Two Things Challenge: Flagpole

Fifty unfurled, fluttering flags on flagpoles
around the Washington Monument!

The second part of this week's Two Things Challenge is Flagpole. What better place for a picture of flagpoles than the Washington Monument? This monument to America's first president, George Washington, is surrounded by 50 flags--one for each state in the Union. They are one of the few sets of flags that fly 24/7/365 in Washington.

Looking skyward

Coincidentally, yesterday happened to be Flag Day in the U.S. June 14, 1777 is the day the Continental Congress adopted the flag of the United States. At the time, it had a field of blue with 13 stars in a circle representing the 13 original colonies and 13 alternating stripes of red and white. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation making June 14th Flag Day and in 1949 National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Unlike other holidays in the U.S., however, Flag Day is not an official federal holiday unless the sitting president declares it such. Only Pennsylvania observes it as a state holiday.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 6/08

Starry, Starry Night

Metropolitan Police Department Dispatch Tower

During the lunar eclipse on Wednesday night, I tried my hand at photographing the moon, but my camera just wasn't up to the challenge. It's a fabulous little point-and-shoot from Canon and I love it, but it's not good for things like clear, full moon pictures (like these or these or these.)

The Tower is Blue: Starring William Holden, David Niven, and Maggie McNamara...
Oh, wait. I'm mixing up my movie titles.

However, all was not lost. As I stood on the corner of 9th and Peabody freezing my gluteus maximus off, I turned my attention briefly from the vanishing moon to the Metropolitan Police Department dispatch tower on Georgia Avenue and captured a lovely, but rather dull shot. (That would be the first picture at the top in this little collection, just so's ya know.)

Homer! Don't you think it's time to take down the Christmas lights already? It's nearly March!

I played with it a little in my photo editing software and came up with three other versions that are a little more interesting. (Amazingly, my camera didn't do a very good job of photographing the moon, but it did a great job of picking up the stars! Go figure! To see the stars, click on the pictures and they'll open as larger images.)

Doesn't this look like an old photo out of an issue of National Geographic from the 1930s or earlier?
(Or am I just flattering myself?)

I can't decide which of the three edited pictures I like best, so I decided just to post them all and let you decide!


Photo copyrights: D.C. Confidential

Skyward

Needle Tower by Kenneth Snelson, 1968

Portion of a Kenneth Snelson sculpture on the grounds of the Hirschhorn Museum. If you stand underneath its base directly in the center, the rods form the Star of David.

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

Vertical Lift: Part III

Washington Monument Sunrise

Just another picture of the iconic Washington Monument on the National Mall, only this time I tweaked it in iPhoto to look a little more like a fake nightshot a la old movies!

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

Vertical Lift: Part I

Columns at sunrise in the Lincoln Memorial

This is a series I'm starting on D.C. Confidential where I feature segments of monuments that use vertical planes and force you to look up. The most obvious would be the Washington Monument, of course, but I thought I'd start with something a little softer. These are some of the columns inside the Lincoln Memorial and are a continuation of the columns that surround the memorial on the outside. They were particularly striking the other morning as the sun was rising.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 10/07.