A Birthday in Georgetown DC

On Friday 5/29, I went to Georgetown DC to celebrate a friend's birthday, and about 23 friends came out to Chadwicks near the Georgetown Waterfront. It was a nice environment in sitting upstairs and being able to look out the windows to see the Georgetown waterfront. After a lengthy dinner, most of us walked down to the waterfront to hang out at Nick's Riverside Grille. I took some pictures before I met up with the others at Chadwicks and also took pictures throughout the night with my compact camera (Canon SD1000). I think good results can come from even these little cameras. I notice that a lot of people just leave their camera on auto and snap away taking pictures, and usually the pictures come out with that harsh lighting from the automatic flash. For night scenes, I often use the night snapshot setting, and I have to keep very still when using this setting or else it'll blur the shot, which can also be a creative shot. Play around with the exposure compensation to get the perfect exposure for the amount of ambient light present and your distance to your subject. In the last photo I posted below, the lamps behind the ladies created a nice hair light, while the flash on my camera lit (with negative exposure compensation) them from the front. I think the pictures worked out well for a compact camera night.

Aidah Collection First Anniversary Fête

On Wednesday May 27, Aidah Collection celebrated it's first year with an event hosted by Kate Michael at the L2 Lounge in Georgetown, D.C. Highlights of the night included:

* Men's & Women's Fall Collection 2009, featuring Kura Design Handbags and Cha Studio Hats.

* The unveiling of the Homme Collection for Men.

* Live music by DJ Neekola and Machete Malone.

* Fine Art Exhibit of new works by Aidah Fontenot.

* Trunk Sale, VIP Mystery Gift Bags, Silent Auction (benefitting interstages non profit).

Congratulations to Aidah.

http://vithaya.zenfolio.com/aidah-fete-port

OBX Vacation

As busy as I am, I was in need of a vacation, so I spent a long weekend (5/22-26) with friends at the OBX, specifically Corolla, NC. I left for the OBX at 1:45pm on Friday and finally arrived at the beach house at 9:45pm. There was a lot of traffic starting out and there was also an accident along the way near the VA beach area. It made me wish I had just got up early Saturday morning to drive down there. I thought about all the things I still needed to do to catch up in photography, but I also needed a vacation. Well, at least I could try to relax on vacation. I still brought most of my camera gear with me.

I spent every day that I was there on the beach and it felt good to be there, especially just laying out on the beach and absorbing the warmth of the sun and viewing the blue skies with gorgeous clouds. I didn't really get out and about while at the OBX. Our beach house was just a short walk to the beach and my car was in a satellite lot far enough away. The weather was nearly perfect.

I left the beach house Tuesday around 4pm with a couple others and we got back to the DC area around 9pm, so we were glad to be able to get home relatively quickly. I enjoyed the trip and have a lot of pictures to go through and share, but here's a favorite photo from each day of my trip there.

PDN Photographers' Virtual Trade Show!

Online today is the first PDN Photographers' Virtual Trade Show! It's live from 10am - 6pm EDT. It's like getting education and being able to network like in a real trade show, but you can do this online. What a great idea. The second part of this virtual trade show is on June 21st, so that should be worth checking out too.
http://vshow.on24.com/event/14/17/88/rt/registration.html

Scott Kelby's 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk Announced

On May 18 it was announced on Scott Kelby's blog about his 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk which will take place on July 18. I went on one of the local photo walks with Jeff Revell's group last year. It was a great opportunity to get together with up to a group of 50 photographers, learn, explore, and meet other photographers. Here are my images from last year's photo walk:
http://vithaya.zenfolio.com/p574944985

GI Film Festival

For the 3rd year in a row the GI Film Festival took place at the Carnegie Institute in Washington D.C. It took place from May 12-17 and I was able to go there and photography the evenings of May 15-17. The GI Film Festival celebrates the successes and sacrifices of the American military. There were also celebrity appearances and an awards show.

Here are the photos from the 2009 GI Film Festival: http://vithaya.zenfolio.com/giff09

I also took pictures from last year's GI Film Festival: http://vithaya.zenfolio.com/giff08

America's Polo Cup

May 9th was the 2009 America's Polo Cup day. I started my day there around Noon and there was a lot going on:

* Ambassadors Celebrity First Chukker Round Robin Polo Cup.
* Opening ceremonies: The Man from Snowy River Ride out. Demonstrations on Polo Field: Hunt & Hounds / United States Park Police Horse Mounted Unit Color Guard Presentation
2010 Challenging Country was announced and awarded to India.
* Australian & USA National Anthems Live performances with Spectacular Air Parachute Team show by BLACKWATER.
* Metro Chorus live performance.
* The Battle of the Coral Sea AIR SHOW. A Moment of Silence for the US & International Armed Services Fallen Soldiers, followed by a Special Presentation by the world famous United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Team.
* Military Fly Over followed by "Sneak Pass."
* USA Land Rover Polo Team VS. QANTAS AUSTRALIAN Polo Team - International World Cup Championships. The USA won the game 4 to 2.
* US Coast Guard Helicopters Fly Overs & LIVE Concert by Jay Hoad Band.
* Polo Field Divot Stomp.
* Trophy Presentation by Raymond Weil in Land Rover Winners Circle.
DAUM Luxury Art presented the "DAUM America's Polo Cup Best Sportsmanship Award"
* The Washington Post FW presented the Winners of the Best Dressed Contest. VA Wine Lovers Package with Celebrity Judge "Omarossa" from Donald Trumps "The Apprentice."
* The Washington Post FW presented Winners of Best Hat Competition Announced. Luxury Gift Certificate presented by Celebrity Judge "Omarosa."
* American Idol Star "Michael Johns" performed, including singing the live debut of the song "She's Dangerous."
* Superstar surprise performance by Mya.
* A Joint American & Australian Grande Fireworks Celebration Show - A Celebration of Freedom, acknowledging the friendship between the USA and Australia.
* The Polo Celebration continued with "Rockin the Polo Field" dancing on the Polo field.

http://vithaya.zenfolio.com/americaspolocupsaturday09w