The DC area has been hit rather hard in recent years by an invasive species known as the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys). They crawl in through cracks and open spaces to nest in the warm area (your house) and they stink when you squish them. Since they are an invasive species from Asia, they have no known natural predators in the Mid-Atlantic area and are nearly impossible to remove.

Thus, this guy has become my new hero. If he had an address I’d send him a spider Christmas card every year to let him know my gratitude for killing this Stink Bug before the bug could get into my house.

I always like the Washington Monument in silhouette, especially on cloudless days. I don’t know why. Just one of those oddities that everyone has.

In some ways you can instantly discern the monument simply by its shape. Animators often talk about how the best characters are recognizable in silhouette: Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone, Homer Simpson. Shape can convey meaning, and silhouettes are some of our oldest forms of art. It is a powerful testament to the power of something when it’s recognizable by shape.

Love carved into a tree on the National Mall in DC.

This one was taken out near Dulles airport at a place called Sully Plantation. Unsurprisingly, the DC area is full of historic places: monuments, old plantations, battlefields. The longer I live here, the more I can understand how some of this stuff just becomes the background of our daily lives. I drive past this park several times a week on the way to the gym and probably 85% of the time I don’t give it a second thought.

This cabin reminds me of the Coen Brother’s movie, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, which is one of my favorite movies. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go away, deep into the wilderness, and spend a few weeks in a place like this. Strip everything away and live for a moment again on Nature’s time. And then I remember that I’d have to cut my own firewood and I figure living with modern conveniences isn’t so bad.

After the recent debt crisis throughout most of the Eurozone in recent months, I think this sentiment is probably becoming more popular. (Insurrezione means insurrection or revolt in Italian.) The photo takes on even deeper connotations when you consider that the are the two British-looking tourists ever. When I imagine an old couple from England out on holiday, this is what I imagine they look like. Although I don’t know it that is actually true, I don’t recall hearing them speak, but I do know that he at least has an English language paper in his hands.

When you spend three weeks listening to Italian everywhere, you will do anything to get your English fix. Trust me on this one. TV reception was so bad at several hotels that The Wife and I resorted to watching bad Italian infomercials, worse political debates (in German, we think) and even worse Italian baseball. If I had noticed that it was an English paper in his hands when I took this photo, I might have tackled him to find out where he got that paper.

I just ran across the strangest scene in the hallway on my way back from the bathroom. And no, this isn’t an elaborate poop joke. It’s a tortured excuse to frame a photographic concept.

Two Asian women are standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator. Both appear to be in their thirties and seem to be new collegues at work. One woman is trying to explain the pronuncation of her name.

“Is your last name pronounced ‘Ang’?” asks Woman One.
“It’s like ANJA” Woman Two says. “ANG is Chinese, ANJ is more….”

By this point I had passed and walked into my office, so I missed the language the woman was going to mention. But it struck me that these two women, who from all outside appearances are both Asian immigrants, are really an example of how things aren’t quite what they seem. Woman One was clearly an Americanized immigrant, perhaps a second or third generation immigrant. She spoke with nary an accent and seemed to be having difficulty with Woman Two’s speech. Woman Two on the other hand was clearly not entirely comfortable in English, having most likely learned it as a secondary language. She spoke slowly, without the natural fluidity of someone accustomed to speaking in a language.

The beauty of appearances is that they do often only tell a portion of the story and good photographs are often a deeper look into things than would appear at first glance. A photographer who lingers on a scene, studying the scene from every angle will be better equipped to tell a more complex, nuanced version of the scene than someone who rushes up, dashes off a few frames and then departs.

Could the rushed photo end up being good? Certainly, but more often than not it will be flat or superficial – telling only a portion of the story. In a sense, a photo taken without a studied intent will often assume that two women who appear to be of a certain ethnicity are both speaking the same language or from the same background. Only by lingering, making an effort to see a scene in a new light, can a photographer really create a photograph that goes beyond the surface to what lies beneath.

A couple out rowing a boat in Central Park. I guess technically there are a couple of couples in this one but I won’t mention which one I’m talking about.

The problem with having photographer friends? They always get in the way of a shot. (Of course, she probably has just as many pictures of me in the way.)

My friend, Sopheava, from several years ago when she came to visit. I left this one in color because I love the hair color.

Each year in Assisi they host a several-day long festival, Calendimaggio, full of period costumes, events, singing. The Wife and I happened to be in Assisi this year, through the random happenstance and good luck of travel, and got a chance to see the festival. This young lady was watching the beginning of the festival.

A boy waiting for the Blue line train at the Smithsonian Metro stop.