It’s one thing to shoot with natural lighting or with a simple flash, but when you start to get into portrait photography you realize you’ve barely scratched the surface. Strobe or continuous? Modeling lights? Umbrellas or soft boxes? Pocket Wizards? Muslin? Am I speaking Greek to you? Well if you want to learn more about lighting as it relates to photography, I highly recommend the upcoming Lighting & Digital Photography Training Camp, hosted by master photographer Jack Reznicki:

Saturday, August 18th, 9am to 4pm

Cafritz Conference Center
George Washington University
800 21st Street NW
Washington, DC 20052

Pre-registered Cost: $99
At the Door Cost: $119

Photo by yospyn

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

After a long week chewing through work, do you fell stuck in your job? Like your efforts bubble up, only to pop? Do you want something more elastic? More cleansing? How about Gum Busting?

Yeah, you’re not seeing things – there really is a job, a need for industrial bubble gum removal. There is even an international need for gum busters too.

No word on if they use big blocks of ice or peanut butter, two ways I’ve heard to remove chewing gum from hair or clothes. Regardless, while not a job I would want, I do love that America is so rich, we have gum removal specialists.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m addicted to Mike Rowe and his Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs. They’ve supposedly “searched this great land of ours” for people performing “jobs that make civilized society possible”. He’s hit Baltimore (Glen Burnie – McShane Bell Foundry) for a bell maker and groundskeeper for the Bowie Baysox, but no love for DC?

What do you think is the dirtiest job in DC? Cleaning up the sidewalk in front of Rumors after an overextended night of drinking? Maybe one of the Big Bite munching construction workers and landscape artisans at the local 7-11? How about being a lobbyist to congress for one of the “sin stocks” (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)? Maybe even filling potholes in DC for the DOT? I could think of a few jobs uniquely “Dirty in DC”, what’s your favorite disgusting, grungy, smelly dirty job in DC?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

We’re going to see Reefer Madness tonight at Studio as part of our Fringe outings, but unlike most of the other performances it’s not limited to a few showings. It opened in early July and we’re entering the last week of showings now – the show will close on August 5th, a week from Sunday. I’ll try to find some time to talk about it – continuing my lovingly named ‘reviews too late to do you any good‘ – but this far into the run there’s already plenty of reviews. Of the ones I can quickly find they’re positive, positive, positive, and Peter Marks.

Fooey on him. I’m expecting a good time.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Right there on 18th Street, just half a block off Connecticut sits Candey’s Hardware. It’s one of those almost impossibly cool places in the District, much like its neighbor, the 18th St. Lounge. A little tiny hardware story in the middle of the big city. The Post has a long elegy to Candey Hardware (with some really great photos) in its pages today. Candey’s has been in business since 1891, and has passed down through five generations of Candey’s, but now it will be no more. The building will be sold, the business packed up and finished.

Like many before me, including some of DC’s finest, that was where I went for my duplicate keys, ever since my friend Dan Glover showed me the door to Candey’s back in 2000. But no more. Much as David Candey says, “As you go through life, you’re born, you have real days when you’re thriving and productive, and then you come to an older time when it’s time to look ahead.”

Such is the way. Businesses spring up and flourish, surviving bad times and doing well in the lush times, but then there comes a point when they must be closed for good.

Goodbye Candey’s Hardware. I’ll miss you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With the Voting Rights Bill unlikely to make the Senate Floor before the long August Recess, you might well be wondering what this is all about. But, we were thinking it might be good to see where the various presidential candidates stand with regard to DC’s Voting Rights:

For the Democrats:

Barack Obama (Senator, IL) For DC Voting Rights:

Currently a co-sponsor of SR 1257

Hillary Clinton (Senator, NY) For DC Voting Rights

Currently a co-sponsor of SR 1257

Mike Gravel (Former Rep, AK) Unknown

Oddly, as on most issues, Gravel was eerily silent on DC Voting Rights.

For the Republicans:

Rudy Giuliani (Former Mayor, NYC) Unknown

I cannot find a public stance from Mayor Giuliani. Could be sympathetic, though, as he was a mayor.

Mitt Romney (Former Governor, MA) Unknown

I cannot find a public stance from Governor Romney.

Ron Paul (Representative, TX-14) Against DC Voting Rights:

Voted against HR 1905 which would grant DC a voting member of the House of Reps. Of course, also said some really skeevy stuff about DC back in the day, including: “Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” (Google Cached from the Houston Chronicle.

Fred Thompson (Former Senator, TN)* Unknown

Thompson hasn’t spoken on this issue directly, but is a strong states’ rights proponent, and may likely be against the dilution of the power of the states.

