Eisenhower Executive Office Building

This building is one of the fanciest office buildings in Washington, DC. Why? Its occupants.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is next door to the White House, and contains the offices of White House staffers and the Vice President.

A friend on Facebook shared this morning an interesting quotation by Socrates that made me think of this building.

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

Right now, White House staffers are working around the clock on critical issues impacting Americans, including lifting the sequester. So far, White House staffers and their colleagues on Capitol Hill are are spending most of their time "fighting" opponents rather than "building" consensus.

Hopefully, someone will take inspiration from Socrates and start constructing change rather than investing so much time, energy and resources breaking down walls with little success.

The Real Oval Office

Besides being a photography fan, I'm also a political junkie. While I don't enjoy the barbs and ugliness of political discourse these days in the United States, I am a lover of the theory of the democratic process and the practice of American politics done well.

As such, some of my favorite books, films and television shows are set in the world of politics. "The West Wing" is my favorite TV show of all time, which is saying a lot since I'm a avid television watcher and have collected several favorite shows over the years.

My love of "The West Wing" is due to two reasons:

1. I'm a devotee of its creator and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and his commitment to forcing his characters to "walk-and-talk" smart, thought-provoking dialogue; and
2. I wish Martin Sheen's character on the program, President Josiah Bartlet, was a real U.S. president, so I could vote for him.

(NOTE: A close third reason is that I wish Josh Lyman was also real person, because I would date him, but that's another story for another blog post.)

After watching (and re-watching) seven seasons of "The West Wing," I feel very familiar with the President's Oval Office. The show actually created a replica of the real Oval Office in a sound stage in Los Angeles as a set.

During those "The West Wing" marathons, I never imagined that I would one day be standing this close to the real Oval Office. You can see the exterior of the Oval Office in today's photograph. Just down this path and to the left is the door the President uses to enter and leave his executive office. From this position, you can see the curvature of the room that makes its oval shape.

While President Obama was at Camp David during my visit, a co-worker who visited the day before just missed seeing him enter the Oval Office during her White House garden tour. To be only steps away from such an important room is very humbling and awe-inspiring.

Once home following the White House garden tour, I felt compelled to watch another "The West Wing" episode and hear that soaring theme song one more time.

View from Inside the Fence

See all the people standing in front of the South Portico? Yeah, all of those people -- my fellow tour attendees -- made my White House garden tour a challenging photo excursion.

People were everywhere. Just to take this photograph, I had to muscle in between visitors who had stopped to take a photo of themselves with the White House in the background. It was the most common photo set-up of the tour -- lots photos taken of people with the White House.

I, on the other hand, didn't even take one image of myself with the White House. I wasn't interested.

All of my photos focused only on the building, gardens and fountains a part of the South Lawn. This postcard composition of the White House is the only one I took that included people just because there was no way to avoid them. Sigh.

Touring the White House Gardens

Today's photo is not of any ordinary white house. This is an up-close and personal photo of "the" White House -- the official residence and office of the President of the United States and the President's family. This is the residence at which all U.S. presidents since our 2nd President of the United States John Adams lived.

How did I get this close to the White House you ask?

Twice a year, the White House South Lawn is opened to the public for free self-guided tours of its gardens during the autumn and spring seasons. Luckily, I was able to secure a ticket today for the last day of the fall season tours.

So, I spent this Saturday morning walking around (and photographing) the South Lawn and seeing the famous Rose Garden, Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, the White House Kitchen Garden and much more in person for the first time.

Being so close to the South Portico or  the"back door" of this infamous house was such a thrill. It was also a bit surreal as well. In the coming days, I'll share more of what I saw and learned during my South Lawn stroll.

Back to DC

I'm going, going ... back, back ... to DC, DC. Well, that's not how the Notorious B.I.G. song goes. Biggie's going back to California. But, I've been there and done that trip already. Now, I'm heading back to the cold East Coast after a good visit to the West Coast for the holidays.

Today's photograph is of DC's famed (or infamous) Watergate complex. While it used to be a hotel during the Nixon era, it is now private condominium residences. One time, I saw TV personality Ben Stein leaving the Watergate. Ironically before his acting and TV career, Stein used to work in the Nixon White House as a speechwriter and now lives at the site of his former boss' political undoing.

What's interesting about this image of the Watergate is that if I didn't mention it was located in Washington, DC, it could easily pass as a building in Los Angeles. The bright sunlight highlighting the Watergate and its green trees and modern architecture would be at home in the L.A. skyline and seems out of place along the Potomac River in DC where buildings tend to feature Greek and Roman-inspired architectural elements instead.

Learning from a Crazy One

I'm a PC person. It's in my genes (thanks Dad). However, I love great innovation more. Steve Jobs -- the former CEO of Apple who passed away yesterday -- was the king of great innovation. He defied convention and created new technologies and devices that have revolutionized my life and quite frankly, the world. Not a bad dent to leave in the universe in only 56 years, right?


