Freedom

In the African American museum, there is this wall. When you walk in it looks like a normal museum. A gift shop, security, and a ticket booth. Once you take the cargo elevator down to the 1400s (the lowest floor) you are transported into lives of African Americans. As you walk slightly uphill, you travel back to the present.

Mr. Voting Rights

Throughout Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, he wanted equality for all. He was called names, beaten, and almost killed several times all for trying to give African Americans voting rights. In Washington D.C. is this statue of him in a nonspeaking and restful pose. It was raining that day, causing me to figure out a way to take pictures but keep my camera dry. I ended up putting a plastic bag and handtowels over my camera and hoped no water would seek throguh that, which none did.

Waterfall

At the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, are several statues sharing his life as a president. One is on the Great Depresion, his wife and dog, World War two, and his difficulties with his disease. As you walk through the different sections, you also move through time. Then at the end is a big waterfall, including this waterfall, that covers an entire wall.

Sky Fighters

This is another picture of the Air Force Memorial. This time we can see it through the fall trees and it is also during the day. While at the Jefferson Memorial, I took out my zoom lens and shot. I didn't want to get too close because I would miss the trees but I didn't want to be too far away because then the focus isn't on the memorial. Another place that is in this picture is the Pentagon. In the bottom left corner with all the windows.

Fall Colors

Today we are going to take a break from the monuments and memorials and transfer to nature. While we were there, the cold had already come and turned the trees different colors. I focused on the marble pillars holding up the roof of the Jefferson Memorial and let the colorful trees take over the background.

Thomas Jefferson

This is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. It was built on his birthday, which was April 13th. It was also built on an old landfill that stopped and was just trash stilling around until the memorial was built on it. Around the memorial are quotes that he said, these including words that he wrote in the Declaration of Independence.

Air Force, In the Air

This is the second part of the Air Force Memorial. This is supposed to represent three fighter jets as they break out of formation. Four jets go straight up at once then they part three ways with two planes side-by-side. It is very cool to see in person, which I have been lucky to see. Now you know why I thought this would be a really nice picture.

Air Force, On the Ground

This is another one of two-part pictures. One of the reasons why I do that is to capture the whole memorial. In the Air Force memorial, there are two parts. This statue with the names on the wall behind it and three tall curved lines going up. It sounds weird and pointless, but tomorrow let me explain it and then let's see how weird it sounds.

White House

This is the executive branch. It is in disguise, it is also called the White House. There are 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, 7 staircases, and 3 elevators. Imagine how many people you could have over at one time! Not only that, but you could entertain them with your own tennis court, bowling lanes, and jogging track.

Lincoln Memorial

It is called a temple, but Lincoln's memorial is more like an open building. To the left and right side of his statue is his inaugural speech. It took over four years just to build the statue. The statue is 99 feet tall and if Lincoln were to stand up, he would be 27 feet tall. I like this picture because I was able to get the words behind him and Lincoln himself.

Vietnam

This is the second part of the picture, the wall featuring all 56,000 peoples names who died in the war. I chose this part of the wall because the names fill up the whole shot and there is a reflection of a dark tree. I didn't mean for this to be black and white, but I think it would look weird if it was in popping colors. 

Vietnam

This is a two-part picture. Today's picture is of these three soldiers who fought during the war and tomorrow's picture is about the wall of names featuring all of the people who died. Around 56,000 people died this war. One of the chemicals used, named Agent Orange, recently killed another person. It is a toxic chemical that was sprayed to stop the advancing troops and kill them. The only problem is that is killed on both sides of the war.

Washington Monument

This is close to where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke his famous, I have a Dream speech. Think of all of those people standing on the sides of this pool and around the monument. I recaptured that with the reflecting pool reflecting the trees and monument but I didn't recapture all the people. He must have had nerves of steel to speak in front of all those people.

Headquarters

This is where the laws and acts and made. It has been burned and rebuilt. The object on the top is the Statue of Freedom. It is over 19 feet tall and weighs around 15,000 pounds. Imagine having to carry that up without a helicopter or crane. They must have used a lot of people, horses and pullies.

Reflection

On the backside of the soldiers and wall, is a fountain that wasn't going. It provided a perfect still shot of the fall trees. Using the water like a mirror, I focused on the tree and took the picture. The tree that I focused on wasn't the most colorful but it has some yellow and some green. Tomorrow we will see a cool picture of Capital Hill from up high.

War

During this theme, I am going to take you to Washington D.C. without even moving. This is the Korean War Memorial. Behind the camera is a wall of names of the countries that fought during the war. Also on that wall are the numbers of people in the war, wounded, and killed from both America and all of the other countries. This war never really had an ending, its ending was dividing the Korean Peninsula in almost half.

The End

As this game and theme come to a close, I open up a new theme. This week I was in Washington D.C. Since I came home yesterday, this coming theme will be pictures of Washington D.C. I went to monuments/memorials, speeches, and museums. I covered most of Washington D.C in those four days that I was there, and I found time to visit Capitol Hill.

Explosion

I tried five times to try and get the cannon exploding but the first four times I missed. Since the game was coming to a close, I was starting to get discouraged but I took the last chance. I increased the ISO which also increased the shutter speed to take this picture. I took it and knew that I had something good.

Game Winner

When a game ends, especially when it ends in double overtime, the winning team runs out and celebrates. Luckily for me, Texas won. They stormed the field then shook hands with Kansas State. In the back, you can see the smoke from the cannon. Tomorrow will feature an explosive picture the demonstrates the pure power the cannon has.

Keep on Moving

One of the challenges in being a six-foot wide-receiver is coming down with the ball. Going up is the easy part but coming down especially when someone is grabbing at your ankles. The wide receiver Collin was able to get a few more steps before being tackled by the Kansas State player running at him from behind.

Game Winner

To win the game Nick just has to make the field goal, he is 52 yards away. He missed the field goal but Texas scored a touchdown the next drive to win the game. I like this picture because you can see the hands and you can also see the other fans standing up waiting to cheer when Nick makes the field goal. He didn't but Texas ended up scoring later sending the fans cheering again.

Kickoff

The person who is kicking is the same person that is 6/12 on extra points. In kickoffs, he is much better. Most of the time Rowland (the kicker) kicks it all the way to the end zone resulting in a touchback. He is good in somethings but not in others. Why can't he be better at field goals and not kickoffs?

Hurdle

If there is one thing that Texas is consistent at doing during a game it is hurdling people. During almost every game some Texas player has hurdled the other team. It started in the first game against Maryland then has continued all the way to last weeks game against Baylor.

Extra Point 

After a touch down special teams comes out and kick the extra point. They also come out for field goals, which is the same thing but three points and not from the 17-yard line. Some field goals are 20 yards and others are 55 yards long. Luckily our kicker, 49, made it. Today he is 6/12 on field goals but perfect on extra points.

Hand Off

On offense you can do two things, you can either hand off the ball to your running back or throw it to a wide receiver or tight end. This play actually featured both. This was a fake handoff that ended up being thrown to a wide receiver. It ended up setting another touchdown for Texas.

Stopped

As the 6-6 receiver for Texas Collin Johnson jumped even higher to the ball he came down and was hit hard. He caught the ball but number 20 for Kansas State was not going to let him go any farther. Collin was thrown back about a yard before the play was ruled dead.