D.C. Street Photography
Street Photography in Washington D.C.
Workers busy on Washington D.C. Street near White House
Before I went on my vacation with my wife to Washington D.C., I wanted to try Street Photography, but there was never really the opportunity in South Bend. If a large amount of people were out and about, it was usually at some sort of event and usually I wouldn’t be able to take my cameras. I love watching YouTube videos from Sean Tucker, a photographer in England, and he does a lot of nice street photography, specifically black and whites, playing on light and shadow. I have watched those videos for two years now and once I found out we were going to D.C., I thought here is my chance to try some it. And Washington D.C. didn’t disappoint, the streets were filled with people almost the whole time we were there.
Pro-Life Protesters on the steps of the Supreme Court
The first day was dedicated to spending time with my wife, walking around and seeing the sights, so I really didn’t get any shots. It wasn’t until the second day, where my wife had to attend her conference when I spent most of the day trying to get some shots. I think at first I was over thinking it, trying to hard to look for that perfect shot, like it was going to look absolutely perfect in camera. I took a lot of shots of Memorials, streets, people and anything and everything, but it just wasn’t coming to me. I walked around that first day maybe five hours, I think I put in a total of 11 miles that day. I did get some great shots of some monuments and a few other things, but I was there to get shots of people and I got a few here and there.
French Embassy Washington D.C.
My second day by myself wasn’t any better. I decided to stay closer to the hotel and see what was around us in the local neighborhood. So I left the Hotel, hung a right and just took off walking, not in any particular direction. It was pretty cool to see people doing their normal stuff, like watering their grass, riding their bike, just getting from one place to another. As I walked around I still wasn’t feeling like I was seeing the best shots. I walked passed some historical buildings and huge houses, I walked passed the French Embassy, which was pretty cool itself. I wanted to walk toward the zoo, which wasn’t far from where we were at, and I’m glad I did. It was pretty busy, a lot of people around, I just felt uncomfortable sticking a camera in their face. It just seemed out of place of to me, so here as well, I didn’t get any great shots.
Day 3 - A Chair in someone’s yard
On day four I rested, I didn’t go anywhere really. The only time I left the hotel was to walk down to Popeyes and get me some lunch. I did get a few shots, one I like of a woman walking down the street, but for the most part I really wasn’t trying to get any shots. I was trying to get back to the hotel room and rest.
Old Woman walking on the side walk
Day 5, our last day. We were scheduled to leave at 3pm so I was going to stay in the hotel room until lunch, which I did. But in the morning I decided to go get breakfast from this little donut shop I found the second day I was there. It was nice, the prices were cheap and the pastries were huge. When I first decided to go get breakfast I wasn’t going to take my camera, I had already packed it away for the trip. But before I left I got it out and said I’ll take it just in case. Man, I’m glad I did. It was like something snapped and I was seeing it, it didn’t hurt that the people seemed to be in the right place and the right time. I was only gone from my hotel room for about an hour, but in that one hour, I think I got over a hundred photos. Some really cools ones as well. Did my street photography turn out like I had hoped? Not even, it went a little worse that what I was expecting, but that last day made up for it. When it comes down to it, I know I need to practice more and I need to get out back home and practice.
After home and looking at all my photos, some of them I thought were okay, actually ended up being pretty good. The one I liked the best I turned into a black and white and I like how the shadows were just right to light up one guy and everyone else was in the dark. Once I turned it into a black and white, it just popped for me and I thought this ended up being my best shot of the trip for my first attempt at street photography. Of course I could be wrong and it could just be okay, but for me, it was a good attempt at what I was looking to do.
My best Street Photography Photo