I use Steve's innovations at work, at home and at play. I even use his camera technology in the iPhone to take photos I've featured on this blog.

In 1997, Apple launched the "Think Different" advertising campaign, one of my favorite ad campaigns during my lifetime. It beautifully summarized what set Apple apart from its competitors, but also defined their leader as well.

Steve Jobs thought differently and looked at the world differently. Instead of stifling or conforming his vision, he took risks and followed his gut to creative genius. As he shared with the 2005 graduating class at Stanford University in his commencement address, change only happens when we dare to be bold and follow our intuition. Thank goodness for the world, Steve Jobs listened to his.

"Think Different" by Apple Inc.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Blue Sky Morning in Paris

Please don't let this post's title fool you; I didn't visit Paris, France this weekend. Unfortunately, I have yet to make it across the Atlantic to finally visit Europe. It's on my bucket list.

Luckily Las Vegas, Nevada developers have tried to bring the best of Europe to the Las Vegas Strip. During my recent visit, we stayed at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino which is right next door to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel which features replicas of the Eifel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. Walking back to the hotel from the Bellagio which is just across the street from the Paris Hotel, I was able to capture this beautiful French-inspired panorama with the bright blue desert sky as its backdrop.

Vegas is such an imaginative city. One day, I'm going to plan a trip there just to photograph it. I'm guessing that I could spend hours just walking in and out of hotels and casinos and capturing photographs of the most incredible sights and subjects. Like visiting Europe, a Vegas photo excursion is also on my bucket list.

Crystal Chandelier

I'm not a gaudy girl, but I do love items that sparkle such as this crystal chandelier at The Madison Hotel in Washington, DC. Even though Marilyn Monroe sang that diamonds are a girl's best friend, my love of sparkle doesn't actually extend to diamonds. The sparklers that I love the most are crystals that act as prisms and reflect light. In photographs, while diamonds can create a similar effect, they lack the bright brilliance of crystals especially in soft light settings.

Gold Spire

This is the top of one of the pillars framing the entrance to the Jefferson Family Cemetery at Monticello. At a distance, this gate spire seemed ordinary. But after moving closer, I became intrigued by it.

Jefferson was a collector of ornate objects. He filled his estate with architectural characteristics and decorative items that would tell a story to onlookers, whether pieces were from Lewis and Clark's explorations of the American frontier or portraits of important figures, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin or Isaac Newton.

Thus, it isn't surprising that his love of ornate elements would be extended to his final resting place as well. This gate spire is gold-tipped. Gold is a repeated design element on the cemetery fencing, and a featured part of the family crest of the front of the gate. Even in death, Jefferson still rested in luxury.

Postcard View of Monticello

All landscape photographers are looking to take a photograph that could be used on a souvenir postcard. The most common postcard images of Monticello are either aerial images of the plantation or photographs featuring the entire back side of the family house.

I prefer this side view of the back side of Monticello as a postcard image. From this vantage point, you can really appreciate the architectural attributes of its design, which would not be as apparent when photographing the back straight on and losing depth of field.

Jefferson Coat of Arms

I've mentioned before on the blog my love of lions. So, you can imagine how pleased I was to find a lion used in the gold coat of arms on the Jefferson family cemetery entrance gate.

Inscribed in the seal are the words, "Ab eo libertas a quo spiritus" which loosely translates to mean "He who gives life gives liberty." It's an ironic motto for slave-owning family, because their slaves' liberty was held by man and not their creator.

Inside Looking Out

Underneath Monticello, running the length of the home, is a tunnel used by Jefferson's house staff to maintain the house and grounds. This dark, stone-lined tunnel connected the slaves to a variety of service rooms used for storage, cleaning and cooking for the main house. During the day, the only daylight present came from these half circle windows which were scattered along along the corridor and in the ancillary rooms.

While Monticello's surroundings were beautiful, how sad it must have been for the slaves who spent so many hours in this tunnel, fulfilling their role in Jefferson's household. Whether they prepared the family's meals or maintained Jefferson's extensive wine and beer cellars or laundered and ironed clothes and linens, the only glimpse of Monticello's spectacular view during working hours was through these tiny windows.

Dinner by Candlelight

Each table at Lincoln Restaurant was lit by candles in these glass lanterns. They gave off the perfect amount of light and created such a beautiful glow off of all of the copper elements in the dining room.

Photographing candles can be tricky. In my experience, it is best to turn off your flash before taking the picture. Not using the automatic flash allows the true color of the scene and the glow of the candle appear closer to how you saw it. While your final image may be darker, the candlelight will look more authentic and appealing than if you used flash photography.

Lots of Pennies

Yesterday, I enjoyed dinner at a new restaurant in DC -- Lincoln Restaurant. The small plate dishes were delightful. The wine list was interesting. But, the best part of the whole experience was the restaurant's decor, which was inspired by the images and words of President Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln's entire dinning room floor, and some of the walls, are covered in real pennies. Such an innovative design approach! According to their website, the restaurant designer used more than a million pennies to create its copper-colored tiled floor. They even utilized pennies to create these stars on the wall.

