Statue of Freedom

On top of the Capitol Building is this 15,000 pound 19 and a half foot tall statue representing America. Completed during the Civil War, it gave hope to the Union as they fought the Confederates. Today, it can also be viewed inside where there is an exact replica with the only change being the stone they used to build it out of.

Falling Water

Once you finish the museum, there is this place where you can go and watch the water fall and reflect on what you just learned. It is a very smart thing that the museum does, you stop and remember all the things that the African Americans had to go through before they became equals.

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.