Sunday mornings in DC are my favorite time of the week; the city seems to belong to the natives. Washington is fundementally a city of imported residents flocking to the reflected glow of the Capitol — politicians, lobbyists, government contractors, and the associated economy that moves with them. But on Sunday mornings, DC transforms into a small, southern city with leisurely strolls and late brunches; for brief time, a city without an agenda.

• Format: digital
• Camera: Nikon D70
• Lens: Nikon AF 80-200 f/2.8 D @ 112mm
• Exposure: 1/25 sec. @ f/2.8
• Film: digital (ISO 200)

This image is really a smash-up of two images made of these subjects taken seconds apart. In one of the images the boy was better placed in the frame and in sharp focus, and in the other couple were clearly bump & grinding pretty seriously. This image merges the better parts of both images and forms one image without the technical flaws of the source photos. I don’t usually go for manipulated images, but since the thematic elements of all three images (two sources, and this final image) are the same, I felt it was warranted.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 20-35 f/2.8 D
• Film: Fuji Velvia

A little something for this week’s Theme Thursday Challenge: Motion. I made this photo at a festival I stumbled upon in San Francisco during the summer of 2003. Lots of good music and people enjoying themselves. I think I made more decent pictures in a few hours of hanging around in San Francisco, than I’ve made in Washington in years. Sad to say, but I don’t spend enough time enjoying my own home town. Of course, it might just have been the weather.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 20-35 f/2.8 D
• Film: Fuji Velvia

I couldn’t find a photo I made this week that I was inspired to post today, so it’s back to the archives for this second shot of Ayutthaya. This is actually the same set of structures pictured in the previous ‘Two Buddhas’ image, but taken from a radically different angle. You can just make out the two buddhas near the left center of the frame.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 20-35 f/2.8 D
• Film: Fuji Velvia

A couple of my friends have started to wonder what I did at Mardi Gras since the pictures have been pretty tame. So I’ve decided to give into peer pressure and post a single (I promise, just one) typical Mardi Gras photo. I made this photo after about seven drinks in Razzles, the club next to my hotel in the French Quarter. Oddly, the camera caught my “vision”, becuase this is mostly what it looked like after seven drinks.

• Format: digital
• Camera: Pentax Optio S4
• Lens: SMC Pentax 5.8-17.4mm @ 12.2 (equiv: 74mm)
• Exposure: 1/3 sec. f/3.9
• Film: digital (ISO 100)
• White Balance: auto

I’m willing to bet the chess playing gentleman could teach the younger men a thing or two at chess, basketball, or life. He was challenging all comers to games, and was setup to tackle two opponents at once. He was pretty terse with me, so I never got his name, but he did agree to a couple of photos. I’m not much of a chess player otherwise I might have taken him up on his offer for a game.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 D
• Film: Fuji Velvia

Walking down the street in New Orleans, I looked behind and snapped off a single frame of the colorfully garbed woman pictured. Last week’s processing showed that I missed the shot, and she’s completely out of focus — happily so, or I might have missed the reaction of the person in the background. It might have worked out better the other way around (person reacting out of focus), but I’ll just consider this one a happy accident.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 35-70 f/3.5-4.5
• Film: Fuji Velvia

A member of the NOPD gets a brief respite before the next parade starts. New Orleans is an amazing city; it seems that no city knows better how to throw a party. The infrastructure is amazing, piles of police barricades, like the one seen here, are discreetly cached along the parade routes; most of the time you don’t even notice them. The NOPD can erect the barricades and close the parade route with half and hour of work, and with only another half hour between parades they can tear down and setup for a different parade route. In many cases the police allow cars on major arteries along the route during the 30 minutes between parades. No city I’ve seen has the infrastructure invested for a party the way New Orleans does — hats off guys!

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 35-70 f/3.5-4.5
• Film: Fuji Velvia

Going back to graduate school had a few advantages, namely I could get out and shoot more often. One of the first events I made photos at on campus was Maryland Day 2002. The fountain in the middle of McKeldin Mall was filled with rubber duckies, and children were fishing them out using nets. This young man came prepared for any weather (or a quick push into the fountain).

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 D
• Film: Kodak Tri-X

My friend Scott and I went to Brookside Gardens last week, and ended up taking shots of the same sculpture. You can find his renditions here. I went to the gardens pretty often when I was young, and it was surprising how little I recognized the beauty of the venue until now.

• Format: 35mm
• Camera: Nikon N80
• Lens: Nikon AF 80-200 f/2.8 D @ 80mm
• Exposure: 1/90 sec. @ f/2.8
• Film: Fuji Velvia