Category Archives: Travel

Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel, Washington DC

Fort Washington

May 3, 2016 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

On the same day I went to Fort Foote, I kept on driving south into Maryland until I got to Fort Washington, proper. Fort Washington the fort is located in Fort Washington, the town, and to arrive there you drive through some rambling suburban tracts. Like Fort Foote, Fort Washington sits on the banks of the Potomac River atop a peninsula formed by Piscataway Creek’s entrance into the Potomac River. It, however, was not intended to be a temporary site but rather has been occupied and fortified since before the War of 1812. Its use as an active military base ended after World War II, but most of the structures you see were built between 1800 and 1918.

These first two images are of the gate in the early 19th century fortifications. This was the entrance that connects the hilltop fortifications to the water battery at river level.

The water battery structures date to the first decades of the 20th century. You can see they are much lower, made of steel and concrete. The front side is protected by an earthen berm. The bunkers would have held the troops manning the now-dismounted cannon and communications equipment to control the batteries from within the fort.

There is something both ominous and at the same time hopeful about these structures, viewed from the land side. The bunker doorway looks like an entrance to the underworld.

The stairs, however, now stripped of their weaponry, point to an upward journey, facing the unknown. They’re the prow of a ship, a pathway to adventure, or perhaps a Mayan temple at whose top great mysteries will be revealed.

The clouds above tease the possibility of rain, but it will be a gentle rain, not a thundering downpour. They’re the gateway to the horizon.

Business, Photography, Portraits, Travel

Self-Promotion Tips & Tricks

February 14, 2016 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

One of the most important things you can do as a photographer is interact with the general public a.k.a. your audience. Often you don’t have a lot of time to sit down with them, have a nice chat over coffee, and explain what you photograph, how, and why. You need a memorable leave-behind that will intrigue them enough to get them to come back to your website or blog (ahem!), look at your work in depth, and interest them in hiring your services or buying your work.

I’ve made multiple attempts at business cards of various designs. They’ve all been reasonably successful, but I think a lot of them have been too busy, graphically speaking. I saw an ad on Facebook with a promo code for Moo, who print business cards with a few unique touches, and decided I’d try them out. One of the features they offer is the ability to print many different designs in small batches- you can do one design for your text side, and upload up to 50 images to put on the back. Print runs start as small as 50 cards, so you could end up with all your cards being unique.

In this case, I wanted to do two different lines of cards, to promote my portrait work and my travel photography. I uploaded ten images from each of my relevant portfolios and had a run of 200 cards printed. Above you can see the travel portfolio in the mini card holder box that came with the cards. The card box makes a great display piece for on a table or desk.

Here is the portrait portfolio. That’s another benefit to the Moo business cards- with the multiple designs, you can carry an entire portfolio in your pocket all the time.

business card profile

The third quality I really appreciate is the paper stock options. I opted for the premium heavy-weight paper stock with a middle ply in an accent color, in this case black. It’s yet another characteristic that can set your cards apart from everyone else.

Wether you’re handing out cards to individuals or making a mini presentation portfolio to mail to a potential client, Moo cards can help you stand out. You can get more information about them by going to Moo.com. In addition to the square cards, they have traditional rectangular cards, mini cards, and other promotional products on a range of paper stocks to fit a wide range of budgets.

Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Panoramics, Photography, Travel

Panoramas of the Colosseum, Rome

January 21, 2016 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Photographing the Colosseum was one of the primary reasons I brought the Belair X/6-12. I knew already that I wanted to take panoramic shots of the building, as just about anything else aspect ratio-wise was not going to do the place justice. I think (I hope, anyway) that these give you somewhat of a sense of the scale of the building – it sits in a large open plaza and is every bit as large as a modern American Football stadium, seating somewhere in excess of 50,000 people. A testament to its architectural genius is that the entire stadium could be emptied in a matter of minutes.

These views depict the outer curtain wall, of which only a fraction remains. In fact, almost 2/3 of the original stadium and its decorations are gone – the columns, marble seats, wooden flooring and doors and bronze and gold decorations are all lost to the ravages of earthquakes, vandals, fires, and architectural re-purposing.

