Earlier in December, I photographed the 2019 Holiday Reception of the Tysons Partnership. The beautiful Lumen above all the other heights over Tysons was the venue. Compared to the last time I was in the penthouse, I was thankful that all the walls were now up. Certainly, I could enjoy the view! Although it was very cold outside, a few guests ventured out on the patios to take in the panoramas.
Holiday Reception
At the entrance to the Lumen, Wolf Trap Animal Rescue had puppies to play with while waiting for the elevators. Since there were many floors in between the puppies and the penthouse reception, I needed help. Thankfully Jae and Nikolai were available in order to catch all the events going on. Rather than rely on the fading sunlight for flower wall photos with the puppies, I set up one large flash for the room. In this case it worked well as the demand for puppy time did not wane for most of the night!
Prior to finishing up for the evening, I checked in upstairs. I made a few more photos especially the HOAR Construction team, local politicians, and other familiar faces. The Lumen was as illuminating on the inside as well as the outside!
Prior to Thanksgiving, I photographed an Affordable Housing event for the Tysons Partnership. As much as I relish photographing the soaring towers that are changing the skyline, having access to housing is an important issue that does not get as much attention. It was important to realize that this was part of the Comprehensive Plan for Tysons.
This was another event in which the Partnership exposed me to a new venue in Tysons. The Freddie Mac headquarters is another high-tech building among a sprawling campus of buildings. On this occasion there were panels and speakers presenting ideas to achieve the housing goals of the Comprehensive Plan. Afterwards, the attendees broke into groups to start hashing out some of the details. Of course, this is not something that would be solved in one meeting. However, this was a very tangible look at the process of how collaborations like this will create a future community!
The Tysons Chamber held the 2019 Tysons 2050 this week at the McLean Hilton in short to envision the future. Being a signature event for the Chamber, a lot of work went into this evening to demonstrate the reach of the Chamber. Not only were there 3 different panels of speakers, but the atrium had a technology expo with area companies presenting. Similarly to previous years, Live, Work, and Play panels spoke in the ballroom. Given that some large projects were recently approved, there was a buzz in the room. Visions of 2050 were already in motion at the present time!
Prior to the start of the panel presentations, there was plenty of time for networking. Given that making connections is the main goal of the Chamber, this achieved that end. Equally important to the panel photos is seeing how and where people make business connections. Afterwards I sent these images to the marketing committee. On this occasion there was plenty to showcase why people should join.
Since I could not make last year’s event, this was a new setup for me. Although I have been in this ballroom many times for dance events, this was a new physical layout. Thus I knew where to setup lights so I could make some better images in this dark room!
