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2013-05-17 18:28:17 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Times Square Snack Box
New York City, NY

I never ate at this place, but I thought the concept was really cool.  I like the name SnackBox, and how it fits with the design of the place.

2013-05-16 01:30:57 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Oswald's Gas
Anaheim, CA

I like the new look for G+, but the way I used to add photos to an album and share them to my stream is currently not possible, at least not with the workflow that used to exist.  We'll see if this is a long term thing, or something that Google fixes.  I'll stick with sharing a photo after I add it to an album for now, but I may need to reassess the way I use albums and the way I share to my stream.

2013-05-16 01:03:18 (25 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Okay, I dig the new look to G+, but I can't figure out how to share a photo and add it to an album.  Can I not do both of these at the same time anymore?

2013-05-12 00:29:33 (10 comments, 2 reshares, 31 +1s)

On the Strip
Las Vegas, NV

This view just makes me think of the movie Oceans Eleven.  I'm not sure why, since Oceans Eleven had more to do with The Bellagio, I guess it's just the view of the Vegas Strip from above that I associate with the movie.

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2013-05-10 18:10:11 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Rushing to Grand Central
New York City, NY

This is one of those places where nobody is standing still.  Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere, and even if they're not, they act like it so they fit in with the people around them.

2013-05-07 00:43:27 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 34 +1s)

Boat Parking
San Diego, CA

I first noticed this effect where blue hour clouds mix with reflected city lights when I was in La Jolla a few weeks ago.  The camera picks up the effect really well, even though it's barely visible to the naked eye.  I didn't add any colors to this scene that didn't exist straight out of the camera, I just tweaked contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation.

2013-05-06 00:35:24 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 38 +1s)

PHoto Walking the Strip
Las Vegas, NV

Once it gets dark the lights on the strip really start to sing.  I didn't bring a tripod with me, but the low fences on either side of the pedestrian overpasses worked well to stabilize the camera.

2013-05-05 02:14:54 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

Sunset Fountain Show
Las Vegas, NV

The Fountains of Bellagio are on every tourists list of attractions to see.  The center circle of nozzles is capable of shooting water 460 feet into the air.

2013-05-02 00:20:30 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Crystals City Center
Las Vegas, NV

I'm a pretty big fan of almost everything at City Center.  I really like the hotels, Aria and Cosmo are two of my favorite places in Vegas, I just wish they had a little more affordable gambling and hotel rates.  I'm dying to stay in one of those Cosmo rooms with a balcony overlooking the Bellagio fountains.  The problem is the rates start at $400-$500 on the weekend.  The Crystals mall is really nice too, with some really unique designs, but you won't find me doing much shopping there, the stores are the same as what's on Rodeo Dr.

This is a mix of photomatix details enhancer, 32-bit hdr and source files.  I didn't bring my tripod with me, so I raised the ISO a bit and steadied the camera on top of a narrow glass wall.

2013-04-30 17:28:56 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

Cosmopolitan Sunset
Las Vegas, NV

I spent last weekend in Vegas, I didn't come back with any money, but at least I got some photos.

I processed this with the HDRsoft 32-bit Lightroom Plug-in, then used Lightroom and Photoshop.

2013-04-26 19:34:30 (6 comments, 4 reshares, 41 +1s)

Manhattan Skyline Sunset
New York City, NY

This is my favorite view of the New York City skyline, not this photo specifically, (many great photographers have shot here before me) but this location.  I don't know why all these pillars are here, but they sure make an awesome photo.

2013-04-25 18:49:43 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Big Daddy's

Don't you hate it when you realize you took the wrong lens out to a shoot? This happened to me this weekend. I grabbed by 16-35mm because I haven't used it in a while, in place of my 28-300mm. I found this great little path that runs along the east side highway all the way uptown. There were so many interesting perspectives to capture but they were all so distant across the east river that even zoomed all the way out to 35mm I couldn't catch. Frustrating! That said the wide angle came in handy as I was walking back to my apartment and discovered this awesome Big Daddy's restaurant.

Some technical specs - this is an HDR from 5 exposures taken after sunset. I processed it in photomatix and then in PS6 where I used my own concoction of actions to boost the contrast and boost the vibrance.

For: +HDR the World, +HDR Photographers, and +HQSP... more »

2013-04-25 00:20:31 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Rainy Day at Bryant Park
New York City, NY

I walked through Bryant Park the day before, when the sun was shining, and it seemed like the whole city was out in the park.  Every table and chair was being used, people were sitting on the grass reading a book or playing a game.  It was quite a contrast to come back the next day and see the park nearly empty.  It wasn't raining hard, just a light drizzle, but it was enough to make the table and chairs wet, and the wind made it a lot colder too.