An astounding fact about the outer curtain wall – there is NO mortar used in its construction. The entire edifice was assembled and held together by iron bow-tie shaped clamps interconnecting each block.

Black and White, Landscapes, Medium Format Cameras, Panoramics, Photography, Travel

Roman Panoramas – Pines of Rome

January 19, 2016 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

So I was busy and didn’t get around to developing the last few rolls from my Italian adventure until a couple days ago. I’m working through them now – they’re all panoramic shots taken with my Lomo Belair X/6-12. I’m still on the fence about whether and how much I like it.

In this case, it worked. Quite well in fact. This is one of the famous “Pines of Rome” – the umbrella pine – that are ubiquitous throughout the city and the region. They’re the source of the pine nuts used in making pesto. The umbrella pine is such a signature emblem of Rome I needed to take a photo of it by itself because now having been there, I can’t think of the city without thinking of the pines.

Architecture, Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Street, Travel

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere

December 17, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

The Piazza Santa Cecilia is one of the focal points of my part of Trastevere. It is named after the eponymous church and convent that borders its west side. The lantern on #21 Piazza Santa Cecilia casts a long shadow in the light of dawn:

The Piazza dei Mercanti abuts the Piazza Santa Cecilia. In this view as the sun sets and the street lamps come on, there’s not much to see of the piazza itself from all the cars parked in it, but a very large restaurant faces it that does a bustling business on a warm fall evening. A neighborhood resident is out for a stroll, perhaps on their way to the coffee bar up the street.

Piazza dei Mercanti, Evening, from the Piazza Santa Cecilia

Santa Cecilia’s courtyard remains open quite late into the evening, and the public can come and go through the gates. There has been a church on the site since the 3rd Century AD, when it was built over the location of St. Cecilia’s house. The main body of the church dates to the 13th Century, and some 9th century mosaics are preserved within. The facade and the courtyard are 18th century renovations, however.

This cherub keystones the arch over the main gate to the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard you can view the 18th century facade of the church, ancient mosaics and an ancient cantharus or water urn that now is the centerpiece to a fountain. The bell tower dates to the 12th Century, and looms over pretty much the entire neighborhood. Here young couples sit on the edge of the fountain to canoodle while admiring the church before wandering off to dinner or perhaps a more appropriate intimate location.

Architecture, Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Street, Travel

Trastevere Alleys

December 17, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

I rented an apartment at 38 Via Dei Genovesi in Trastevere for my stay in Rome. I wanted to get something of a more authentic Roman living experience rather than stay in a touristy hotel or b&b, without giving up the convenience of a central location. I got that in Trastevere – narrow cobblestone streets, populated with neighborhood restaurants frequented by locals and tourists alike, a little grocery store and bakery across the street, a coffee shop downstairs, and boutiques with interesting merchandise in the alleyways surrounding the apartment. Two blocks away was the street car that would take me to the Piazza Venezia, or the Trastevere train station in the other direction. Dante’s house in Rome was across the street from the street car stop.

The downsides? Well, the first one wasn’t so bad – I was on the fourth floor of what may well have been a 15th century building, so walking up and down it was. I wanted and needed the exercise. The second, that was my downfall, pardon the pun – there were down pillows on my bed, and as it turns out I am hyper-allergic to them. As in couldn’t really be in the same apartment with them, let alone use them. Also, for whatever reason, the apartment despite being four stories above the street, was exceptionally noisy. Pretty much twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Trash trucks would come rumbling through at 3 AM. That kind of noisy. I could deal with the people spilling out of the restaurants at midnight – that would be easy enough to sleep through for me. It’s the inorganic noises that get me. I would still highly recommend Trastevere as a fantastic neighborhood to stay in for all the above mentioned reasons – location, ambience, food – just not the apartment I stayed in.

How could you resist the charms of a neighborhood where THIS is a street? It makes you feel like any minute Robert Langdon is going to step out of a doorway and implore your assistance in solving another Renaissance Art code/murder mystery.

Street parking being somewhat at a premium, and garage parking extremely so, lots of people ride vintage bicycles around the neighborhood. Here’s one that belongs to a neighbor…

This flowering vine has been allowed to grow for possibly centuries until it has turned into a tree, swallowing the downspout and enveloping the wall, leaving room for the mailbox and its door just beyond.

