DC in November 2023
I haven’t been Washington D.C. since 2007, feels like a lifetime ago because it was. I don’t remember much about it at all so I figured it was time to make a revisit. This time I would be hanging out with Juan and Diane for the weekend. I packed the Minolta with the 50mm and 70-210mm lenses as well as the Samurai. This trip would be a bit of a warm-up for an upcoming trip to Japan the following weekend.
After eating some delicious bagels for breakfast, we headed toward the local station to ride the metro into downtown.
I loaded the Samurai with a roll of Fuji 400 again. I also happened to have already loaded the Minolta with Fuji 400 a few days before. I saw this cat in the backyard and had to speed load the camera to try taking a picture and this was the only film I had laying around. I took the opportunity to try being a nature photographer.
Not the most exciting trip in terms of film stock choices, but I’ve been working on checking out more variety as of recent. I’m really not a fan of this Fuji 400 anymore.
Crazy lawn chair kart in the art museum.
After checking out the art museum we took a stroll by the White House then rented some bikes and rode all the way to the Lincoln memorial
I had Juan take these photos of me, it was incredibly bright outside and I don’t really know how else to pose for a camera.
After Lincoln memorial we headed all the way to the Capitol building and I got these cool photos of Juan on the way with the Samurai.
We rode our bikes all the way over to Georgetown to hang out at the park. It was a really beautiful day. I threw on the 70-210mm and started spying on people.
I really like these pictures and the timing of the shot with the kid throwing the football, but the colors just don’t feel right on this film. I don’t know why but they remind me of dusty old school textbooks, specifically my high school German class.
Before making the trip up, Juan and I had agreed that we would go check out a protest. There was a Palestine rally happening in downtown and I had to take the opportunity to try getting some photos of the action. We grabbed some more rental bikes and booked all the way back to where we started.
I have always been fairly apolitical, so I have no intention of making a commentary about my thoughts on this topic. We specifically came here because I wanted to take photos. However, the energy of being here was a notable experience. I have never attended a protest or rally of any sort before. The emotions are all still very real no matter what side you pick, and feeling those emotions in person in such a large crowd is pretty remarkable.
These photos all turned out better than I expected, but I need to remember to over expose when I’m using the 70-210mm. The clouds started to roll in and the sun was dropping behind buildings so a lot of these photos are darker than I would like them to be.
This trip was certainly a memorable one and I’m looking forward to going back. Huge thank you to Juan and Diane for being excellent hosts, and especially Diane for being an incredible tour guide and ushering us idiots around.