This was a handheld 5 exposure HDR.  It is a 32-bit HDR, made using the HDRsoft 32-bit plug-in for Lightroom.  Then I used Lightroom, Photoshop, and Nik Color Efex to add a bit of stylization.

2013-04-24 00:58:06 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Gaslamp Quarter - 5th Ave
San Diego, CA

I was reading about San Diego today and I learned one of the city's nicknames is "The City in Motion" which I guess isn't a bad name, but it seems more appropriate for a big city like New York.  Then again, if you've been to the Gaslamp on a Friday or Saturday night, then you know San Diego can have a lot of people in motion too.

2013-04-23 01:15:25 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 22 +1s)

Looking Down on NYC
New York, NY

New York is so dense, that it can be difficult to see where the ground is when you're standing on the roof.  I took this from the top of the rock, and this is one of only a couple spots where a street is visible.

This image is part Photomatix details enhancer, part Lightroom 32-bit HDR and part source file.  Then some stylizing with Photoshop, Lightroom and Nik Color Efex.

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and
#hqsphdr curated by +HQSP HDR and +Wameq Raza 

2013-04-22 01:06:00 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

Disneyland-Emporium-Books
Anaheim, CA

This is one of the last shots I took before leaving the park a few weeks ago.  About 30 minutes after closing time these bright flood lights turned on.  It lit up Main Street pretty well, I'm guessing they turned them on because they had some maintenance work scheduled, I wonder what it was that needed such bright lights?

2013-04-20 00:11:44 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Washing Machine
La Jolla, CA

The water motion in this reminds me of a washing machine.  When I was a kid I remember being mesmerized by my grandparents front loading washing machine.  At home we had a top loader, so it was something new and interesting when I was little.


My Flickr Pro account expired today.  I was planning to renew for another year, but then I came across this new policy: "You are about to subscribe to the Yahoo! service listed above. You will be charged the total due, on an auto-renew basis, for each term as shown above, until you cancel."  I find required auto-renewal to be a terrible, anti-consumer policy, and I generally try to avoid any companies that force me into these kinds of agreements.  I took a step back and started thinking about some of the benefits of Flickr vs. Google+ vs. other services.  I decided to renew myaccount ... more »

2013-04-18 00:40:00 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 37 +1s)

Cinematic Sky
La Jolla, CA

The clouds over La Jolla were dense so the sunset was pretty uneventful, but as it started to get dark this really cool lighting effect started to form over La Jolla.  The artificial lights from the city reflected off the clouds, but out over the ocean where there aren't any artificial lights the clouds took on the colors of a deep saturated blue hour.  It felt very cinematic, and I was thinking about dramatic movie scenes as I took and subsequently processed this photo.

I was watching a video about color correction from Stu Maschwitz while I processed this.  I didn't actually use any of his techniques, but I did crop to the anamorphic frame aspect ratio he mentioned.  He said the anamorphic frame was 2.35:1, which according to Wikipedia was true until 1970, but now it is actually 2.39:1.  Wikipedia also says it's still commonlyrefe... more »

2013-04-17 00:40:24 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

La Jolla Blues
San Diego, CA

San Diego has been cloudy for a few days now, although I will say I don't mind it much.  I will take a cloudy sky, especially stormy clouds like this, over a clear blue sky any day.  

This is from a single raw image (no HDR), processed with Lightroom and Photoshop (no plug-ins).  I downloaded Trey Ratcliff's Lightroom presets and found them very interesting.  I didn't use a specific preset on this image, but rather a combination of some of the effects he uses.  I found the way he applies Lightroom tools to color and light images unique and different than anything I have tried.  I'll definitely be applying some of the techniques to more of my processing.

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2013-04-15 02:19:14 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

Up on the Roof
New York City, NY

I wonder why more buildings don't finish their rooftops?  I think it's more common in New York where land is so expensive, but even in New York there are a lot of buildings with nothing but an A/C unit and no access.  I wish there were more buildings with accessible roofs, especially where I live in San Diego.

shared with:
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+10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS
#hdrphotographers  and +HDR Photographers by +Jason Mayes 
#hqsphdr curated by +HQSP HDR and +Wameq Raza 

2013-04-13 20:59:20 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 24 +1s)

Family Billiards
Bodie, CA

I spent last night processing some old photos.  I finished 4, and I think I like 3 of them enough to post.  Here's the first, I've been playing around with different ways to use the blur tools, and I used it pretty heavily in this one.  I showed this to my girlfriend, but all she could talk about was how the picture frame was crooked, so I don't know if she likes the photo or not.  She's notorious for straightening every frame she sees, even in public places.  She wanted me to straighten this one in Photoshop, but I refused.