Here a late-opening book shop is perused by a customer as night envelops the neighborhood.

Nuove Edizione Romane — Nuove Edizioni Romane

Black and White, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Portraits, Street, Travel

Ordinary Objects, Italian Edition

December 17, 2015 dcphotoartist 3 Comments

As you may well know if you’ve followed my blog for some length of time, I like taking portraits of ordinary objects- things we see in daily life and ignore and/or take for granted, like pay phones, water fountains, traffic cones, and trash cans. I’ve photographed them in Paris, Toronto, New York, Washington DC and now Rome and Florence. They all have a common denominator of their base functionality. I think though that the Italian ones seem to have just a bit more flair and style to them – take a look and see what you think.

This fire hose connector is probably the newest thing I’ve photographed in this series – the copper connecting pipe has only just begun to oxidize!

In contrast, this trash can in Florence with cigarette butt receptacle is quite well-used, but still has style.

… as does this Roman bin across from the Capitoline hill.

The poor mailbox in Trastevere has been graffiti’d and stickered and it still soldiers on.

Don’t you wish all payphones were this glamorous (and as easy to find)? Here in DC when I went to find a payphone to photograph, it took me several days of looking before I ran into one. I saw this one on my first day in Florence.

I’ll include this because it has a very utilitarian purpose – it’s a street lamp. Granted, a 15th century street lamp attached to a palace, but a street lamp nonetheless.

A public drinking fountain. These were ubiquitous across Rome, in very much the same form, some in better and some in worse condition. But they worked, and the water was sweet and clean, always flowing, and free.

A lowly door handle – this one in particular is attached to a palace, but there were plenty to be found of similar quality on middle-class residences in both Rome and Florence.

And last but not least, a traffic cone. Well, in this case, a red granite bollard some four feet high and three-ish in diameter, in the entrance courtyard to the Palazzo Barberini.

Architecture, Black and White, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Theater of Marcellus

December 8, 2015 dcphotoartist 2 Comments

Today, the remains of the Theater of Marcellus are visible beneath the fortified palazzo on top. At the time of its construction in 11 BC, it could hold 14,000 spectators. If the structural design looks familiar, it’s because it inspired the design of the Colosseum some 60 years later.

In the 1300s it was acquired by the Fabii family who turned it into a fortress. Later the Orsini family acquired it in the 16th century and hired an architect to convert it into a palazzo. The residential structure you see on the top three floors is that conversion. Today the palazzo has been divided up into multiple apartments. How cool would that be to live in a 16th century palace built on 1st century BC foundations?

Apartments over the Theater of Marcellus

Under the heading of “who wears it better?” – Which works better, the black-and-white or the color?

Theater of Marcellus, Detail, Black-and-White

Immediately behind the theater is the ruins of the temple of Apollo Sosianus (so named for the man responsible for reconstructing it in the style we see today). There was a temple to Apollo on this site since the 5th century BC. It was originally outside the main city boundaries because it was a foreign cult, imported from Greece. It sits directly across the Roman street from the Theater of Marcellus. Because of the proximity to the city walls, the Senate chambers and the theater, many backroom political deals were struck in its chambers.

The three columns you see today were re-discovered and re-erected in the 1930s after the demolition of an apartment building to re-expose to view the Theater of Marcellus. The columns’ pieces were found in the arcades of the theater. While they have been placed on the pedestal and re-topped with their capitals and frieze, it is highly unlikely that they are in their actual original positions.

Architecture, Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Peace Memorial Fountain, Capitoline Hill

December 8, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

In the Piazzale Caffarelli on the Capitoline Hill, there is this small fountain dedicated to those who have died in the cause of peace, both civilian and military. The little park is a quiet pause from the hustle and bustle of the city of Rome.

Black and White, Cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

A Jaguar in the Rain

December 8, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

At the foot of the stairs to Santa Maria in Aracoeli, I came upon this vintage Jaguar pressed into wedding limo duty. That it was raining didn’t seem to disturb the old gal – she was still looking magnificent.

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