Roam, roam around

From today’s work. Tony Blair came to DC to promote his new memoir.

After being away for a long time, particularly after living in College Park, MD for three months, I finally realized I had underestimated the beauty of Athens.  Of course there was a reason for that: I was pretty much spoilt by Boulder, Colo before moving to Athens. But now I miss Athens as much as I miss some people there.

Maria loves flowers, more than I do if not as much. She brought home some carnations a couple weeks ago, which had been blooming on our dinner table until yesterday. She wanted to throw them away, but I suggested to use them once again. And we had a fun shoot. She is such a professional model!

The light in this bar, Galaxy Hut, is NOT sunlight, but street light. I suggest if a bar wants to get some publicity, the owner may want to consider choosing a place with big windows by the street, through which street light can pour into the bar!

Maria is my Romanian roommate. She is a University of Maryland Ph.D. student, a curious character with a lot of interests and a lot of theories. And she makes tasty and healthy dessert!

I was sent to cover an MGMT concert in Merriweather Pavilion, MD. It was scheduled to play at 7:30 pm. I was trapped in traffic at 6:30, still 20 miles away and looked like I would be late for the first three songs, the only time I could shoot them. When I finally managed to get there on time, I was told they won’t start until 9:30 pm. Oh, well…better than being late. And I roamed around the place and played with multiple exposures while waiting for time to shoot the first three songs of that famous band.

This is one of the reasons: I get to visit different places and do different things I wouldn’t do if I were not a photographer. When I was in China, I wouldn’t think I would visit West Point, NY…FOR FREE. And of course for an assignment (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/08/09/GA2010080905772.html?hpid=artslot). But all I do is  explore and have fun with two cameras and THIS IS MY JOB as a photographer! Simply because I am a photographer and I need to get a one-column-wide picture  for the paper, I get to go ride a 104-year-old skipjack sailboat. I don’t care how big the picture will be in the paper or whether it will be noticed or not. All I care is I was there for hours and had great fun. And the captain was so cool that he encouraged me to climb up to the sail and tip of the boat…

A drawing class at Corcoran, a wedding in Georgetown. I ran into them by accident. Really wish i could get closer to that interesting wedding. I would have never imagined westerners holding those old oriental umbrellas in a western style wedding. But this is what is happening now. The easterners are mimicking the modern westerners, while the westerners admire our ancient culture. And I see that picture a panorama image, one of the Chinese painting format. But sometimes it reminds me of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by George Seurat.

From an assignment at Westover Cafe in Arlington, VA last night. This picture has little to do with the story: kids having fun with their parents at a bar. Just loved the mural and couldn’t take my eyes off it and waited for kids to show up there. Here is a little gentlemen. He looks a little surprised – maybe the hand reaching out to him looks like a moving extension from the mural.

Two walls in a to-be-remodeled office.