What Goes On Behind the Monuments

I figured I should post a little humor on April Fool's Day.

 

My friends and I frequently find ourselves photographing around the monuments at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Lincoln Memorial is a very common stop, and my comrades have worked on their own projects there, including photographing tourists taking "selfies" there.

 

The last time we went, I put my new Nikkor Series E 100mm f2.8 lens on my Nikon Df and decided to shoot the back and sides of the Lincoln Memorial, from ground level. Here is a triptych of images that I got, all within five minutes or so of shooting.

 

Scenes Behind the Memorial, by Reed A. George

 

A little hard to see the people at this scale? Take a look at the insets below to see what was going on in each corresponding frame above.

 

What's Really Going On, by Reed A. George

 

I think in all three cases (certainly the last), my subjects knew they were being photographed. I appreciate all of their good humor!

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Some Old Friends Play Purcellville

Some of my friends in bands got together for somewhat of a reunion last night in Purcellville, Virginia. I knew most of the people in the audience, as well as in the bands.

 

First, Jake and the Burtones opened the show.

Jake and the Burtones, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D Lens

iso 3200, f3.5, 1/125 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

 

Then, Timmy (Tmoney) Griffin and his band SpaceCanoe took over. Tmoney has moved to North Carolina for college, so we don't get to see him so often. A true creative, Timmy has been busy writing new songs.

 

TMoney, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikon Series E 100mm f2.8 Lens

iso 3200, f2.8, 1/60 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

In addition to his original tunes, Timmy and SpaceCanoe played some carefully-selected covers, including one of my favorite Grateful Dead tunes, "Brokedown Palace." I actually requested that song years ago, and Timmy worked it out for me! Awesome.

 

SpaceCanoe, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D Lens

iso 3200, f4, 1/60 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

This was a very tough show to shoot, even with my shoot-in-the-dark Nikon Df and 50mm f1.4 lens. Using the Nikon SB-600 and Gary Fong light diffuser saved the day (night). I was quite pleased with the results, given that the stage lighting was so poor (non-existent).

 

I'm especially pleased with the second image, which I made with my recently purchased, inexpensive, Nikon Series E 100mm f2.8 lens. Manual focus, in the dark. That's right. I'm proud of it. This lens will be in my travel bag in Japan; it's very sharp and oh so light compared to the also amazing 105mm f2.5 AIS Nikkor.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com