Category Archives: Washington D.C.

Beautiful Photography of Washington D.C.

Clipper Flying Cloud

Posted on November 15th, 2012 by

Flying History

It hasn’t always been so, but since I was a kid and I took my first plane ride in the 55J (a Cessna if memory serves me correctly) I have enjoyed flying. I have never enjoyed a car trip. If figure if you are going to go somewhere, you might as well fly and get there sooner. I fully recognize the importance of the journey, but what can be better than a journey at 30,000 feet! It has become somewhat commonplace these days, but the miracle of flight never fails to amaze me.

Thank You For Flying PanAM

Thought I am not old enough to have flown Pan American World Airways, there is just something about that era of flight that I wish we could recapture. There was something special about the planes, and the way people dressed up for their trips. The was a grace and sophistication that is somehow lost in today’s people movers. This beauty is the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first pressurized airliner…probably the most advanced plane of its time. This is one of the only remaining Stratoliners, you can find it at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

HDR Photography
Clipper Flying Cloud by W. Brian Duncan

Dusk Falls on Lincoln

Posted on October 25th, 2012 by

Ghosts of Tourists Past

There a a HUGE number of tourists at the Lincoln Memorial. I waited around for a long time hoping they would eventually disperse, but I think perhaps if you want unencumbered shots of the monument, it may be advisable to come in the early hours of dawn. The sun would be behind you, but that would be a great shot as well. I attempted to use long exposures on this shot to blur as much of the activity as possible. It gives the shot a milky soup of action sort of feel. Enjoy!


Dusk Falls on Lincoln by W. Brian Duncan

Union Station Washington D.C.

Posted on September 6th, 2012 by

Trains

I love trains. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of my Uncle Patrick. When I was a boy, my uncle had the most wonderful model railroading sets in the upstairs of my Grandparents home. They were always in a constant state of construction and I am not sure I ever saw one of these designs ever finished. To my 9 year old eyes, however, they were the most amazing creations in the world. As I grew up, I half created my own versions of these same mechanical marvels. I too never quite finished the complete design, but from youth I still carry the love of all things locomotive.

A New Life

What happens to these grand old buildings is a current fascination wrought from the same love of that 9 year old boy. It seems after the trains stop running and the buildings have served their original purpose, only one of a handful of lives are left for these depots. In Kansas City and Paris, both Union Station and d’Orsay respectively, have become Museums (the latter being one of the most celebrated in the world). In Washington D.C. a different fate has come to its Union Station, though you can still see its soul through all the shine. She IS still.

HDR Photography
Union Station Washington D.C. by W. Brian Duncan

Dawn at the U.S. Capitol Building

Posted on August 20th, 2012 by

Impressing Sites

I love traveling and I find myself awake at some crazy times trying to get photos. Dawn at the U.S. Capitol was no different. For whatever reason Starbucks in D.C. didnt open at first light and I was down a coffee. I showed up to the Capitol Building grounds with my camera and tripod certain I would beat everyone and get in a bit of time with three legs of contraband camera support before I was shooed off. I was right about no one being around. With the exception of one or two joggers and a gaggle of Capitol Guard it was just me. I hate it when people cite safety as a concern when NO ONE is around, but that is exactly what happened. Sir, you cant use a tripod here, its not safe for the other guests. I think she even realized I pay her salary.

Technicals

This was a handheld 3 bracket (-2, 0, +2) combined in Photomatix, edited in Photoshop and Nik, finished in Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
Dawn at the U.S. Capitol Building by W. Brian Duncan

D.C.F.D. Engine No3

Posted on July 12th, 2012 by

FIRE

On my last trip to Washington D.C., I stayed at a nice hotel about two blocks from the U.S. Capitol building’s south entrance. The first thing I noticed when I walked up was that there was a D.C. Fire Station right next door…WHOOPEE! I like fire station’s as much as the next guy, but not sirens at 3am which sort of concerned me. I need my sleep! Fortunately I always pack ear plugs on trips (light sleeper) and I didn’t notice any late night emergencies so my fears ended up being for not.

Rain

It started raining on me that night as I walked to the Washington monument just after shooting the World War II Memorial. When I say rain, perhaps I should really call it what it was…a very sudden severe thunderstorm that lead me in a dead run for the nearest Metro stop back by Smithsonian Castle. I took the metro (happy to be underground) back to Union Station and by the time I got off, the rain was down to a drizzle. I walked by the fire station…all the doors were open, the trucks lights were on getting ready to go to work. It was a picture made for the taking…I wasn’t ready. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in the middle of everything and delay the D.C.F.D. from saving the day! I stepped aside and watched the trucks roll out, getting my camera set for the shot I wanted. I think it ended up decent, but it would have been much more dramatic if I would have been about 10 minutes earlier. Thus is life.

Technicals

This photo is a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) on a tripod combined in Photomatix, edited in Photoshop, Nik and finished in Lightroom.

