or removing them, to help add a sense of scale to the image.
WWII Memorial
Everywhere I went, an emotional chord was struck. Such beautiful designs, often to lament and remember such terrible tradgedies. You hear cliches every so often, like the "American Spirit". Walking these grounds, I felt that spirit, and it was no cliche.
Lincoln Memorial
The Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial were truly amazing, but the memorial to Lincoln was in many ways, heart stopping. The building and statue simply resonate strength and determination. Even amidst the gleeful chaos all around and within the building (there were hundreds of people, many of them teenagers and young children), I felt very sombre in my heart.
Technical note: Once inside the memorial and even later, outside, I was pushing my ISO anywhere from 1000 - 3200 just to get a reasonable exposure, and even then, I was often shooting at 1/20 - 1/50 of a second.
Aesthetic note: I opted to convert many of the the Lincoln shots to grayscale. The environment was pretty monochromatic (excluding the fashion choices of tourists, that is) and shifting to b/w added a certain gravitas to the images, in my opionion.
Handheld panorama, stitched in Lightroom. I think this one needs a visit to Photoshop before I call it done, but Lightroom did a pretty decent job.
In many ways, this image, dark, grainy and sudbued, is my favorite shot. There's not a lot of environmental detail (due in large part to processing in Lightroom) but I've emphasized the important things here; the truly breath-taking sculpture and the words above it.
