I doubt Abe Lincoln ever pondered the future rush of horseless carriages into the nation's capital, but if so, he may have imagined it somewhat like this. Cars speed across the Arlington Memorial Bridge past the Lincoln Memorial by night.
Lens is the D FA35mm f/3.5 on the 645Z. It's an 18sec exposure using bulb mode, and I learned that the flimsy travel tripod I packed would jiggle with each passing car, so I had to open the shutter when no cars were coming to burn in the sky and memorial, then immediately close the shutter after a car passed to reduce motion blur. It took a few tries to get a clean shot, but was worth it!
Tags: Washington DC memorial night landscape city skyline taillight trails cars long exposure 645Z Mike Oria 645 medium format Lincoln Pentax traffic road street
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Pre-sunrise behind the Jefferson Memorial at the Tidal Basin, Washington, DC. My first time in the nation's capital shooting photos, I got here at 5am and drove around searching for a place to park legally (all the signs warn of towing and ticketing happening to cars before 9am. I ended up parking far away and hiking in just to be safe. Randomly, I ended up on this grassy berm under some cherry blossom trees and decided to set up and wait. As morning twilight revealed the expected location of the sun on the horizon, it was entirely lucky it lined up directly behind the memorial from this position. By sunrise, this 20 yard stretch became a land grab by photographers, iPhone wielding joggers, engagement couples, moms with children in their Sunday duds, all of us shoulder to shoulder, in hopes of documenting the short-lived white confetti drizzling from these venerable trees.
A photographer next to me brought and deployed continuous LED panels to light the trees, oblivious to the fact that nobody around him was excited about his stray light in their shots. So, many of my takes were ruined by harsh, uneven, bluish light; ultimately, I had to ask him to turn them off for a couple of minutes so I could grab my shot, then I got out of there. The nerve.
Lens is the D FA35mm f/3.5 on the 645Z. I was in town for business working an all day conference and only had 3 focal lengths, a flimsy travel tripod, and needed to be done before 7am each morning, so the mission to squeeze in some photography was quite a challenge.
Hope you like this one! More to come.
Tags: Washington DC Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms Jefferson memorial landscaoe water Mike Oria 645 645Z cherry sunrise capital monument www.mikeoria.com outdoor reflection cloudy
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"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue", reads the inscription at the base of the US Marines Memorial, aka Iwo Jima Memorial, in Arlington, VA.
The early twilight skies were showing promise for a colorful sunrise, so I headed to this spot to set up and wait. Immediately adjacent to thousands of headstones lining the rolling hills of Arlington National Cemetery, this brilliantly rendered statue and flag provide a readable silhouette at first light.
It was truly my great honor to capture a photograph of such a worthy American symbol honoring our brave men and women of the armed forces, including the USMC.
Lens is the FA 150mm f/2.8 on the 645Z. I only had room this trip to travel with 3 focal lengths(35mm, 90mm, 150mm), and a flimsy travel tripod, so I found myself making composition decisions based on the lens, instead of my usual pre-visualization process.
Click through to see more symbols of our great nation.
Thanks for looking.
Tags: Washington DC district columbia Iwo Jima Memorial US Marines dawn sunrise silhouette Mike Oria Pentax 645Z 645 USMC Iwo Jima military statue marker headstone; Arlington Arlington Cemetery national monument capitol lincoln morning sunset www.mikeoria.com FA150
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Morning twilight at Capitol Hill.
This one is a 5-frame pano using the D FA90mm f/2.8 lens on the 645Z. Single exposure.
Tags: Washington DC capitol USA twilight capitol hill hill congress night long exposure Mike Oria 645Z DFA90 landscape skyline city house senate law legal legislature 1800 www.mikeoria.com cityscape rotunda
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Morning twilight near the Jefferson Memorial along the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. My first time in the nation's capital shooting photos, I got here at 5am and drove around searching for a place to park legally (all the signs warn of towing and ticketing happening to cars before 9am. I ended up parking far away and hiking in just to be safe. Randomly, I ended up on this grassy berm under some cherry blossom trees and decided to set up and wait. As morning twilight revealed the expected location of the sun glow on the horizon, it was entirely lucky it lined up directly behind the memorial from this position. By sunrise, this 20 yard stretch became a veritable land grab by photographers, iPhone wielding joggers, engagement couples, moms with children in their Sunday duds, all of us shoulder to shoulder, in hopes of documenting the short-lived white confetti drizzling from these venerable trees.
A photographer next to me brought and deployed continuous LED panels to light the trees, oblivious to the fact that nobody around him was excited about his stray light in their shots. So, many of my takes were ruined by harsh, uneven, bluish light; ultimately, I had to ask him to turn them off for a couple of minutes so I could grab my shot, then I got out of there. The nerve.
Lens is the D FA90mm f/2.8 on the 645Z. I used 2-exposure bracketing(0 & -1.3) to control the highlight band along the rotunda. 2 levels of focus bracketing were applied to catch the cherry blossoms in reasonable focus.
I was in town for business working an all day conference and only had 3 focal lengths, a flimsy travel tripod, and needed to be done before 7am each morning, so the mission to squeeze in some photography was quite a challenge.
Hope you like this one!
Tags: Washington DC Jefferson Memorial Tidal Basin Mike Oria 645 645Z cherry blossoms nigt twilight blue hour night long exposure water tidal basin cherry blossoms www.mikeoria.com outdoor LANDSCAPE cityscape City skyline Jefferson Memorial capital capitol trees shore river Potomac
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