HDR Photography
D.C.F.D. Engine No3 by W. Brian Duncan

The Washington Monument

Posted on July 2nd, 2012 by

Washington

The Washington Monument is the worlds tallest obelisk at 555 feet 5 1/8 inches. I am certain Dan Brown can tell you the significant of that height in one or more of his books, but I have nothing but speculation to offer. I took this shot in the early afternoon on a very warm day in D.C. I was honestly very happy to be standing in the shadow of the memorial as it was much cooler and I was sweating through my clothes. This is also the ill fated trip where I got tons of great photos, but utterly destroyed my feet with blisters in the process of obtaining said photos. I enjoyed putting the sun in my shots while I was in D.C. and taking 9 stops worth of brackets. In this particular instance, I only felt like I needed 3…which in the end saves quite a bit of hard drive space.

Techincals

This was a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) processed in photomatix, extensive work was done to remove tourists in Photoshop, Nik software was used for tonal contrast, sharping, finish work was done in Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
The Washington Monument by W. Brian Duncan

Abraham Lincoln

Posted on June 28th, 2012 by

Four Score

The South wall of the Lincoln Memorial is inscribed with the Gettysburg Address. This is where I hung out waiting for my chance to open up my tripod in the main part of the memorial. I took the chance to watch people and became somewhat fascinated by the numbers of people stopping to read the speach. I guess I found it odd because I memorized the first few lines for some grade school project and have thus read the speech a number of times. PRO TIP: when staring up to read an important historical speech from one of our nations greatest, please close your mouth.

Throngs of People

The Lincoln Memorial is busy…REALLY busy. I stood around for what seemed an eternity, frankly surprised that the park officials didn’t run me off on account of my tripod. I stood over to the side for probably half an hour waiting for the people to dissipate to get this shot. Given the traffic that goes through the memorial I am pretty pleased with that I ended up with. What do you think?

HDR Photography
Abraham Lincoln by W. Brian Duncan

WWII and Washington Memorials at Night

Posted on June 14th, 2012 by

What the What?

Two posts this week? What? Yep, I am having so much of a good time taking and processing photos I figured I need to step up my game. As a side note I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers where he professes the need to spend 10,000 hours to become an expert at any task. More processing and photo taking makes for a quicker path to 10,000 hours! WAHOO!

Blue Hour

I am finding that I really love blue hour. The quality of the light in the sky is just wonderful. It’s also interesting to me how quickly blue hour ends and the lights from the city overwhelm the good light. I took this photo at 8:57pm…4 minutes later I had stepped to the right to shoot the Washington Monument straight on and the sky was an awful sickly salmon color.

New Monuments

Every time a new monument gets put up on the National Mall, there is a controversy. The first time we visited DC, the WWII memorial was in the planning stages. The second time it was under construction. While my Grandfather was a veteran of WWI (Navy in the Pacific) I had mixed feeling about the placement of the memorial. Seeing the completed memorial has completely changed my mind. It really just fits there…like it should have been there all along.

Technicals

This was a 3 bracket series (-2, 0, +2) processed with Photomatix. It was cleaned up in Photoshop and modified with Nik Color Efex Pro 4 (Tonal Contrast) and Sharpener Pro. The final work was done in Adobe Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
WWII and Washington Memorials at Night by W. Brian Duncan

Behind the Lincoln Memorial

Posted on June 4th, 2012 by

A New Kind of Travel

An interesting thing happened to me recently. I needed to take a bit of time off work else I would lose the time so I decided to take off the week of Memorial Day. I have been collecting frequent flyer miles for some time and thought to myself, why don’t go somewhere and photograph. JUST me and my camera. While I enjoy going places with my wife (and #1 best camera assistant), it was interesting to meander and linger where the photos took me. Pamela is exceptionally patient when I “artist-out” and lose myself in photographing. I can sometimes spend hours taking photos of the same darn place, but I am also conscious of her and want her vacation time to be fun as well. This trip was different, not better mind you, but different. It was more work than anything, but never felt a bit unlike passion.

Bad Shoes! BAD!

I have been to Washington D.C. three times now so I know a few things about the layout of the National Mall. For one, much of the trails are made up of tiny gravel and dirt. It gets on your shoes and I decided it would be better to wear an old pair of tennis shoes so as not to get one of my good pairs filthy. Little did I remember just how massive the National Mall really is and after the first day my feet were really sore from all the walking. By the second day I had developed five sizable blisters on my feet (mostly the left) and could barely walk. Pro-Tip…always wear good, comfortable, supportive shoes when going to a big city that requires more walking they you are used to.

Technicals

This is a 9 exposure bracket (-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) taken on a Canon 5D Mark II (Magic Lantern Loaded) with a 16-35mm f2.8 II lens at 35mm, mounted on a Really Right Stuff tripod and ball-head. The brackets were combined in Photomatix, exported to Photoshop, cleaned up, tonal contrast and sharpening applied with Nik Software. Finish work was done in Adobe Lightroom 4 (contrast, color, crop, clarity, etc). This photo is from the back side of the Lincoln Memorial about an two hours before sunset.

HDR Photography
Behind the Lincoln Memorial by W. Brian Duncan