NBM House and Home

Yesterday I needed to clear my head a bit before meeting a friend of mine in Eastern Market, so I decided to swing by the National Building Museum. I didn't have any particular exhibits in mind, but I've never known the NBM to disappoint. By chance I came across the House & Home exhibit. At first glance it didn't seem like much; some displays of rooms and such. The detailed models of city and country residential structures were interesting. But the real magic was toward the end.

Imagine an issue of Dwell magazine that's 10 feet tall and consists of nothing more than full page images of beautiful, modern homes and apartments. Now instead of still images, imagine video, constantly alternating between each side of the magazine, showing people living in the homes, along with some Helvetica-like music. It really was enthralling.

On top of that, one the dwellings featured in the video was MICA's very own Gateway building. My picture above doesn't really do it justice.

If you're in the area of the National Building Museum or the Gateway building, I suggest you take 30 minutes and check them out. You won't be disappointed.

MoMA

I haven't been to MoMA since a date slip-up back in 2008. This time I was going solo, taking advantage of "Target" Free Friday Night after the O'Reilly Strata conference. It was great. The staff had the free tickets laying out on the counter just waiting to be plucked. The longest line I had to wait in was at the bag check.





The Sum of Days exhibit has to be one of the largest works of art I've ever seen. It's not as big as the Statue of Liberty, but it helps to think of it on that scale. Oh yeah, and it's indoors. If you do go check it out, be sure to go all the way up to the sixth floor to look down on it from above. The railings aren't very high though, so vertigo is not recommended.



Along the way, I stopped to check out van Gogh's Starry Night. As you can see in the picture, he knows how to draw a crowd. When I stopped in the gift shop to pick up a postcard print, I realized that most prints can't possibly do it justice. In addition to being the wrong aspect ratio (too rectangular) the vivid colts and textures just don't come through.

There were too many other amazing exhibits to list out here, so all in can say is, "Go!"

And be sure to stop at The Cart on the opposite corner afterward. When you think you've put on enough white sauce, put on a bit lot more. Somehow I'd forgotten that rule in the past couple years since I'd been there. Even in the rain, there were still plenty of places to sit on the sidewalk and admire The City rising above in every direction. It's a little bit like being on top of a mountain, or looking up at the stars, feeling big and small at the same time.

Geometric Getty

Besides being an architectural masterpiece, The Getty Research Institute is the perfect place to practice your your geometric photography skills. What am I talking about? I'm talking about clean lines and simplicity that generally lead to better photos. In other words, think of your photos more in terms of graphic design, with a few clean shapes, solid colors or smooth gradients.

John Shaw goes on a bit about this near the end of his Landscape Photography book when talking about the Palouse region of Washington. The book may be out of print now, but its lessons on composition still apply. It also has one of the best explanations of exposure (i.e. what "stops" are) that I've ever read.

Anyway, back to the Getty. Absolutely go there, enjoy the architecture, and start thinking of your photos more in terms of clean, abstract graphic designs.

My shots here were mostly taken with the 5D and 50/1.8, but you really don't need anything more than a point-and-shoot to take advantage of the amazing architecture. I feel like these photos only scratch the surface of possibilities at The Getty.











Happy shooting!

Another wave of photos

I've been pretty bad about posting lately, so here comes another wave of photos, this time from the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. I walked in with nothing but the 5D and, more importantly, the 50/1.8. The thrifty fifty saved the day in those dark aquariums. The only problem is that it makes me want the 50/1.4 even more. Hmm. Anyway, enjoy!

Botanical 50

I've been meaning to slap the 50/1.8 (thrifty-fifty) back onto the 5D for a while. Lately it seems like I've been shooting everything with the 24-105/4, but there's no substitute for getting back to basics. Yesterday I took the opportunity at the United States Botanical Garden. By using the 5D's monochrome Picture Style with a red (digital) filter, I was able to bring out some of the contrasty patterns in the plants. I can only imagine what could be done with a real macro lens.

The botanical garden is often overlooked in DC, but it's worth a quick stop. It's not that large, but has a great variety of plants and environments. I was expecting it to be deathly hot inside in the middle of summer (i.e. greenhouse effect), but it was surprisingly pleasant, especially in the dehumidified desert section.

National Building Museum

Made a stop at the National Building Museum yesterday. I'd been once in early 2005, and I've been meaning to go back ever since. This time I was shooting with a 17mm lens and a full-frame camera. Last time I was there, I had a 20mm lens on my trusty D2H; not what I could call ultra-wide. Even without a wide lens though, it's still got some great patterns and repetition that are just begging to be photographed. The daylight pours in through the building's enormous windows too, so you won't be hurting for photons.

We also had the good fortune of catching the museum's photography exhibits for Philip Trager and Camilo José Vergara. Trager's architectural photography was excellent, and the prints were very well executed. Vergara's exhibit of storefront churches was less about form and composition, and more about interesting subjects. Both are worth checking out.

Most tourists and locals completely miss the National Building Museum. If you find yourself in DC, you need to make a stop. It's just a few blocks north of the National Gallery of Art and the National Mall, so it's an easy (and safe) walk.

The Other Air and Space Museum

The Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum is well worth the trip. My friend and I drove out there yesterday. It had been on my list of places to visit for far too long.

The museum was much larger than I expected. It's about the size of the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall, but much more open.

As with all the Smithsonian museums, admission was free. Parking was $15 though, some of which probably gets kicked back to the museum. This gets no complaints from me; they deserve it. I think the parking fee is also there to discourage people from using it as a parking lot for Dulles Airport, which is literally right next door.

I was very impressed with the way they had all the aircraft lit. Most museums seem to be satisfied with harsh top lighting, but not here. They had the undersides and crevices illuminated so everyone could appreciate (and photograph) the details of things like air intakes and landing gear. If you ever want to learn how to properly light an aircraft, you need to check it out.

I was impressed with how many aircraft they'd fit into a single building, though it did get out of hand at times (see left). I was especially looking forward to seeing the Concord, but was disappointed to see that it had so many other planes encroaching on it. The SR-71 and Enterprise were very well presented though, and it was great to see them in all their glory. Other favorites included the F-14 Tomcat, F-35 Lightning II (STOVL), TDRS satellite, and the New Horizons probe.

All in all, I only wish I'd allocated more time, and that I'd brought a wider lens. I only had my usual 24-105/4 with me, but the 17-40/4 seems like it would have been very useful in some of those spaces. On the flip side, the image stabilization came in very handy in all that low light. I generally had to shoot at ISO 800 and was getting shutter speeds below 1/30. Thanks to the reciprocal rule, this should be fine at 17mm, but would be pushing it at 40mm.

Anyway, whether you bring your camera with you or not, don't put it off like I did. Go check it out!