Shot of the Day – 22 – Tripods and Our Nation’s Capitol

Our Nation’s Capitol (29 October 2007)

Since our capitol building was recently closed to the public, it seems like a good time for this story.
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There are so many ways you can photograph our magnificent capitol building. I never get tired of trying. Daytime, night time, with Spring flowers around it, with the lit Holiday tree in front of it.

Just don’t try to use a tripod. If it’s foggy or dark and you need a longer exposure to get it right, you might be out of luck because when you set your camera on a tripod and you’re on Capitol grounds, the police will come and run you off. It happened to me twice…once on the grounds with a full-size tripod and once when I used a tiny one on an outside ledge. Why? Tripods are not allowed on Capitol grounds. Why? The best answer I got when I last tried it 15 years ago was “Because we said so. You need a permit.”

Since I’m bringing this up now, I figure I should use The Google and see if anything more official is actually published for public knowledge. I am pleased to report that the Capitol Police have posted their ‘Guidelines for Conducting an Event on United States Capitol Grounds (10/16).’ It says tripods are permitted as long as they are on grassy areas where vehicular and pedestrian traffic is not impeded.

I’d like to think they got tired of wasting their time running off every amateur shutterbug who wanted to take a good shot. Can’t help but think that with my luck, I’ll get rousted again because I am not an event. We’ll see.

Happy shooting.

Another (Morbid) End to the Christmas Season

Somewhere in Columbia, MD (30 December 2017)

Our Christmas decorations are starting to come down for today is Twelfth Night or Three Kings Day or Epiphany. In New Orleans, January 6th is also the official beginning of the Mardi Gras season. A humorous take on Twelfth Night in New Orleans was just posted on the NOLA web site. From this day forward, until Fat Tuesday, February 13th, the Crescent City will do what it does best – parade and party.

Here in the frozen North, the holiday scene looks much less festive, especially around inflatable decorations. No Mardi Gras images here because my last thoughts on the Christmas season again trend toward the morbid and disturbed. There was the body outline on the curb story in 2012 followed by the body removal story in 2017. In that same vein, I couldn’t help but notice these sad scenes around the ‘hood.

Somewhere else in Columbia, MD (30 December 2017)

Once they were happy holiday figures. Bright. Colorful. Upright. Now they’re deflated. Deformed. Unrecognizable. Like some creature stomped them flat or sucked their insides out and left their empty skins to the elements. Christmas crushed. Who would do such a thing?

Unlike my previous tales of Christmas depravation, the scenes here are not one-time-one-place occurrences. This happens all over town and the poor things are put down every day. This one looks like the rival gang drove by with a van-load of Uzi’s. The St. Nicholas Day Massacre. Poor Santa tried to escape before he was plugged…or they hung him there as an example to the survivors. All that’s missing is the yellow crime scene tape. Sad.

Happy New Year.

Stay warm.