Washington DC Synopsis

Sev­eral weeks ago the chil­dren and I had the oppor­tu­nity to travel with Brian for the Dru­pal­Con 2009 Con­fer­ence in Wash­ing­ton DC. After see­ing the vibe exhib­ited by all atten­dees, I would love to sit in on some of the great talks that will hap­pen at the next con­fer­ence. It also hap­pens to be in Paris the next go ’round which is just a bonus in itself.

On this trip though, I had lots of time to sight-see with the chil­dren. We went to a sci­ence museum just blocks from our hotel and went on the tra­di­tional mon­u­ment and White House walk­ing tours. We walked all over the city and the chil­dren loved rid­ing on the metro. Even though I did steer us onto the wrong route a cou­ple of times, they were good sports and enjoyed the rides. We ate some really deli­cious Chi­nese food in Chi­na­town which made us miss the old Hunan even more. We also had some good Indian and Thai while we were there.

Besides the great food and sight­see­ing, the one mem­ory I am left with, about our visit to the United States Cap­tial, is that the peo­ple, whether they were vis­it­ing, work­ing or lived there, were so friendly. Every­where I went, I was struck by how every­day peo­ple offered their help with hold­ing a door open, help­ing with direc­tions or just a quick con­ver­sa­tion on the metro.

We had pleas­ant inter­ac­tions with many peo­ple who worked in restau­rants, muse­ums and even side­walk snack wag­ons. Every busi­ness we went to had employ­ees who were inter­ested in show­ing us points of inter­est around the city. We had con­ver­sa­tions with fire­fight­ers, metro employ­ees and peo­ple just walk­ing nearby or rid­ing the same ele­va­tor. I was thor­oughly impressed with the care employ­ees and every­day peo­ple showed to their fel­low man. I was expect­ing big city stereo­types but was pleas­antly sur­prised with small-town kind­ness. It was extremely refresh­ing to expe­ri­ence this kind of con­sid­er­a­tion in such a big, diverse city. I am proud of the peo­ple I met there and proud to call Wash­ing­ton D.C., America’s Friend­liest City.

To see a slide show of pho­tos from out trip to DC, click on the photo below. If you pre­fer to browse my gallery at your own pace click here.

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Aperture Nature Photography Workshops Contest

This Week in Pho­tog­ra­phy is spon­sor­ing a new con­test (in addi­tion to their bi-weekly assign­ments) where sev­eral ama­teur pho­tog­ra­phers will get the chance to go to four dif­fer­ent US national parks (Olympic, Tetons, Yosemite and Yel­low­stone) and receive train­ing and tips from pro­fes­sional pho­tog­ra­phers. They are hold­ing four dif­fer­ent con­tests and the first has only one week left for sub­mis­sions. My dad went to Yosemite one sum­mer on vaca­tion and I would love to go not only for the beau­ti­ful scenery but also for the chance to receive instruc­tion from some very tal­ented artists. I have just put up a vot­ing wid­get in my side­bar so vote for my photo if you think it is worth your vote and also check out the other sub­mis­sions. There are a lot of really well made pho­tographs sub­mit­ted already so it looks as though a lot of peo­ple are as excited about this oppor­tu­nity in the same way that I am.

UPDATE: Vot­ing is now closed. Thank you to all who voted for my photo.

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The Craft of Colored Glass

Not only was my dad a pho­tog­ra­pher but he was a crafter as well. He enjoyed wood­work­ing and stained glass. He made one large win­dow piece in a bath­room and many tran­som pieces for two houses he owned in Florida. I remem­ber being fas­ci­nated with the extra­or­di­nary col­ors and pat­terns which made up the glass he used. When I went with him on a trip to Europe we were both in awe of the amaz­ing stained glass win­dows in the gothic cathe­dral Notre-Dame de Reims in Paris, France. My father also took classes to learn more about this art after he moved to North Car­olina because he had planned on mak­ing many more dur­ing his retire­ment years. Also, a for­mer co-worker of mine used to make small lit­tle sun-catcher stained glass pieces and she gave one to me as a christ­mas present.

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