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 Bitcoin and Nonprofits event last week at Industrious. Given that this was my first time at this location, I found the room perfect for photos. For one thing, they had large windows across the exterior-facing walls. Additionally, the white ceilings reflected that natural light around the room. When the light hits the warm floors and mixed with warm added lighting, I really did not have to do much with the color.
In addition to the networking, a panel of technology leaders spoke about cryptocurrency and nonprofits. In general, all of these topics were not in my frame of reference. However, for the attendees that worked for or with nonprofits, I can see the value. In summary, there are advantages to using cryptocurrency for donations. Due to the emerging nature of this technology, rules are still fluid and need more discussion. Thanks to Andrew in particular for his work on this series!
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!
