The People (and squirrels) of D.C.

 I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks!  I've been working on this post on and off since I got back and am glad to be done. Lol.  It's a wicked long one and I understand if you don't want to read the whole thing, but I hope you'll browse through the photos.  :o)


*smiles*  This was a fun trip. My friend, Libby from Libby McGowan Photography  and I drove up on Sunday to attend WPPI Road Trip in Washington D.C.

Day 1

Sunday.  I left my house around 7:30 am to drive to Raleigh where I met Libby and loaded all my stuff in her cute, alien green, Kia Soul and we were on our way to D.C.  Well, it took me a little over 2 hours to get to Raleigh and we didn't get on the road until about 11:30.  But hey, we weren't in a huge hurry.  We had a pretty smooth ride - hit a little traffic but it wasn't too bad, we had plenty to talk about since we hadn't seen each other since June or July...I can't remember.  By the way Libby listens to what she refers to as "oldies," like 70's and 80's...I thought oldies were 40's and 50's!! Lol  I have video of her rockin' out.  It's great! So we're cruising up the highway and I was taking photos with my phone and posting them to Facebook (I have completely embraced my inner dorkiness) and just like that we were in D.C!  The hotel was in Silver Springs MD which is right on the outskirts of the city.  We parked (first time valet parking for me - the guys working were real nice), checked in, lugged all our "stuff" to our room, then were on our way back out the door to the metro station 3 blocks from the hotel.  We were heading to Georgetown to do a little shopping and have dinner.  We walk into the metro station not knowing what the heck we're doing and guy working says "Do you need help?"  Yes we say.  "Just like a deer in headlights!!"  No, us?  Really? He was rather sarcastic and fully enjoyed giving us a hard time, but he was NICE and HELPFUL.  He explained how to work the very intimidating machines that give us our metro cards, told us what stop to get off and best of all gave us a map. Maps are good.  Especially when you're in a foreign city.  After going through the correct gate we were on our way! (I apparently went through the wrong one and it spit my card out without my knowledge which in turn gave Metro Guy another reason to bust my chops.  It was funny...really, really funny) After successfully making it to Georgetown we then found the street we needed to be on and it was beautiful! Dusk was approaching, there was a feeling of Fall approaching in the air so Libby and I just walked and browsed the shops with cameras in tow.  We ate dinner at the coolest burger place I've EVER seen.  Seriously I expected Nikki Sixx and Kat Von D to walk through the door any minute. It was rad.  After dinner we again successfully made our way back to hotel (but not before I gave Metro Guy a great big thumbs up) and crashed for the night.

Day 2

Monday.  Up at 6:00, registration started at 7:00.  We got down to the meeting room early enough to ensure good seats.  There was another room where the vendors were set up and man-oh-man that was a sight.  I left with a bag full of samples, coupons and information.  The first speaker was Greg Gibson he talked about his history as a photographer, his workflow and editing process.  I learned several things from him.  Next up was Clay Blackmore.  This guy had so much energy and was very enthusiastic about what he was speaking about which was mainly portrait posing and lighting.  He brought a whole set up with him, took a member of the audience up there and showed us how he does his posing.  Clay also integrated a lot of video in with his work and that was interesting to see.  And his gear!  Oh his gear was sick! I must have sat with my mouth hanging open for a bit because some of the lenses that guy had was crazy.  After lunch brought Lindsay Alder and I loooved her.  She's very down to earth and really knows her stuff.  She talked about organization of gear, photos, hard drives etc.  I ended up buying her book at the end of the day and had the chance to chat with her for a few minutes.  Turns out she does a lot of workshops etc in NYC.  Hey, any excuse for a road trip, right?  And of course last, but not certainly not least, was Jasmine Star.  Jasmine walked in the room and people immediately started lining up to talk to her.  She's an incredible person and photographer who has made her career from "keeping it real," and just being herself.  She discussed social networking and marketing with very little money - two things she is very good and successful at.  I think the one thing from that day that really spoke about Jasmine as a person was how long she stayed after to meet and take pictures with everyone in the very, very long line waiting to see her.  I didn't take too many photos this day, however, I did take a TON of notes.

Day 3

Tuesday.  I told myself I would sleep in, but 6:30 came along and I was wide awake.  I knew it would take me longer than Libby to get all my stuff together and get ready for the day, so after lying around for about an hour I got up.  (Did I mention how much I packed? I'm one of those people who has to prepare for everything...what if it rains?  what if it's really cold?  what if it get's unbearable hot?  I like to be prepared)  After a yummy breakfast and latte at Panera we checked out of the hotel and made our way a little south of D.C to a metro stop.  The GPS took us right. through. D.C..  The traffic was nuts. Libby drove, I took pics out my window (total tourist) and we eventually made it through. We took the metro to the Mall and were greeted by The Capital Building and Washington Monument.  After snapping a few pics and consulting the map we headed over to the National Gallery of Art.

Before going to the gallery we walked a little through the sculpture garden.  There was a huge fountain with benches all around and people were relaxing watching the water.  One thing I found was the squirrels and birds are very friendly as I’m sure they get fed a lot.  Well this little squirrel was frolicking along the back of the benches (at one point I thought he was going to jump on a woman's head), not shy at all. 

After saying bye to Mr. Squirrel we headed to the Gallery.  When I walked through the doors I was in heaven!  Libby wandered off into the sculpture area and I got lost amongst the works of Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, Matisse, Monet, Di Vinci and many, many more.  It was surreal, peaceful, calming...

Libby and I met back up, found a couch to relax on and decided to do a impromptu shoot so we could get some head shots of each other.  Now I can be like “Oh that head shot? That was taken at the National Gallery of Art.” SWEET! :oP  We got some good shots of each other both serious and silly.

After lunch we made our way to the East Gallery where the modern art is.  There was a walkway to the Gallery that had a moving walkway and beautiful, beautiful lights running in different patterns through it.  It’s hard to describe, but luckily I had my camera to take lots of photos. :o)

I haven’t been exposed to a lot of modern art and must say I loved it too.  It can’t take the place of my love for Impressionism, but it’s close.  Out of all the artists of the day Edvard Munch stood out to me the most.  I had only seen The Scream so I didn’t quite know what to expect.  He is amazing.  He did multiple versions of his art and seeing them in sequence was mind blowing. It made me think of photography – how we do multiple versions of one photo whether in photoshop or in camera and how it can create a total different look and feel.  It was. Completely. Silent. In his gallery.  You couldn’t hear people walking, the lights were dim – the mood was dark.  His work and the atmosphere opened a small window into his mind – I’ve never experienced anything like it.

We finished up at the Gallery and began the very long walk to the Lincoln Memorial. Ah-mazing!  I loved the variety of people we saw.....so much that I took photos of random people and made a storyboard.  Hehe

 I had toured D.C several times as a kid but this was my first time as an adult and I had a greater appreciation for everything.  My feet felt like they were going to fall off, but it was all worth it.  I learned so much, saw so much and returned home with so many ideas and things to do I had to make a very long list to keep it all straight.  I look forward to crossing things off that list and adding to it.


Peace & Love,
Kate