Like many things in the COVID world, this great museum is closed right now…. I love the architecture of this building, which is so different compared to the rest of the Smithsonian facilities on the Washington Mall. Good stuff.
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Seru Largu means large hill and from this large hill in Bonaire you can see the capital city (Kralendijk) and the island of Klein Bonaire. A religious group constructed this monument with the words “Krisu Ayera Awe Semper” which means “Christ, Yesterday, Today and Forever”. Not only do you get a great view from this spot to see the island, but this small monument is pretty cool as well.
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I hope you’re having a great day. Here is a photo I took 2 years ago of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. I love the look of all that marble.
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This sculpture in Kiev is part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. This photo doesn’t do the sculpture justice….it is very big, very big. This stainless steel statue is over 203 feet tall and weighs 560 tons. The sword is 52 feet long and the shield is 43 feet long/26 feet wide. The Soviets build this to impress.
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I couldn’t think of a clever name for this blog post. Frankly, I’ve never been good at that. I see other photographers posting extremely clever names for their photos and blog posts. That’s just not me. I guess I’m just not that funny. How would you label this post?
Regardless of the title, I really like this photo of the National Mall in Washington D.C. I got extremely lucky to find this spot without dozens of tourists standing in my photo.
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This massive statue sits on top of the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)…we know it as World War II. This stainless-steel statue is 203 feet tall. Counting the museum building it sit on, the entire structure is 335 feet tall and it weighs 560 tons. The sword in her right hand is 52 feet long by itself and weighs 9 tons. That’s a huge statue by any comparison!! The State Emblem of the Soviet Union is on the shield. Even though this war ended in 1945, they didn’t start the construction of this statue until 1979 and it was completed in 1981.
In Kiev, Ukraine where this is located, the statue is controversial due to Ukraine’s complicated and currently rough relationship with Russia. Blair and I spent a few hours walking around this national park photographing the war monuments, tanks, etc…. If you’re wondering, the blue and yellow tank in the foreground is painted the Ukrainian colors.
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Happy MLK day (national holiday in the United States.) I took this photo during one of my last trips to Washington D.C. This is a great and underrated national monument.
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I took this photo in August while MJ and I were in Washington DC visiting friends. We stayed at a hotel a few blocks from the White House and I went over at sunset to capture some images. I had a hard time capturing any without the protesters who were in front. So I had to get creative with my composition.
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This monument needs no introduction. MJ and I recently visited Arlington National Cemetery and this spot. The weather (heat) was extremely hot, but we had a great day regardless.
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It is almost time for my annual pilgrimage into Washington D.C. for the Baldrige Examiner training. While I am there, I try to get into the city to photograph as much as possible. That’s my plan this year as well, along with having dinner with my cousin Eric. Should be fun.
This photo is from last year’s trip. As you can tell, this is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.
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This is a 7-exposure HDR photo I created from my Washington DC trip last spring. I had to wait around the monument for about an hour to get a time without tourist in the way, walking in front of me, looking at the monument, etc…. Those darn tourist!!! What are they thinking, when they visit these sites and get in my way???? You know it is all about me.
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It’s been a long couple of weeks lately and today was tough. We lost a family pet today due to a tumor. I’ll stop there with that subject.
So here is a quick post tonight. The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorite monuments in Washington D.C. Something about his statute looking down at you is impressive. I also love all the details built into the statute and the surrounding structure.
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I posted a similar picture over a year ago. I think this one is nice and posted it even though it is similar. This is a picture of the Washington Monument from within the Jefferson Memorial at sunset.
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Well it is pretty clear where I took this photo. I have been in the Washington DC area all week for Baldrige Examiner Training. Every night after training ends, I’ve been running into the downtown area to photograph some of the sites. I also had dinner Tuesday night with an old friend (Julie Briggs), her husband Todd, and their daughter Natalie. It was nice catching up with them.
This was my first time at the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument.
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This weekend, MJ and I traveled back to Kzoo (Kalamazoo) to visit some friends we haven’t seen since we moved to Pittsburgh back in 2010. This trip was long over due. We had a great time and got to see some great friends, but I’ll say that I am exhausted. Oh, and driving across the State of Ohio is at the top of my “10 Least Favorite Things” list. It’s just such a boring looking State. It doesn’t seem to matter where you go in Ohio; it is just plain boring. How’d I get on that subject, anyway…..
While we were in Kzoo, I drove around the city and WMU (Western Michigan University) to see many of our old stomping grounds.
While on the university campus, I took this picture of the WMU Bronco in front of their student rec center and basketball stadium. When we lived there, I probably walked past this monument dozens of times on the way to watch NCAA WMU men’s basketball games. Go Broncos!!
Special note: MJ and I want to thank everyone who took time out of their schedules this weekend to visit with us while we were in Kzoo. Thanks.
Muir Woods National Monument
This amazing 554 acres of California Redwoods sits just 12 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge outside of San Francisco. It is the only section of Redwoods left in this part of California after millions of acres were cut down in the 1800s for railroad ties and other construction projections. John Muir and the Kent family saved the woods by talking President Theodore Roosevelt into declaring it a national monument. Otherwise it would have been destroyed with the rest of the Redwood trees in the area. Not only are the trees great, but they are super close to downtown San Francisco.
Hiking through the woods was peaceful and had us wanting more. This small redwood forest made us want to see Redwood National Park in northern California. Maybe next trip.
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About a year ago, I spent four days outside the Washington DC area for work. On two of those evenings, I drove into the city to photograph the monuments and government buildings. On the second night, I had Kuruvilla Markose with me, who was visiting from India for the same work event. We had a great time walking around the monuments taking photographs and talking about our countries and cultures.
We planned to be at the Lincoln Memorial around sunset. I have taken photos of it in the past, but not at sunset and I thought it might be cool. What I wasn’t planning on was the massive amount of people there at that time of day. It was covered with so many people, it reminded me of an angry anthill. Regardless, I got some great photos that night and wanted to share one with you.
* Abraham Lincoln was our 16th President
* Architect was Henry Bacon
* Dedicated in 1922
* Built in the form of a Greek Doric temple
* Includes inscriptions of The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address
* The spot where Martin Luther King delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech is marked and dated.
* It is open 24/7 to the public
I took this picture before I had my Nikon D800. So I took this with my Nikon D90 and my 14-24mm lens. This is a 3-exposure bracket set (+2, 0, -2). I merged the images using Photomatix Pro and edited it in Photoshop CS6. I took this with the tripod and I balancing on top of a four-foot tall pillar (security barrier). I stood on the pillar to get my camera above the heads of all the people. I wasn’t at risk of falling or anything, but I thought the security guards for the National Park Service might force me to get down. In the end, they never said a word to me.
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