Photography

My camera and I went to pay tribute to Matthew Brady, the famous photographer of the Civil War. He died in 1896, and these days can best be found in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. Sure enough, he was hanging out with his pals, Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass (although they are buried elsewhere). The cemetery has many former members of Congress, soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War and Civil War and more. It also has a lot of dogs. You see, those congresspeople didn’t allocate funding for the upkeep of their graves. So the Cemetery hit upon an unusual funding strategy: for $15 you can let your dog roam free in the cemetery. And let me tell you: the dogs think this is the greatest thing ever! Rather few seemed to be concerned with paying their respects to Duffy, however. ...

On Memorial Day weekend, Karen and Kayla came to visit us in Washington. The weather o Sunday morning was gorgeous with cool, dry air and blue skies. We drove about 40 minutes to see Glenstone, an indoor and outdoor museum outside of DC. Split Rocker The most memorable sculpture is a flower-and-plant-covered wireframe of a rocking horse, which sits on top of a hill. You can see it from every direction. The artist is Jeff Koons. ...

For a week of respite from troubled times, we visited the North Fork of Long Island in April. We had some sunny, but breezy and cool days. Spring was just launching. Dramatic clouds and a new 10-stop filter gave me plenty to explore in the watery world of the Peconic Bay.

During cherry blossoms season, the Tidal Basin draws huge crowds. For something more intimate, we visited Dumbarton Oaks Gardens. Here I explored the macro capabilities of the Fujifilm XF16-80mmF4 zoom lens. The capabilities to blur the background were amazing, and I was happy to get enough photos with sharp focus (which is tricky when shooting very close to things). If you are on a larger screen, I suggest clicking a photo below so you can see it larger. Then you can scroll through all the photos with the arrow keys. ...

Spring arrived this Saturday afternoon. Late in the afternoon, Ollie and I headed to the National Arboretum looking for blossoms. As soon as we parked, we could tell we’d have plenty of beautiful trees to explore. In each direction, we saw colorful displays. The arboretum features many different varieties of Cherry trees. It was fun to see three different colors crowded together. ...