*please note that Thompson hasn’t yet declared he is running.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I suppose there’s some irony in this, but the Fringe show called “Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey present:
The Super Secret Show” has had a venue change, as well as a different time for all but 1 show, potentially resulting in people (like myself) with tickets showing up at the old venue only to discover the show in fact happened a mile away 12 hours prior. Secret indeed.

SO, if you’ve got tickets to The Super Secret Show you need to get yourself to the Warehouse stage NOT the Scientarium. The times are Friday @ 5:30pm (still), Saturday @ Noon, and Sunday @ 9:00pm.

Warehouse Arts – Mainstage
1021 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I was headed to lunch in Old Town today, when I heard the craziest thing on the radio. Now, I realize that just because I heard it on the radio, it doesn’t automatically have to be true, but would Kojo Nnamdi really lie to me? I don’t think so. The subject in question was the contempt citations that the Judiciary Committee voted to issue for Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers.

The question is: Should these two be cited for contempt of Congress, it is likely that the charges will not be filed by the Executive Branch, but what about the idea of inherent contempt of Congress? By that authority, the chamber could consider Bolton and Miers in inherent contempt of Congress, send the Sergeant at Arms (who’s well compensated for the privilege) to detain the object of their ire, and bring them forth to the Capitol for a speedy trial and sentencing.

The last time this happened was in 1934, when the Postmaster General was tried by Congress and sentenced to 10 days incarceration in the DC Jail:…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

I love my new work hood, 19th and M Streets NW.

There are a great number of entertainment options just steps from my door. But stepping by Rumor’s door, I looked down and almost jumped off the sidewalk.

Just look at that gross-ass spillage from too many drunk Bob’s and Betty’s who can’t hold their Miller Lite. You’d think Rumors would have the decently to pressure clean the concrete. Or at least buy a bigger mat.

Do something, please, because those stains are just nasty, and are detrimental to my drinking experience.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I recently had a too-close encounter with a guy who stunk of liquor and sweat on the metro. The other day, this fellow was complaining about how crowded Metro Center was during rush hour.

“Is it always like this?” he asked to nobody in particular.

“Yes,” a woman answered. “But today’s not so bad. Sometimes people push trying to get up and down the escalator.”

“That ain’t no good,” the guy said. “If somebody pushes me, I’ll end up going to jail.” He tried to make eye contact with me, smiling as if I would know what he was talking about, which I did, or relate to him because of his many white supremacist and prison tattoos. Yes, I know a bit about prison tattoos, but not from first-hand experience, I assure you.

The guy said a few other things in my general direction, as if he were looking to tangle with someone. I just kept reading my book, pretending to not notice or care.

My only comfort with the situation was from tattoo guy having a tourist map he kept referencing. That means he is likely just passing through. And if it simply means that he is living here and new to the area, that’s okay too because eventually someone will push him and he will go back to jail. Either way, I am fine with it.

But dude – don’t be offended if I ignore you. I just aim to heed the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, who said that if you lie down with dogs, you are bound to get fleas. I have had enough metaphorical fleas for one lifetime!

Kind readers – who has made you uncomfortable on your commute recently?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’ve been wanting to post about this film for a few months now, namely since seeing the trailer and also realizing it’s a film about an interesting time in DC, as well as the local celebrity that spawned it. The film is “Talk To Me” and stars Don Cheadle (“Hotel Rwanda”), Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Serenity” and “Kinky Boots”), and is about radio personality Ralph “Petey” Greene, and ex-con and community activist who was on WOL-AM in the 1960s and 1970s. He railed against poverty and racism on his shows, and participatied in demonstrations during the height of his popularity. Even if Mr. Cheadle looks like a less exaggerated Eddie Griffin from “Undercover Brother” in makeup, it shouldn’t dull the sincerity of the performance.

The film opens this week in selected theatres around the country, and can be seen in and around DC at Regal Gallery Place and The Avalon Theatre in The District, . It truly looks like an funny, uplifting, and excellent round of performances from all the actors involved. If you want to support DC as a filmmaking location (and a source of good stories), outside of “Enemy of the State” and “Being There“, and NOT “Live Free Or Die Hard“… go see this film, plus you might learn something along the way.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Not content with just preventing gays from marrying in Virginia, a group of bored conservatives are working to make marriage, and divorce, harder in Virginia. They’re working to institute policy to bring down the Virginia divorce rate, which is just 3.85 people per 1,000. State involvement in relationships isn’t the way, though, in my opinion. Of course, this is Virginia, where two men or two women can’t enter into the same legal covenant that my wife and I have, simply because they have matching genitalia.

