Studious

Studious reader on the Red Line

Yesterday, I had to go downtown for a haircut and to the office of a client to edit a document for them. Rather than fight traffic and pay through the nose for parking, I took the red line from Takoma to Chinatown. One of the stops is Brookland/CUA. This young man got on at that stop, sat down, and started reading a copy of Newsweek magazine he had in his hand. He was so intent on his article, I don't think he noticed when I rested my camera on my knee and snuck this picture. (Or maybe he did and he was too gracious to say anything.) I didn't get his name or story, but in my imagination I decided he's a poli-sci major at Catholic University and his goal is to one day run for Congress... Or something like that...

One of these days, I'll muster up the courage to actually ask the strangers I photograph if I can photograph them and what their stories are. Until then, here is Studious on the Red Line.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 09/08

Urban Art or Blight?

Graffiti at the Brookland-CUA Metro station. Note in the center background of the picture,
the bell tower of the National Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

I'm not a huge, huge fan of graffiti, especially when it's meant to mark territory (which generally implies some kind of nefarious and illicit gang-type activity.) Occasionally though, there are pockets of this urban scrawl that catch my eye. One such spot is at the Brookland-CUA Metro stop near Catholic University of America. These two samples are especially interesting to me because, in the first, you can see the spire of the National Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I liked the colors in this tag and the juxtaposition of the basilica tower in the background.

Tribute in graffiti to slain Washington Redskins' football player Sean Taylor.

In the second, the graffiti is a tribute to Washington Redskins' free safety Sean Taylor, who was shot in his Miami, Florida, home in November 2007. He died a day later. I'm not a Redskins fan (I'm not really partial to any football team), but I thought this was a moving memorial to a young man who died too young and who had so much potential in the field of sport.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 2/08