90ish days of summer

On Wednesday and Thursday, we explored the flora and fauna that Washington, D.C., has to offer.

Meaning, we visited the National Zoo and the U.S. Botanical Garden.

Jeff’s neighbor Adina joined us in going to the zoo. She mentioned she’d been to two zoos in Israel, which brought up a question I’ve always wondered but never bothered researching: What kind of animals do foreign zoos have?

U.S. zoos feature animals from other countries and continents, so what do other countries’ zoos have from the U.S.? I think it’d be so strange, as an American, to go abroad, visit a zoo and see a common animal like the white-tailed deer.

Anyway. At the National Zoo, we saw pandas.

Tai Shan - the baby panda in the National Zoo - approaches a red ball in his exhibit.

I must admit, I was a panda doubter. Pandas are basically leverage in a very political game between the U.S. and China, and for a while, I scoffed at the big fuss everyone has made over having pandas on this side of the Pacific.

Then I saw the pandas on Wednesday, and my heart melted.

Because, whether you can admit it or not, pandas are freaking adorable.

At the same time, it’s hard not to realize that if pandas weren’t so d’awwwwww cute, they’d probably be extinct by now.

We also saw Happy the Hippo, who is soon leaving the National Zoo because they need the space for more smellephants in the Elephant House.

Jeff has been sending me Washington Post articles about Happy ever since August when the zoo announced he would be leaving (see the link above). For that reason alone, I wanted to see Happy and wish him well.

Happy the Hippo!

I should add now that I forgot to convert all these files from Adobe RGB (1998) to sRGB. The photos’ color looks fine in Safari but terrible in Firefox.

The next day (Thursday), we visited the U.S. Botanical Garden. It’s not nearly as large and landscape-based/wow-factor-based as the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, but I was surprised to see the variety that was there.

I brought my strobe with me, and decided to make photography there into a challenge: Use single-flash for every single frame. Here are two that I kinda like:

I have no idea what kind of plant this is, but it definitely took me a lot of time and more than a few frames to expose correctly using the flash.

Also not sure what kind of plant this is. But hurrah for fill-flash?

Again — if these photos’ colors seem muted, I encourage you to view them in Safari. On that note, I’m not sure how they look in Internet Explorer or other browsers.

As always, more photos can be viewed HERE.

You can easily expect more posts in the coming days, with more photos from the Capitol Building, Library of Congress and the National Mall.

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90ish days of summer

Let me say this not as a photojournalism student or member of the press, but as an American citizen and taxpayer: I am deeply disappointed in the way tours and access are handled at the U.S. Capitol Building and the Library of Congress‘ Jefferson building.

You can’t do or see anything in either complex without having to register for a tour.

Maybe that’s something to be expected in this day and age, but such restriction was certainly something I didn’t anticipate at all.

Some quick backstory: Besides a three-day college-search stint in fall 2005, the last times I’d been in D.C. were summer 2001 (pre-9/11) and spring 2002. The 2001 trip was a two-week blowout wherein my family and I did touristy things for a week in D.C. and then for a week in New York City. The 2002 trip was with my eighth grade class and included the same touristy things I’d done the previous summer.

Even though those trips were seven or eight years ago, I had/have no desire to redo those tours — and neither did/does Jeff. We just want(ed) to take our time around the building and see what there is to see. So last night, I made sure to check the visitors center Web site and saw this in the FAQ:

Do I have to take a tour of the historic Capitol to enter the Capitol Visitor Center?
No, the Visitor Center is a public access building and you do not need a tour ticket to enter.

“Great!” I said. “We can just enter via the visitor center and take our time around the Capitol. None of that tour silliness.”

But when we arrived at the visitors center around 3:30 p.m., a staffer said we could access the actual Capitol Building only if we were on a tour — and the last one for the day was pretty much booked and about to leave.

What the hell.

(more…)

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90ish days of summer

SILVER SPRING, Md. — I’ve been here since Saturday afternoon, but last night was the first time Jeff and I stepped out and took a gander around the area. Downtown Silver Spring is right down the street from Jeff’s house, so naturally that was the first place he took me on a tour.

One thing I’ve noticed: Maryland is very, very green.

On the way from Jeff's house to downtown Silver Spring, Md. Very little editing was done to this photo - that's how green it is! It just screams "verdant"!

A puppy must have hit up some paint before hitting up the sidewalk in Jeff's neighborhood. Jeff said these weren't here last time he was home (winter break).

Having lived in a Houston suburb for most of my life, I am always amazed when places like movie theatres, chain restaurants, down-home restaurants, big bookstores and other such amenities are within walking distance of a residential area. My apartment in Columbia, Mo., is about three blocks from downtown — and now Jeff’s house is about five blocks from downtown.

An elderly couple pauses to read the movie posters outside the AFI Silver movie theatre in downtown Silver Spring, Md.

We covered about four miles in our evening walk, and even made a brief foray into Washington, D.C., so we could take this photo:

Today, we will probably hit up D.C. itself and some of the museums, etc. I want to get the tourist spirit out of me before I start interning at washingtonpost.com next Tuesday.

In the meantime, though, more “90ish days of summer” photos can and will be found HERE.

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