" Wet Plate " Series

Smithsonian Institution Bldg ( The Castle )  /  Washington DC

 I updated my NIK Software and discovered it added a new effect - Wet Plate.  Ive always loved the look of Wet Plate or Collodion Process Images but just never made the effort to pursue it.  Even though I basically still have all the 4x5 equipment /ect - I spent many many years with a full blown Film Processing and Print Darkroom - Have sold off much of that equipment and am pretty sure my sticking my hands in chemicals days or over.  I've noticed that many Designers selecting Images for Corporate or Hospitality Interior Design Projects have been choosing stylized Black and White Images for Install.  So I've been fooling around with this effect and created a Wet Plate Series of Washington DC Images that you may see in the link below - but who knows - maybe someday I'll get around to trying the real thing

Washington DC Photos / Wet Plate Series :  

http://dcstockphotos.photoshelter.com/gallery/Wet-Plate-Series/G00003J_jRNpRIbs/

Spring Evening in Washington DC

View from the Jefferson Memorial at Sunset

I've been shooting the Cherry Blossoms in DC now for quite a few years.  I never get tired of it but it can be challenging to produce images that are not just a repeat of previous years.  Typically I go down pre-dawn and shoot as mentioned in this Popular Photography Article.  This year I decided to make my way through the mass humanity and go down in the afternoon - it was great and I was certainly successful - but I still like the early morning hours better.  Of all I shot that day this might be one of my favorite images - and it's not even of the Cherry Blossoms.  I just got a Canon 8-15mm f/4L and this is one example of what it does

Winter returns to Washington DC

“Look round and round upon this bare bleak plain, and see even here, upon a winter's day, how beautiful the shadows are! Alas! it is the nature of their kind to be so. The loveliest things in life, Tom, are but shadows; and they come and go, and change and fade away, as rapidly as these!”  - Charles Dickens

Washington DC SpringTime

iPhone w/PhotoShop Express App

 Washington DC in the Spring means one thing - Cherry Blossoms - blooming around the Tidal Basin,  Cherry Blossom Trees symbolize the natural beauty of our Nation's Capital and has become part of Washington, D.C.'s rite of spring.  This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Japan's gift to our city of over 3000 trees planted in 1912 around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, and on the grounds of the Washington Monument. I've been fortunate to have captured so many beautiful and iconic (= marketable) images over the years - I look forward to the opportunity in the coming weeks to create more images of our Beautiful City.

Postcard from this Week

See more Washington DC Photographs here: Washington DC Photography

Blatant Promo is a good thing

Photoshelter was kind enough to do a nice little piece about me and my collection of Washington DC Stock Photography. I don't do it often but occasionally do allow my serious self to come out and play. I give full credit to Andrew Fingerman, VP of Marketing with Photoshelter, for editing down my responses into what turned out to be a well written interview. I most certainly appreciate the exposure this article provided. Nothing wrong with a little blatant promo, especially now, working hard to survive the Economic Recovery. If interested take a look here:
Building a "Monumental" Photo Business.


Featured Images - Images by Randy Santos / dcstockimages.com