Of course, we could always just blame something tangential to the matter…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Myself, my darling girlfriend, and our friend Katie spent almost two hours last night sampling eight sparking wines at GiraMondo’s “Wines of Summer: Champagne and Other Bubbles” event. True to his word, host Laurent Guinand provided a range of sparking wine from around the world, not a suite of cheap cava from Trader Joe’s – though after learning from his presentation just how many varietals of grape the Spanish use to make cava I think my darling girlfriend and I may have to host an all-cava tasting. From his handout: Macabeo, Parallada, Xarello, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Trepat, Monastrelle, and Grenache.

Monsieur Guinand was also very gracious when I identified myself after the event, completely refraining from asking the entirely justified “Did you feel like you got a sufficient selection, punk? Well, do ya?” We chatted briefly and he said that he, as GiraMondo, has been doing these events a little more than a year in a few local locations. In some other events he hires and manages for the entire event. In locations like last night’s Woman’s National Democratic Club the facility staff is used. The WNDC servers weren’t quite as perky as they could have been – at times he had to adjust his presentation a bit on the fly to allow time for them to get around and fill everyone’s glass with the next wine. It was handled well, however, and the post-tasting light dinner was tasty.

The events are on hold till the fall, I presume to allow for the selection of wine tours they offer. They’re not my cup of tea, though they did inspire my darling girlfriend and I to discuss planning a cooking tour of Italy at some point in my life. While I may not be the wine enthusiast she deserves, I do have some finer tastes. Perhaps GiraMondo will put together an event for beer-preferring philistines like myself, titled something like “Find the wines you can tolerate, perhaps even enjoy: An evening for the wine-adverse” or “Coping with your wine-loving spouse: Pairing wine with the beer drinker.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

So this sign in the window of Mon Cheri Cafe in Georgetown advertises gyros, with a little pronunciation guide underneath saying ‘Yee-ros.’ But when I went in for lunch once and asked for a ‘YEE-RO,’ the guy said “Ok, one ‘JAI-ROW’ coming up!”

Help me. I am so confused.

Mon Cheri Cafe, by the way, while not much for dine-in ambience, does a lovely gyro, heaped with stuff, all for really cheap (well, cheap for Georgetown, anyway). The Greek salad is decent, too, and they’re pretty fast.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is asking federal authorities to declare Maryland in a state of emergency drought, as 17 counties statewide are in a moderate drought and and four Southern Maryland counties are in a severe drought (check the red spots on this map, that’s of 8-12 inches shortfall of rain).

Farmers in Eastern Maryland have lost their corn crops almost entirely, as most of those counties are short between 6 and 8 inches of rain.

I know that at the Farmers’ Market the last two or three weeks, we’ve had farmers looking for us to pray for rain. The CSAs in the area have been hurting as well. So if you’re feeling charitable this week, ask whatever deity that you pray to, be it God, Allah, Vishnu, Shiva, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Fred Thompson, to see if he can’t send us a little rain. We need it. And frankly, if the alternative is having to get Steve Martin to do a fake revival on the Mall? Please, get prayin’.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m not sure where I came across this artist’s work, offiically, but the DC Department of Transportation (as well as other surrounding communities) could learn a thing or two about the project started in 2005 by UCSD art student, Shannon Spanhake… planting pothole gardens.

Why fill the negative space with soul sucking and uninteresting asphalt or concrete, when you can beautify the streets and provide miniature dog parks in the middle of the avenue?! It’s not a surreal as a Dali painting (I still dig the “stache”), or abstract as a Seurat scene, but it’s still a neat idea. I’ve seen impromptu road gardens when landscaping material falls off the back of a truck on the beltway, but it never lands with a nice arrangement of flowers and other foliage to accompany it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Now, I always was thinking, what if the Germans turned their expertise in building the perfect automobile towards other domestic tools of the trade… it seems that they also need a little “pick me up” in the morning, too.. Rube Goldberg style.

I think this site remains in it’s original German due to a conspiracy by Starbucks baristas everywhere fearing for their job security. All I can think about is the opening of “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” with Danny Elfman’s “Breakfast Machine” music put to a visual of this robotic monster brewing up a fresh cup of vanilla french roast for consuption /a>by my over-caffeinated office mates.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This image of the departure screen at Atlanta’s airport perfectly describes the DCA to ATL experience: unused icons on the desktop.

The first unused icon would be one for customer service. Delta gate agents here treat flyers like pests, quite unlike the Delta Shuttle employees.

Food would be the next unused icon because after 10pm, none is available. Nor is beer after 10.30 and when your 10.45 flight is delayed to 1.30am, you do need a beer. How late can you drink at IAD?

The last unused icon says “reality” as I just heard an announcement that the Homeland Security Theatre threat level is orange. When did the color codes have any correlation to danger? They correlate to election cycles, inversely to Presidential approval ratings.

And in case you did not get it yet, my approval rating of ATL is Zero. I miss my beloved DCA.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs