dc photo meetups, july-aug 08

As some of you may already know, I'm a volunteer organizer for the Washington Photography Meetup group here in town. Just wanted to take a moment to share some of our upcoming events for anyone who might be interested.

Sunday Quarterly - Crystal City
Sunday 20 July, starting at 3:30p
I'm starting a new Sunday Quarterly Series that provides a downtempo forum for photographers around town to meet, share recent work, trade ideas, and just kind of chill with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and talk about anything and everything photographic that comes to mind.

Details and RSVP here: photo.meetup.com/62/calendar/8352785/

August Monthly Meeting
Wednesday 13 August, starting at 7p
Bring five of your latest photos (in print or in digital form) to share over dinner at Teaism Penn Quarter. Meet other local photographers, get feedback on some of your latest work, talk about the latest photographic news, and discuss local events such as upcoming gallery openings and new locations and events to photograph around the area.

Details and RSVP here: photo.meetup.com/62/calendar/8310058/

Photowalk - Monuments and Memorials at Sunset and Night
Friday 22 August, starting at 6p
Trevor Carpenter from photowalking.org is in town and we are co-organizing a sunset shoot with him at the Lincoln Memorial then photowalking down the National Mall to the Capitol to shoot some of the scenes and buildings as night falls.

Details and RSVP here: photo.meetup.com/62/calendar/8353079/
And RSVP on Yahoo-Upcoming: upcoming.yahoo.com/event/779437/

About Washington Photography Meetup
Established in 2003, the Washington Photography Meetup group is for the photography enthusiast; young and old, novice to professional, film or digital. Our group is not only a photography club in the traditional sense, but a social outlet for people here in the DC area who are interested in getting together to meet, have fun, and share their enjoyment of photography.

Our meetup group is meant to get you out shooting, discussing, and sharing. Each month, we want to help everyone flex their creative muscles with our monthly meetups, photowalks, and museum and gallery outings.

Washington Photography Meetup is organized entirely by kindly volunteer contributors. If you're interested in volunteering as an organizer, if you have ideas and want to help organize a specific event for our local photographic community, or if you have any general questions, feel free to send me a message.

Ken

p.s. If you haven't checked it out already, the DC Social Flickr Group has a series of can't miss meetups, photowalk outings, and happy hours. And not to mention, an awesome group of flickrites :)

perspectives on rain

And now for a sharing moment from Ken…

I used to feel quite melancholy on rainy days. I'd have to begrudgingly wake up to dim gray skies, gripe in traffic about how people can't drive when it's raining, and considered my day a loss. But one day not long ago, the skies dumped down rain on me while I was dayhiking on North Seymour Island in the Galapagos. Being in a protected national park, there were no buildings to shelter me from the rain, and the boat was at least 30 minutes to an hour from coming to pick us up. But this time, uncharacteristic of me, I laughed and let the rain fall on me. While most everyone else was standing on water's edge complaining to the tour guide about the boat not being here faster, I got into the water with Alicia to check out some of the marine iguanas and Sally Lawrence crabs that were climbing the rocks and tried taking some pictures with her new waterproof camera.

Moments before the storm:


Alicia on the beach:


Me on the dinghy after it picked us up (click on the photo for an interesting dialogue in the comments):


Upon getting back to the schooner and having an Ecuadorian Pilsener beer, I felt glad that I didn't let the rain bring down my first day in the Galapagos. But surely, I was only happy because I was on vacation, right?

So that was this past March. A month later in April, I went downtown to the National Mall for the Earth Day celebration, camera in hand, ready to check out the exhibits and photowalk around the concert. Again, clouds rolled in and the downpour began. No umbrella on hand, no poncho in my backpack, and this time, I'm carrying my camera and lenses, which are not waterproof. My Crumpler camera bag is waterproof, but I figured when they say waterproof, they generally mean misty rain, not sheets of rain.

I stowed my camera and looked up to see a scene of chaos that no camera could capture. Some people sprinting full speed toward the museums, some opening their arms to the sky, some starting a game of football, and some just doubled-over laughing with their friends. And then there was me, by myself, fully soaked and getting even more so by the second, walking slowly and listening to the combined crunching and squishing noise the gravel was making at my feet, looking around, and laughing to myself, in that relieved, freeing laughter sort of way, knowing that rainy days don't have to be bum days for me anymore. I was so glad to be out, even glad to be in the rain to witness the spectacle. The rain tapered off a little bit and I got my camera back out (carefully, with a plastic bag around it) to see if I could at least try to capture the notion that rain can even make the day more fun and in a sense, even can bring down inhibitions.

For example, these people probably wouldn't have jumped into this fountain at the National Gallery of Art if it were just a regular sunny day:


Note the unused umbrellas in the lower left:


I recall these guys commenting that it's probably drier in the fountain than it is in the torrent of rain:


Not shown are the people who offered me a beer from their cooler at the top of the steps at the National Gallery of Art, West Building. And the security guard who was kind enough to look the other way while I was drinking it.

I haven't had a gloomy rainy day since. Now, when I see rain coming, I think of the two particular experiences above (and it's nice having some pictures of them) and wonder what will be my next rainy day story. My more recent memories of rainy days include laughing with coworkers about how the rental car company wasn't going to appreciate us bringing our car back after driving it through a hailstorm, looking at the flood of neat rainbow pictures in the DC flickr pool after one recent rainstorm, and today, writing this entry, recognizing that the rain itself has helped me find an element of peace in my life that I didn't have before.