Excitement, confusion, and in general disarray

[Joezilla]

Here I sit in a hotel room less than 12 hours away from what will be the best photo day of my amateur career and I am lost.

This will be a long story. Sit back, relax and hear my tale...

I am currently visiting lovely Norfolk, VA (please read that with intended saracasm). I have the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. on Sat for about 8 hours of uninterrupted 'me' time. I will be free to do as I wish. This is the first time I will actually get to shoot pictures w/o feeling like I am holding someone up or someone is waiting on me or there is something else that should be done. I cannot wait. I have checked the weather, charged my battery, formatted my cards, and readied my laptop for my pics.

Now what?

As I sit here I feel as tho I should have some sort of plan. I am afraid I will step off the bus and not know where to start. My plan is to shoot the obvious attractions (monuments, memorials, the like) but keep myself open to whatever comes my way.

What do you all do when you go out to shoot? What horror stories do you have? What success stories? I know I need more storage (2 512 CF cards and 1 256 cf card) but I did not want to spend the $75 for an impulse buy of another CF card. My battery is fully charged and I did not buy a backup ($30). Money is tight for now, and this trip really is a great deal.

I need suggestions, and I need them in kind of a hurry. Any last minute recommendations of where to go, what to pack/ not to pack (on foot or trolley all day)?

Yeah, I have the jitters. I want to make this as fun and as learning intensive as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[Silky]

I'm not a photographer, but I can sense your excitement! I have no suggestions for how to go about it...but most importantly...enjoy yourself! Also...don't always be looking for the "big" shots. Sometimes those impromptu photos are more treasured than the planned ones. I hope you'll share your photos with us when you can...:)

[ldg40]

Go for some of the usual tourists shots, perhaps some new and diverse angles. But go, if you are brave enough and find the shots that make DC's heart beat. Show in complete opposition what the media shows us of DC. Be brave enough to find that certain someone who is a bit scary and ask them what DC is about, how they got there why they stay and then shoot their images/ideas of DC.

For goodnees sakes have fun and share with us when you can!!

Just this old lady's thoughts! :)

[Jaygre]

Joe, I was just there a week ago and there is a tac that you might take. 1. A lot of new security around the the white house and capitol building, some great shots. 2. Do the monuments at night, the shadowing and contrast are phenom, especially for more close-up work. 3.The metro (subway) lines at later hours (some real character shots) might be a little scarry. 4. The Korean War memorial will speak for itself. 5. The Washington Cathedral is mind-boggling, and I think interior shots are fine as long as services are not in progress. 6. The Supreme Court is beautiful. So much more.

Have a wonderful time!

[Joezilla]

I wish I could get the night shots, but My ride leaves promptly at 6pm. I will get what I can but it is a long walk back to VA.

[Dave]

What's VA? :)

Joe have a great time!

[ldg40]

[QUOTE=Dave]What's VA? :)

Joe have a great time![/QUOTE]

Virginia, USA, commercials say "it is for lovers" :)

[Dave]

[QUOTE=ldg40]Virginia, USA, commercials say "it is for lovers" :)[/QUOTE]
So why isn't it VI? Damn confusing to us non comms :)

Isn't it full of navy dockyards? .... can't see that being for lovers.

[Jaygre]

It is confusing alright, but with 50 states, many starting with the same two front letters, I guess there had to be variety :) (Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Nebraska, and Grants Pass)

Very confusing to us USAers sometimes.

Joe -

The metro will get you around the fastest, cheapest, and to more places.

[Newby]

Well JZ, I envy you big time. I have always wanted to go to DC and get shots. The one I have always wanted was a shot of the Vietnam Memorial with a reflection of the Washington monument. Make sure you hit all the spots you can. Going to the touristy spots is going it make for some hard shots. It just depends if you want people in the shot or not.

Enjoy yourself and have a great time...

[flondo]

Walk!
always the best way to see a city.

The tourist spots have been done - (buy a postcard) -
point yourself in any direction and enjoy -
Don't look too hard for something to shoot, it will take the fun away and it will feel like work.

have a great time - I haven't been there in years - I remember it as an interesting place once I got away from the tourists.

