More Pics from Washington D.C. (Part 2)....

(Photo: Congress opens it's doors to the public)
In the first part of my photoblog of Washington D.C., you probably noticed that there were very few people in the pictures. Most of the photos I take have few people in them. For some reason, when you take a photo with people in it, immediately the photo becomes dated. Clothing, hair, accessory styles change, however, usually the basic subject matter changes little over the years. Here are a few of the pictures I shot where it was impossible not to have people in the picture. I try to either keep the distance or find a way to obscure the faces so they are not recognizable. After taking a photojournalism class by a well known photojournalist (Al Golub ~ retired former head photojournalist for the Modesto Bee newspaper) I find it easier not to have people indentified without their permission. Well, anyway, here are some additional pics:
There were thousands of young children and older youth on the Mall in front of the Capitol for a chroal group singing contest. These tents in the background were where the groups warmed up and got ready to go on stage to be judged. Along with the main stage, there were an additional ten or so large tents to accomodate the singers. You could tell who the competitors were as they all wore red tee-shirts with the organizations name on them (sorry, I didn't write the name down).... From what I had heard, these groups had compeated to get to this Washington D.C. event... great sounds.
While walking the underground passage from the Longworth Congressional Office Building to the Capitol, I passed by a gallery of art. I was told the art work was from across the Nation and was the result of the 2008 Congressional Art Contest. My Congressional Aide host pointed out the works of a local high school artist (local to the 18th Congressional District which is represented by Congressman Dennis Cardoza)… The artist name is Mercedes Martinez and is titled “Stanislaus Live in Color”. (Here is a link to all of the California winners for 2008:
http://www.publicgov.org/art2008/gallery.php?File=California.xml - this photo is listed as "CA18".). I can tell you that because of the multiple lightings, it was difficult to capture this pictures beauty. Ms. Martinez did a great job representing the Stanislaus County area.


This last picture just had to bring me back to my roots... back to where the view is the subject. This shot is the view I had outside my hotel window looking West over Thomas Circle in Washington. In a later posting I will show this scene in the daylight with color and a night view. One location had dozens of views (rain soaked streets with shimmering light, cloudy skies, bright sunlight... morning glow or evening ambers, if you didn't like the shot, you only had to wait a short time for the picture to change.

That's it for this posting.