The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Next month I am moving to Washington DC. For the past few days I have been visiting “The District” to make preparations for the move. Last night I wandered around the city with my camera. While I expect to find all kinds of new things to photograph over the coming months, here are a few DC classics.

I setup the above photo at the George Washington Monument. I used a little Joby tripod (from Cambodia fame) and set the camera on one of the giant stone benches surrounding the monument. After selecting aperture priority, I dialed in f/22 to get plenty depth-of-field and ensure a long exposure. ISO was to 200 and I turned down the exposure compensation by 1/3 of a stop. Since I did not have my cable shutter release, I used the timer release on the D300. The camera chose to leave the shutter open for 30 seconds which captured the movement of the flags blowing in the wind.

The Metro is Washington DC’s public light rail transit system. Compared to the train systems of Chicago and New York, I find the Metro to be the nicest. The stations are clean and the arched tunnel design creates a sense of space… hmm, sorta like that one airplane back home.