[Sierrakitten]

I not an expert at this, but I find that the first thing to do is just to relax and have fun.
If it is somewhere you haven't been before, just play tourist and see where your feet lead you. Take it slow and easy and keep your eye open for anything that looks like it might turn into something good.
Don't be afraid to play, mistakes can be deleted later.
Get rushed, get in a hurry, or worry about a time table, and your concentration isn't on what you are doing.
Depending on where you are, keep an eye on what is going on around you, loosing your wallet/laptop/camera wouldn't be fun.
JMO

[1cowabunga]

I hope you have a great time JZ. sounds like alot of fun! It would be fun to send you on a PA scavenger hunt for us. a request: get a shot of the back of the trolly drivers head. :D

[swillox]

Yeah ! scavenger hunt for us would be fun ! can you keep in touch easily ?? as far as I know, 750mb of storage seems to be enough...for a day. Do you have any upload solution ??

[down2earth2]

Hey Joezilla,
Advice? There's probably a thousand different things that you can only learn through experience, and that's what you'll be getting. I'd suggest cleaning your lenses before you go, though that's probably a no brainer, except I ran out to take some pics Saturday morning and all my pics taken with my polerizing filter had a nasty blue discolored spot in the middle. :/

Anyway we're all excited for you.

One last thought, take along your battery recharger. Maybe you can give it a boost while you're eating lunch (if you aren't busy taking pictures of your lunch). :)

[Joezilla]

I am back, and I am exhausted. Funny you mention the cleaning, I go to take my first pic and I see hair all over the Jefferson memorial. Like an idiot I pull the lens off and blow on the mirror causing it to fog (and of course the random spit drops).

I got about 60 RAW pics today. On a 550mhz laptop it is going to take forever to go thru them so please be patient. Being in the military myself I tended to spend more time at the war related sites (Vietnam memorial and Navy monuments). My day went like this:

Arrive in DC around 10am and grab a trolley pass.They ran all over town stopping at each pick up point every half hour. This was good because I could organize my shooting according to the trolley pickups. Half hour here, hour there, you get the idea. First stop was the Jefferson Memorial, followed by Lincoln, Vietnam Mem, Arlington cemetery, and the Capitol.

My suggestions: I like how I did this. It is far too large an area to walk, but a car would actually be inconvenient. You had to pay to park at most locations, and some places were impossible to park near. The trolley got me where I wanted to go and I rarely waited for a pickup. It was very full (duh, Saturday) but being alone allowed me to squeeze in most times. I was far from doing everything I wanted, but I did ok. You need to prioritize what you want. At 2pm I decided to go to the top of the Washingtom monument and get an ariel shot of DC, but by then the free tickets were gone for the day. This caused me to miss out on other things (lack of time. Had to choose between the National Cemetery or the top of the Monument, I picked B and then it was sold out so I missed both). Bring something to eat. I ate a sandwich just before starting, and I got a hotdog and soda for $6 for lunch, then left for dinner. Nearly perfect. It was difficult enough to carry the camera and tripod, forget the sack lunch. Park somewhere, eat, and go. Saves time and money.

I will try to post a pic or two tommorow. Feel free to post any questions. I think I left alot out of my story (again, I am exhausted). I love talking about this so ask away!!

[ldg40]

No questions for you Joezilla, just anticipation for your images;)! So glad to hear your day was rewarding!

[1cowabunga]

Sounds to me like you didn't need our advice at all! :) You are a very organized person - I can tell. Was there anything else that happened that made you mad besides the hair on the lense? Did you have problems with people in your way? Was the hotdog and soda worth the $6? :D

[Joezilla]

As far as people went, I had a few issues, but I also understand that it is a tourist area and I have no right or priority just because my camera is better than their cell phone camera. My last shot of the day was of the Capitol. It was a wide shot of the fountains and the dome in the back and I set up across the street to get the best shot. It was 4:15 or so and the sun is starting to set behind the buildings. I have to shhot between traffic and wait for people to move along. Just as everything settles down a family parks their 2 strollers right in the center of my pic. They shoot a few pics and then pick up the cell phone for the next 5 min and refuse to move. I arranged my shot and they moved back into my way. I figured I could edit them out later and snapped the shot.

For food, it is like any other tourist trap. For $6 at a grocery store I could buy a pack of hot dogs and a six pack of soda. I jst needed enough food to make it to dinner so it served its purpose. I have been to enough sporting events / vacation spots to expect the high priced food.

So it took nearly an hour to transfer pics to my laptop, and now I cannot view them. I just installed CS2, and I forgot what I needed to install to edit raw files using PS. DNG wont open, and neither will bridge. Is there something I am missing or is my laptop too old to run this?

[Dave]

Hope this article (http://www.photoshopsupport.com/digital-cameras/camera-raw.html) helps.

[Maiden]

Really sounds like a huge adventure u went on Joezilla, am looking forward to the pics when u get it happening :)