Posts Tagged ‘Alexandria’

Black and White Challenge – Part 1

Tysons, Virginia

Are any of you familiar with this Black and White Challenge that was spread throughout Facebook late last year? At this time, I had seen a few of my friends post up some incredible images. Overall, I thought that it was a great way to push you to make some new monochromes images for sharing. It works by posting up images 5 days in a row. With each submission, you nominate another person to the challenge which keeps it proliferating online. I’d like to thank Jae for nominating me to participate, and I enjoyed sharing the images! Luckily, I had some client-work coming up, so I did not have to look far for some situations in making some new images.

Santa-Claus-waving
Santa-Claus-waving

I was scheduled to photograph a bar mitzvah that had some great lighting setup by the event planners. The uplighting created a nice contrast to my flash which always makes for some nice black and white images.

Alexandria, Virginia

Bar-Mitzvah-Hora-dance-©TimeLine-Media
Bar-Mitzvah-Hora-dance-©TimeLine-Media

The other schedule shoot was at Tysons Corner Center. They had an outdoor Christmas market setup on the Plaza. They wanted to get some nice overhead views of the plaza and ice rink with lots of people doing their holiday gift-shopping. I thought that evening would work best with the light as is usual for most landscape photography. The best angle was to go into the new Tysons Tower to get an overhead view of the shopping with the expanding northern Virginia area as a backdrop. I was just lucky to get that nice colorful after-sunset sky. Although there is no color in the submitted photo, there was still a nice gray gradient in the empty upper right of the frame. I enjoyed the chance to photograph from such a great vantage point, and to be lucky enough to see it at a perfect time of day.

Tysons-Corner-Center
Tysons-Corner-Center

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Triple Swing – Professional Showcase

Arthur Murray - Alxandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media

Who is ready for a triple swing? In reviewing old blog posts, I found that there are still some professional shows that I have not posted about from the Arthur Murray Fall Showcase. There was a large number of shows from this event! To be sure I do not want to leave any of the dancers out! They are too nice to ask when their featured photos will show up. With this in mind I have gone back to make note of which ones I have not blogged yet.

Arthur Murray Swing

Arthur Murray - Alxandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray – Alxandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

Today’s show was a triple swing performed by the Arthur Murray franchised dance studio in Alexandria, VA. They danced to a popular song at the studios – “Lollipop.” I recall dancing a showcase routine to this a few years ago – it has a quick tempo requiring you to keep steps compact. It is also a challenge to dance at that tempo for the entire length of the song which these two did very well! They even though in a lift in the middle just to up the ante even more. The fun lollipop prop and dress really brought out the whimsical feel of the dance that the audience responded to nicely.

Tysons, Virginia

Professional Dance Showcase - Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Professional Dance Showcase – Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

After post this, there are only two other shows from this event that I have not posted on the blog. I am thinking about having a Facebook poll about the photos from each show. We only have a limited space to hang posters from the previous event’s professional shows, so we need to narrow down the candidates soon. Stay tuned here to find out more on how we decide to print these. Thanks!

Professional Dance Showcase - Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Professional Dance Showcase – Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Masonic Temple at Sunrise – Alexandria, VA

Alexandria Virginia Masonic Temple - ©TimeLine Media
Alexandria Virginia Masonic Temple - ©TimeLine Media
Alexandria Virginia Masonic Temple – ©TimeLine Media

I have read from landscape photographers that the key to getting great images is to photograph in great light. Most of the time, that means going to sites when the light is very low on the horizon. In this case, the early morning just before and after sunrise, or in the evening just before and after sunset. This “Golden Hour” in the morning or “Blue Hour” in the evening does make for some nice backgrounds for photos. The early sunrise in the winter months makes it easier to get out of the house at a semi-decent hour to get these photos. The extremely cold temperatures also help. It keeps cars and other people to a minimum. Who wants to be out here unless you really NEED to be out here at this time?

Masonic Temple

Alexandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Alexandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

This particular morning, I made the trip to the outskirts of Old Town Alexandria. I did not have any trouble finding street parking at this hour – another benefit of such an early shoot, and walked the few blocks to the Masonic Temple. This beautiful structure can be seen from most of the major freeways and highways in the DC Area. It is familiar to anyone that has driven in the area especially if you are traveling across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, or flying into National Airport. I have never been inside, but have put this on my list to photograph once I figured that this would probably be situated perfectly for a sunrise shoot. With it’s East-facing position being the preferable angle, it made for a very easy subject to lineup and photograph. After only three attempts, this day’s attempt was the best from me. I will definitely be back to see about going on a tour. It should have a nice view in to Old Town Alexandria to the Potomac River and Maryland beyond.

Alexandria Virginia Masonic Temple - ©TimeLine Media
Alexandria Virginia Masonic Temple – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Mediawww.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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