NYC

My family flew up to New York City this past weekend, so Carrie and I took a bus from D.C. to meet up with them for a day. The trip did not start off well with traffic and the incompetence of MegaBus in general. We got there a few hours late and missed dinner, but we caught the tail end of the show we were supposed to see.

Afterwards we all headed over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. It is really big, but I wasn't really blown away. I think that with giant skyscrapers all over the place, it kind of takes away from the tree.

The next day, we walked around Manhattan. We did not have a real gameplan, so we kind of wandered from one place to the next. We started at the World trade Center, had lunch in Chinatown (and happened to walk right into a parade), walked through SoHo and Greenwich Village. I took a few good photos, but it was really cold and nobody really wanted to stop and wait while I took the time to get good shots of every little thing I saw.

My dad was helping me a lot, giving me advice on different things here and there for getting better shots in various situations. I forgot that he has an old SLR and knows a thing or two. His advice was most notable on the night shot of Times Square from a few blocks away and the inside of Grand Central Station. I kept messing with different settings, but I just couldn't get it right. I tend to forget about the aperture, and I leave it on auto, but it really does make a difference to set it manually, so that is something I need to get into the habit of.

Queens

Bucs/Skins @ FedEx Field

Schneider texted me early last week asking if I wanted to go to the Redskins game on Sunday because he knew I was a Buccaneers fan. Obviously I accepted.

The weather was supposed to be miserable, but I brought my camera in case it cleared up. I was able to get some photos of pre-game warm ups, but then it started raining and did not stop the rest of the day and it was freezing cold as well.

I have not been to an NFL game since September 14, 2003. I remember it well. A crushing Bucs home loss to the Panthers (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/sports/pro-football-panthers-obstruct-the-bucs-path-to-victory.html), also known as the beginning of the end of Martin Gramatica's career. It's funny, there were a lot of similarities between that game and the game on Sunday (except the game in Tampa was like 95 degrees and people were passing out left and right.) After getting two field goals blocked, the Bucs came back from down 6 and scored a touchdown as time expired in the 4th. The extra point got blocked which tied the game at 9-9. Carolina won in OT 12-9. Yesterday, the Redskins missed two easy field goals early. Then, down 17-10, they scored a touchdown with :06 left. All they had to do was make the extra point to force overtime. It's funny, when the Skins scored to make it 16-17, everyone was halfheartedly cheering, knowing that they still depended on the kicker, Graham Gano, to tie the game. The guy in front of me stole the words right out of my mouth when he says, half-joking, half grimly serious, "Well, we still need to make the extra point". Everyone kind of laughed but knew that it was no guarantee considering how awful Gano had been up to this point.

The entire stadium stood quietly and still as they lined up for the PAT. The ball was snapped, and sure enough, the ball sails over Hunter Smith's head. I and a few other Tampa Bay fans held our hands up in relief as everyone else watched incredulously. Then everyone kind of laughed a little bit, turned around and left.

I'll take the win.

Ice Skating

Our little tree

 

 

BB&T Classic - December 5th, 2010

Today, Carrie and I went to see our Florida Gators play in the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center in D.C. I was excited to find out that the UF Basketball team was going to make their way up here a few months ago, and we got some pretty sweet seats down low through the D.C. chapter of the Alumni Association.

We played American University. I was a little worried because AU had played us close in the past and this was a home game for them. However, not many American fans were there. There was a surprising amount of UF fans though. We even had the Orange and Blue chant going before tip-off.

As far as photos, I got some ok shots in the first half, but the Gators were shooting with their backs to me and I was getting a lot of blurry pictures with all the running around. The last straw was and Alex Tyus dunk that I had a really good chance at, but it was really blurred. I had to change things up or else I would not get anything good. I was shooting 1/60s (I'm pretty sure that means the aperture is open for 1/60th of a second) so that I could get enough light in. But to make the blur stop, I tried going to 1/250s and putting the ISO at 3200 to let more light in. This worked a lot better as far as eliminating blur. 

I got some good photos is the 2nd half. I just wish I got a good one of that dunk. We went on to win 67-48. 

From there, I went on to Adams Morgan to meet up with Eric and watch the Bucs-Falcons game at a bar. I took a few photos from off the bridge over Rock Creek Park and some nearby houses. 

Overall, pretty good day for photos.

I blew it

Florida Gators

Kenny Boynton

Erving Walker for Three

Chandler Parsons

Vernon Macklin

Alex Tyus

Erving Walker

Rock Creek Park

Adams Morgan

Magic @ Wizards Nov. 27, 2010

Well, these shots are pretty disappointing. The lighting isn't great in the arena, and even though I was closer than I was for the hockey game, I could not get focused on the players as well as I wanted to. I am going to a Florida game on Dec. 5th and I will be sitting much lower and closer to the action, so hopefully I'll have much better game photos from that.

Thanksgiving Eve

I got off work early last Wednesday, and I brought my camera to get some photos of downtown and the Capitol. It was a bright, clear day. Good for pictures. 

I took the Metro to Metro Center, and from there I walked toward the Capitol building, then on to the Museum of Natural History. I got a few good shots but not really anything spectacular. I am having trouble getting pictures of buildings and the fore and backgrounds as crisp and clear as I would like. I'm not sure if it is the camera or something that I could be doing better. I will have to consult my book.

I bought Canon Rebel T1i/500D: From Snapshots to Great Shots. It has been very helpful so far, but I haven't opened it in a few weeks. I need to get back at it.

The Old Post Office Building