Atmospheric shot of Washington Mall

Believe it or not, these are the colors as they came out of the camera -- I like how it has a feeling of a sepia-toned black and white photo, with a few hints of color (like around the US flags). It was raining while I took the picture, but the clouds were breaking in the distance.

Orchid show

The US Botanic Gardens have a show of Orchids on until April. More pictures at picasaweb.google.com/AaroninDC/Feb2008.

Light painting

Light painting with the moonlit vista (25 second exposure at f/5, ISO 400 -- spot lit with two bursts of manual flash on trees). Moonlight only, along with faint city lights/glow. Large version here.

US National Arboretum

More at http://picasaweb.google.com/AaroninDC/Jan2008

Orange

New pictures available at my webalbum at http://picasaweb.google.com/AaroninDC/Jan2008. This one was taken with my new flash!

Great Falls, VA

From beautiful Great Falls, VA. That is the Potomac River falling -- later it flows through the capital city.

See more at http://picasaweb.google.com/AaroninDC/November2007

Solar Decathalon

Images from the Solar Decathalon competition. The challenge: build an entirely solar-powered house on the National Mall in ten (?) days.

Note the aquatic plants above.

The Lone-star state team. Yes, those cowboy hats are actually hard hats. Take a close look.

The Maryland team.

Solar Decathalon

There were lots of plants in all the designs (above and below).

The best part about this was I simply stumbbled on it as I was walking around. I love this city!

40 Rounds

One of my favorite pictures I've taken recently. From a statue a stone's throw from the White House, right next to the Treasury Building. Sorry, forgot the name of the little square it is actually in.

Montgomery County Cultural Fair 2007

The fair had flamenco dancers...

And lots of food.

See more at http://picasaweb.google.com/AaroninDC/MontgomeryCountyCulturalFair.

Politics more unusual than normal

A very odd article in the Washington Post about courting the "alien"vote in 2008. From the article:

The Paradigm Research Group ... held a news conference at the National Press Club yesterday to demand that presidential candidates support a "truth amnesty" to end the "government-imposed truth embargo on the facts confirming an extraterrestrial presence."

"The truth amnesty disclosure project is reportedly recommended by the participating extraterrestrials themselves," Alfred Webre of the Institute for Cooperation in Space announced to the humans-only gathering. ...

"Let me check in with the mothership," Phil Singer, a Hillary Clinton spokesman,
More than anybody, Bassett has been working to elevate alien affairs as an issue in 2008. He filmed video questions for the CNN-You Tube debates; they weren't selected. He urged George Stephanopoulos to ask the candidates about ETs; no luck.

He wrote an article titled the "ET Ticket" -- it gives the nod to Clinton and Richardson -- for publications such as UFO Magazine. And, fresh from the weekend's "X-Conference 2007" convention in Gaithersburg, he rented a room at the press club yesterday to announce "new efforts to introduce the UFO/ET issue into the ongoing presidential campaigns."

It reminds me of a West Wing episode where someone is trying to convince Sam of extraterrestrials. Only this is not TV.