Dia De Los Muertos

I shot this at the Uptown Whittier day of the dead celebration. While walking around, Kathy and I came across about 10 ladies all made up beautifully with face paint and I took a few images of each of them once Kathy pointed them out to me. I'm never comfortable photographing people I don't know but it's good to stretch my capabilities once in a while.

Non-Linear

I saw a photo of this atrium on a Washington DC tour book. I showed it to Kathy and she said "I know where that is, National Portrait Gallery." We were staying not too far away so we visited. The evening was really nice, with cool temperatures and the undulating atrium roof was spectacular. The locals seem to hang out here, buying coffee and pastries and chatting one another up. Kathy is sitting on a planter on the left patiently waiting for me to finish shooting some photos and video. The "no tripods" rule is in full force here so to get this shot, I had to hold my camera over my head and press it firmly against a wall while shooting 3 frames for this HDR composite. I was able to hold it perfectly still and it worked just fine. After walking around the nearly empty galleries, we walked to a local restaurant in the fading light and had dinner.

Multiverse

Just prior to Kathy and I traveling to Washington DC, I had been reading a very interesting book about Hugh Everett's "Many-Worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. One of the concepts the reader has to wrap his or her head around is that of the existence of a multiverse, where there isn't a single universe but instead an infinite number of them which are constantly splitting. One where you ate breakfast in the morning and one where you didn't, one where you posted a photo of an interesting art installation and one where you didn't and on and on. Anyway, there are many Smithsonian art museums but on the National Mall there are two that have a walkway between them which is located below ground level. At some point a very interesting art exhibit called "multiverse" was installed. It consists of thousands of LED lights that race around making patterns that are really compelling. You can walk the length of this tunnel or ride on one of two moving sidewalk conveyor belt thingies like the two guys in the photo are doing.

The Three Muses

This lovely statue stands directly in the center of the rotunda in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's original building which opened in 1913. The rotunda has been featured in many movies over the years including Spiderman and Born Yesterday.

Ambience of Silence

Ambience of Silence, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This is the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. On the day Kathy and I visited there were very few other guests walking the galleries. It was nearly silent and the sound of our footsteps reverberated across the vast open spaces. I could almost hear the hushed voices of visitors past, diminished but not forgotten.

Chicago Blues

Chicago Blues, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Located in Millennium Park, the Crown Fountain's glass block towers pour an amazing amount of water down their sides while projecting video of the faces of common Chicago citizens. If it's windy, like it was when I took this HDR sequence, the water tends to fly around everywhere and seems especially attracted to expensive DSLR's!

Antipodes

Antipodes, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

American artist Jim Sanborn is into cryptography. There's a message hidden in this piece of artwork which is located just outside the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshorn museum. Although Manny and I stared at it for the better part of a minute, we didn't solve it.

Nave of the National Cathedral

Nave of the National Cathedral, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This vertorama was shot looking east to the main alter of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The nave will seat about 3,500 people. The flags of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and US territories line either side of the nave. Even though we arrived early, I was surprised at how few visitors were in the Cathedral. The reflections of the stained glass that were being projected onto the limestone columns were amazing. I definitely want to visit again.

I did have to apply some geometric corrections to this image. My 14mm lens tends to distort and that distortion is exaggerated by panoramas and vertoramas.

Green with Envy

Green with Envy, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Clean, Mean and Green. 2009 Uptown Whittier Car Show.

Natural History Museum - Washington DC

Natural History Museum - Washington DC, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The central rotunda of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.