The lights outside the restaurant created this interesting reflection on one of the penny-tiled walls. Oh, how I love originality! Vision like that can create such beautiful environments.

Patriotic Stop

Like yesterday's photo post, here is another perspective of the American flag on the AUSA Building for Memorial Day. I liked the juxtaposition of the stop sign with the American flag when I took this photo. The stop sign in this image is actually located across the street from the building.

The photograph represents how I would like people to treat federal holidays. Although these national observances give us days off from work, there is a higher purpose for day-long government and business closures. Holidays, such as Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day, offer us the opportunity to stop and reflect on the contributions and service of others who have helped shape our country and secure its future. We should all stop and reflect during these occasions on what it means to live in the United States and enjoy its many blessings.

Patriotic Window

As you might imagine, Washingtonians take federal holidays very seriously. When I lived in California, I don't recall building managers placing American flags on their property in observance of national occasions, like Memorial Day and Independence Day. While city governments decorated their streets and buildings in festive red, white and blue flags, streamers and bunting, private building management just did not seem to make a similar effort. In Washington, DC, this is not the case.

While walking around my neighborhood over Memorial Day weekend, there were American flags displayed all around town. In honor of every patriotic holiday, this large office building in the heart of North Arlington drapes a large flag -- at least three stories long -- down the front of the building. It can be seen for blocks when walking or driving on Clarendon or Wilson boulevards in the Court House area. On Sunday, the reflection of this flag could be seen in the window of one of its neighboring buildings creating a patriotic window. Even though it would have been easier to just photograph the large American flag hanging from the top of the AUSA Building, this composition offers viewers a glimpse of the flag through a more interesting filter.

Modern Glass Castle

In the midst of Pittsburgh's skyscrapers stands this interesting building. Made of locally produced mirror glass panels, the PPG Place buildings resemble a modern glass castle with spires (more than 230) and towers. Its unusual presence in the Pittsburgh skyline draws the eye and reflects on its surface the neighboring structures, sky, hills and river that surrounds it.

Pittsburgh Skyline

After days and days of flower photos, I decided to give you a break and share some photos taken during my recent visit to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A wedding of a dear couple finally got me to Pittsburgh for the first time. We stayed in the Station Square area alongside the Monongahela River and got this glorious view of the downtown Pittsburgh skyline from our hotel after several hours of thunderstorms. While it was a quick weekend trip where travel and wedding festivities kept me from doing much exploring, it was the perfect introduction to a city I look forward to visiting again soon. After being surrounded by so many Pittsburgh people who now live in the DC Metro area, I'm shocked that it took me more than five years to get to Pittsburgh.

Also, this photo is also evidence that windows aren't obstacles to photographing the outdoors from indoors. Depending on how you focus your camera on the outdoor subject, there are always ways to take pictures through glass windows without capturing reflections in your image. If I hadn't mentioned that I took this photograph from inside the hotel, you probably might have guessed that I was standing on the river walk outside when this photograph was taken.

New York Public Library

Have you ever thought while reviewing your photographs, "Now, why did I do that?!" and delete or discard the offending photograph? I experienced that moment frequently, believing that my misjudgment or miscalculation prevented a good photograph from becoming a great one. As part of my 2011 challenge, that line of thinking is no longer allowed. Instead of getting hung up on what I didn't accomplish in a photograph, I'm going to celebrate what I did capture.

This photograph near the New York Public Library entrance in New York City is one of the images I've discredited in the past because of a mistake I wish I never made. To the viewer, it isn't obvious, but from my vantage point, it sticks out like a sore thumb. In spite of this glitch, there are great elements in the composition, such as the multicolored flowers and the lion statue, that I love. The image itself epitomizes the beauty found in so many of Manhattan's structures. Banishing it would prevent others from enjoying those characteristics as well. I'm learning that there is a difference between being a perfectionist who focuses solely on errors in photographs, ignoring accomplishments, and a critic who looks at the whole -- good and bad elements -- to grow as a photographer. I'm choosing the latter and broadening my photographer's eye to take in both the pros and cons of my images, and as a result, become a stronger, but less pessimistic, photographer.

Blue Tile

I'm not the biggest fan of modern art, particularly abstract art. While I appreciate the modern artist's skill and artistic ability, I usually have difficulty understanding the abstract piece's meaning or message. However, abstract photography is very interesting to me. Finding a single subject and using the camera lens to zoom in to photograph it so it is unidentifiable from its original format is challenging and revealing. Take this close-up of the blue tiles in a courtyard fountain at Union Station in Los Angeles. A full photograph of the fountain would not reveal the beauty of these bright, blue tiles; its color would be completely lost in a larger composition. Only the bubbles at the lower right side of the photograph hint at the presence of water, and the true identity of the subject.