5th and Upshur

The intersection of Fifth and Upshur Streets NW

Sunday, I went out late in the afternoon to snap some pictures of Howard University. This is how to get to Howard and avoid the traffic insanity that is Georgia Avenue. Taking Fifth Street brings you onto the back side of the historic campus. This intersection is about a mile from my final destination and offered a quiet, Sunday afternoon scene calling out to be photographed. Nothing spectacular, but picture worthy nonetheless.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Light and Shadow: Part I

I've got three serials going on here at D.C. Confidential now: Details, Vertical Lift, and Light and Shadow. Here's my first entry in the latter. Want to take stab at guessing what this is? Leave your guess in the comments.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Vertical Lift: Part II

Vertical detail of the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument at sunrise

I know I just featured this memorial last Sunday, but I liked the framing for this photo of the Wyoming and Oklahoma pillars at the World War II Memorial. The Washington Monument in their midst was too good not to photograph. This likely won't be the last picture of this memorial posted on D.C. Confidential. One of the great things about Washington's monuments and memorials is, there are a million photo opportunities.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Citrus

From red maple to orange...

More fall color. I'm sure this is seeming repetitive, but soon there will be no color and we'll be in the season of drab--gray, brown, dull overcast-white, and raw cold. Not pretty. Anyway--I love these little maple trees. They're so delicate and elegant.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Detail

Base of a lamp post at the Red Cross

Sometimes, when you're taking pictures of bigger things, you find smaller details. On the grounds of the Red Cross Museum are lamp posts that feature these bases. I love the detail here.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Sheridan

Statue of the Union Army's General Philip Sheridan on Sheridan Circle at the foot of Embassy Row.

Last weekend found me on Embassy Row, killing time before an 8:30 a.m. appointment on 19th Street. I stopped at Sheridan Circle and took a few pictures of this statue of the circle's namesake, General Philip Sheridan. Sheridan was, along with William "Tecumseh" Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant, one of the Union Army's heroes during the Civil War. (I'm reading Confederates in the Attic right now and, in the last few pages alone, have learned no less than six different names for this conflict that pitted brother against brother in the North and the South during the 1860s.)

While this type of monument--soldier/ historical figure/ explorer-on-horse--hasn't been erected in Washington in recent memory, the city is littered with these sculptures in many of the parks and most of the traffic circles. The majority of them date back to the early 20th century and the latter part of the 19th century.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07.

King

One of two lions that flank the entrance of the Corcoran Gallery of Art on 17th Street NW. I fiddled around with some of the settings in iPhoto to get this look. That said, I need to get Adobe PhotoShop loaded onto my MacBook. And speaking of photography, the Corcoran is currently showing an Annie Liebovitz exhibition. I haven't been yet, but I've heard it's quite good.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Buttery

Fall leaves in yellow

More fall color. This was taken in the yard of a home on Blagden Avenue, just off of Rock Creek Parkway.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Romania

The Embassy of Romania, 1607 23rd Street NW

This picture if for fellow photographer, Lara of Lara's Welt, who lives and teaches English in Romania. I was out yesterday morning to take a picture of Winston Churchill and Kahlil Gibran near the British Embassy, but since there is no parking on Embassy Row, I ended up down at Sheridan Circle instead. I caught a couple of pictures I'll be featuring later on D.C. Confidential, but today's picture is of the Embassy of Romania on Sheridan Circle across from the Turkish Ambassador's Residence and near Dumbarton Bridge.

Shout out to you, Lara!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

Honor

The World War II Memorial on the National Mall with the Lincoln Memorial to the west.

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States--the day we honor the men and women of our Armed Forces who serve and protect our country.* Regardless of our current military actions in parts of the world we shouldn't be in (and regardless of how you feel about the war in Iraq), today is the day to thank those who put their lives on the line to ensure our domestic tranquility and secure peace.

On this Veteran's Day, I pay tribute to my late grandfather, who served in World War II with the U.S. Army. He sacrifice, along with millions of others, is memorialized here at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. As you approach the memorial from the east side across from the Washington Monument and facing the Lincoln Memorial to the west, you read these words carved in granite:

Here, in the presence of Washington and Lincoln, one the eighteenth century father, the other the nineteenth century preserver of our nation, we honor those twentieth century Americans who took up the struggle during the Second World War and made the sacrifices to perpetuate the gift our forefathers entrusted to us: a nation conceived in liberty and justice.

* In Australia and Canada, it's Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday in Great Britain, Armistice in France, and Wapenstilstandsdag in Belgium. All of these commemorations mark the day and hour in 1918--November the 11th at 11:00 a.m.--when the guns of World War I fell silent on the Western Front.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07