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Posts Tagged ‘mall’

Event, Photography, Sports | 0 comment

Karl Alzner at Tysons Corner Center

NHL Player

Back in February, I covered and appearance by Karl Alzner at Tysons Corner Center. He is a defenseman for the Washington Capitals. If you are not familiar, the Capitals are the professional hockey team based in Washington DC, and Alzner has been a standout player for the team since he joined them in 2008.

Karl Alzner Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center
Karl Alzner Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center

Of all the professional sports teams in the DC area, it is a popular opinion that the Capitals are the team that is closest to winning a Championship. Although the did not make the playoffs in 2014, they have made it every year since 2008 reaching the conference semi-finals 3 times. It is a popular chant in the arena to ‘Rock The Red’ so the Concourse at Tysons Corner Center was decked out with red.

Karl Alzner Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center
Washington Capitals Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center
Washington Capitals Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center
Washington Capitals Meet and Greet at Tysons Corner Center

Karl greeted a lot of fans young and old. He signed autographs for a line of people that came prepared with memorabilia, shirts, pucks, for him to add his signature. While he was there, and they had the gear, he watched people take some shots at an inflatable goal setup. He gave tips to help some people make better shots through the back of the net. He was very patient and took a lot of time with those that came out to see him.

Karl Alzner skills challenge

Hockey shooting drill on the Concourse
Hockey shooting drill on the Concourse

There were other notable people that were in attendance. Grant Paulsen from 106.7 the Fan radio station was there to emcee the event. Being a host of a daily sports radio show made him a perfect person to keep the crowd entertained. Slapshot, the Eagle mascot of the Capitals was also there! He even put on some skate to take a few turn around the ice rink out on the Plaza!

Slapshot on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
Slapshot on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
Grant Paulsen directing the show
Grant Paulsen directing the show
Slapshot and the Red Rockers at Tysons Corner Center
Slapshot and the Red Rockers at Tysons Corner Center

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

Event, Photography | 0 comment

2015 Lunar New Year

Fruit bowl at entrance to Lunar New Year celebration at Tysons Corner Center
Fruit bowl at entrance to Lunar New Year celebration at Tysons Corner Center

Tysons Corner Center

To celebrate the 2015 Lunar New Year at Tysons Corner Center, there was an event in their Concourse to show off Chinese culture. The Year of the Goat started on February 19. To attract visitors, there was a lot of color and sound echoing throughout the mall to signal what was going on that afternoon.

Crowd at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Crowd at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Decorations at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Decorations at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

At the start of the Concourse there was a beautiful display of laterns and fruit that are symbols of luck for the new year. The eyes are drawn to all the color and motion that was on display. Luckily the mall had plenty of space for spectators to take in the action.

Decorations at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Decorations at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

Demonstrations

Live Demonstration at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Live Demonstration at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

Musicians played traditional instruments. One artist gave a demonstration of hanging traditional lanterns, and a group filled the hall with the sound of drumming. The most exciting display was the dancing Dragon that danced to the drums all around the Concourse and to part of the mall hallways to bring more into the audience. The dragon dancers interacted with some audience members that fed him lettuce for good luck.

Drummers performing at Tysons Corner Center
Live Demonstration at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Dragon dancing at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Dragon dancing at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

Tommy McFly from 94.7 Fresh FM was the emcee for the events. He is always a professional welcoming everyone to the events in Tysons. He moved easily from in front of the crowd to in front of the camera to make sure everyone that participated had some shine throughout the afternoon. Happy new year!

Getting lettuce to feed the dragon at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Getting lettuce to feed the dragon at Lunar New Year celebration at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

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

Personal, Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Photograph Christmas Decorations – Bokeh Masters Kit

Christmas gift in front of tree - ©TimeLine Media

Tysons Corner Center

Every year, the Christmas decorations that pop up in the malls and office buildings in the area signal the holiday season. The strings of lights that wrap around the trees and line overhangs make for some pleasing light. They are usually a very warm yellow, and the many small points of light put together, make it a very soft light in photos. These are great for people photos, which is another reason everyone takes photos by the lit Christmas trees during this season.

Christmas Tree and Choir at Tysons Corner Center - ©TimeLine Media
Christmas Tree and Choir at Tysons Corner Center – ©TimeLine Media

The small points of light can also be used to make some unique photos while they are up. Bokeh a Japanese word that photographers use to describe the out-of-focus areas in the background of photos. Having the background completely blurred will help pop your subjects out of the frame. The amount of blur depends on how open an aperture you set on your lens. Additionally how far your subject is from the background affects the blur. If you have your subject a fair distance from the background, and you place your lens very close, you will have a nice out of focus background. If you have Christmas lights in that background, the shape of the lights will take on the shape of the aperture of your lens to make a nice shape with each bulb.

Christmas Tree Lights

Christmas gift in front of tree - ©TimeLine Media
Christmas gift in front of tree – ©TimeLine Media

An early Christmas gift from my in-laws was this Bokeh Masters Kit. The kit has hard plastic discs with shapes cut out in the middle of each. There is also another plastic mounting piece that you fit over the lens. When you fit this over your lens, then setup your subject as before, the pin point illumination from the Christmas lights takes on the shape of the disc.

Bokeh Masters Kit

Bokeh Masters Kit
Bokeh Masters Kit

This was the first setup I tried, and it works as advertised! Obviously, I tried the star disc for this image. The boxes were about 5 feet from the tree, and the lens was set to f/1.4.  There was a large amount of vignetting from the lens which was expected since the holder was covering a portion of the lens edges along with the disc itself. But you can clearly see the stars from each of the lights.

Christmas gift in front of tree - ©TimeLine Media
Christmas gift in front of tree – ©TimeLine Media

I will have to try this with other subjects and setups, but this was a good start! With all of your decorations up inside your house and outside in your neighborhoods, there are lots of opportunities to try this out. Thanks to our friends at Encore Ballroom Couture for the gift and still-life subject!

Christmas gift in front of tree - ©TimeLine Media
Christmas gift in front of tree – ©TimeLine Media

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

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