Washington DC - More Downtown

May 15, 2016

This April the family traveled to Washington, D.C. for Spring Break. We enjoyed absolutely gorgeous Spring weather while we explored the city and its many museums and monuments. According to the Fitbit, we covered approximately 20 miles in our three and a half day visit that included the National Mall, the National Archives, the Smithsonian's Natural History and Air & Space Museum, the National Zoo, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, the International Spy Museum, and many other sites and sounds along the way.

For the trip, I brought along the Fuji X100s and a couple of 32GB flash cards amassing just shy of 1000 images throughout the week. All the photographs were shot handheld and often times in very challenging lighting conditions. I primarily shot at F2.8 and F4.0 indoors, while stopping down to F8.0 and F11.0 on occasion when outdoors.

Above, the Starbucks sign in the Grand Hyatt hotel and my son posing in front of the future Trump Hotel ... backstory ... all trip my son took pleasure in trying to work my wife and I up with the thought of Trump becoming president, so I was able to get him to pose in front of the sign for a pictorial reminder of his youthful ignorance one day in the future.

Below is the lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel.

The International Spy museum was well worth the visit.

Reflections downtown.

Interesting colors captured walking back to our hotel early evening.

A close-up detail shot from our walks downtown.

A Bentley and a Rolls Royce (behind).

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Washington DC - Smithsonian Institute's Natural History Museum

May 14, 2016

On Sunday, we visited the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History. One can spend hours in the Hall of Human Origins alone.

Two of my favorite photos from our trip were taken here. The first was taken in the National Geographic's Best of the Best Nature Photography Twentieth Anniversary gallery. There were some exceptional photographs on display. I was fortunate to come across a young lady completely absorbed in the Youth Photography category included below. The second was a very large print of a animal in a tree and I asked my son to stand below it and look up; one of the few times during the trip I could get either of children to pose for me.

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Washington DC - Smithsonian Institute's Steven Udvar-Hazy Center

May 2, 2016

Entering the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven .F Udvar-Hazy Center

During our trip to Washington, DC we drove out to Dulles Airport to visit the Smithsonian Institute's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a collection of the National Air & Space Museum. Let me tell you, this is worth the trip!

Steve Fossett's record-setting Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer

Entering the museum you are greeted by the sight of the Discovery space shuttle in the far back and as you make your way into the main hangar the expansiveness of the museum comes into complete view. To your left are collections including a Boeing 707, the Enola Gay, and the Concorde to name just a few. To your right is a F-14 Tomcat, a X-35B STOVL, and a MIG-15. Just below is the world-famous SR-71 Blackbird.

If that was all the museum contained, it would be worth the trip alone, but as we explored the museum we came across such iconic aircraft as the Langley Aerodrome (ok, technically this never actually flew), the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, a Messerschmitt ME-163 B-1a Komet, and a couple Horton HO models undergoing restoration. Then there was a V2 rocket chamber and one of Goddard's rocket motor.

Did I mention this was all for the $15 price of parking!

Needless to say the Fuji X100s received quite the workout. The lighting was low, but descent. I mostly shot at F4 handheld with a few pictures at F2.8 when required. Thankfully the museum was not very crowded and that allowed us to take our time and I amassed nearly 400 images during our visit.

I've included a small subset of images here.

Hope you enjoy!

Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress — *Enola Gay* **Boeing B-29 Superfortress**

Horton HO in the restoration hangar under cover.

Boeing 307 Stratoliner "Clipper Flying Cloud"

Main engines and tail of Space Shuttle Discovery

Thermal protection tiles of the Space Shuttle Discovery

Showing signs of re-entry, a closeup view of the thermal protection tiles of Space Shuttle Discovery

Restoration hangar in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

A beautiful Spring day in downtown Washington DC

Washington DC - Downtown

May 1, 2016

This is the second post consisting of images taken in downtown Washington D.C. as we made our way from one location to another.

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The National Archives ... no photography inside

Statues and monuments everywhere. The General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument.

Washington DC - The National Mall

April 30, 2016

Upon returning home and reviewing the images, I was quite happy with the results from the Fuji X100s. I intentionally left the Canon 7D Mark II home because I did now want to carry it and its lenses around all week. Overall this was a good choice, but I did miss the EF 100-400 at the National Zoo as the animals were quite active, including the pandas.

I will be breaking the images from the trip up into separate posts. Up first here are the images taken over a couple days from the National Mall and memorials.

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by!

The Washington Monument from the World War II memorial

World War II memorial: Admiral Nimitz quote — World War II memorial: Admiral Nimitz quote

The Washington Monument reflection in the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial

CPSC Cobras Game 01 of the USYS/ENYS Tournament

March 28, 2016

Sunday March 20th was the Clifton Park Soccer Club Cobras first out door game of the year. It was also Game 1 of Round 1 of the 2016 US Youth Soccer Eastern NY State Championship U12SS played at Colonie, NY. The weather was chilly, but thankfully there was no wind making it very tolerable with a light coat and gloves.

The game kicked-off at 1 pm and it was moderately overcast making for very favorable shooting conditions with minimal shadows. It was a very exciting game resulting in a 2-2 tie at half time and the Cobras ultimately pulling away in the second half to win 5-2. Interestingly, the Cobras had lost to the Colonie team twice in a row during indoor play including a game the day before...go figure.

I shot with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens from the parents sideline. Unfortunately in these games, parents are only allowed on one side of the field making for limited camera angles. In all, I took some 900+ photos ultimately culling those down to approximately 200 images. Of those 200 images, I've pulled my favorites into this post. I must say, of those 900 images I found less than 10 photos out of focus or back-focussed; the Canon 7D Mark II does a really great job in this environment.

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Skying for a header at mid-field down 0-1

Fighting for possession of the ball (out of frame above the players) down 2-1

Working hard for the go ahead goal at 2-2

A Defender clearing the ball knotted at 2-2

Making a run, but called off-sides at 2-2

The keeper tracking the ball after the opposing team's forward slid behind the defense...ultimately making the save to the Keeper's right to maintain the 2-2 score

Still working for that go-ahead goal at 2-2

Looking for a cross to center in the second half ahead 3-2

Header off a corner kick saved by the keeper at 4-2

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