I guess G+ liked the last photo I posted.  Thanks for all the +1s, comments and shares.  It's got 10x more +1s and 10x more views than any photo I've ever posted.  I'm not sure how that happened?  I wish G+ showed where views came from like flickr does.

2013-04-13 16:14:22 (42 comments, 55 reshares, 519 +1s)

A Disney Sunset
Anaheim, CA

I've always been envious of other photographers sunset photos from Disneyland.  I've taken a few, but never really had one I liked.  I think there are a few reasons I haven't got one, but it's mostly because I go to Disneyland with non-photographer family and friends and sunset is usually the middle of our visit.  I don't mind breaking away at night when the others go home, but don't usually do it during sunset.

This night things just worked out, I was meeting my sister and her boyfriend, but I drove to Disneyland on my own.  I arrived a little before sunset and the clouds looked great.  There were these interesting wispy low clouds like fast moving clouds from a long exposure, and there were high clouds behind them that caught the light from the setting sun.  I ended up spending 15 or 20 minutes around Paradise Baybefor... more »

2013-04-11 00:25:13 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 27 +1s)

Disneyana
Anaheim, CA

I don't think I've ever bought anything from this store, but it's definitely my favorite at Disneyland.  It's the only store I regularly make a point of going in to see what's new.  I like looking at all the art and memorabilia, especially the pieces hanging in the gallery in the back of the store.

2013-04-10 07:41:37 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 29 +1s)

Midtown Manhattan
New York City, NY

I took this while I was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.  This is the first photo I processed after downloading the Nik Suite of products, so I probably went a little overboard adjusting colors, and even more so with sharpening.

I've generally heard good things about Viveza, but now that I've tried it, I can't figure out how it's any better (or even any different) than a handful of already existing Photoshop adjustment layers.

2013-04-07 19:30:05 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 34 +1s)

Main Street China Closet
Anaheim, CA

As I was leaving the park last weekend, flood lights on some of the main street roof tops started turning on.  It took a few minutes for the lights to fully illuminate, but once they did, Main Street was lit like it was daytime.

2013-04-04 23:54:08 (5 comments, 5 reshares, 31 +1s)

Over the 5 Fwy
San Diego, CA

Cityscapes are definitely my favorite thing to shoot.  I'm always thinking about and looking for new perspectives.  After shooting from the Cabrillo Bridge on Monday, I finally decided to check out some of the spots I've been eyeing.  I drove around for 30 minutes or so before I eventually settled on this spot, next to the pedestrian bridge at India and Palm St.  I stopped by a couple spots before I got here, but unfortunately both of them were covered with above ground power and telephone wires making a clear shot impossible. 

2013-04-02 18:26:35 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)

Around the Bend
San Diego, CA

Yesterday was a great day, the start of the baseball season.  Unfortunately, I have to wait until next week for the Padres to come home.  The Angels are my team, but living in San Diego I go to a lot more Padre games.  Next week Highway 163 (below) will be backed up with traffic heading down to the game - and the opening day block party outside the stadium.

Here's to the return of baseball season!

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2013-03-29 22:15:40 (6 comments, 13 reshares, 36 +1s)

Full Moon over San Diego
San Diego, CA

This isn't quite the shot I really wanted.  I really want the full moon a little lower in the sky (and therefore bigger and less bright), but the clouds blocked the moon while it was near the horizon, and I wasn't able to go back yesterday or the day before.

This is an HDR, but only a little bit of it is actually from the Photomatix output.  The sky and water both come entirely from a masked source file.

2013-03-28 00:32:58 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Ghost Galaxy
Anaheim, CA

I found this one while I was looking through some of my old Disneyland photos.  Ghost Galaxy is probably my least favorite of the holiday overlays, it really doesn't do much to make me like Space Mountain more.  I like the ride to begin with, and the additions just feel kind of gimmicky, especially compared with what a good job they do on the Haunted Mansion overlay.

2013-03-25 18:17:04 (13 comments, 2 reshares, 21 +1s)

Carthay Circle
Anaheim, CA

I was pretty excited to get the e-mail from Nik Software today explaining that I can now download the full suite of plug-ins for free.  I've been using Nik Color Efex for awhile but I'm excited to give Silver Efex and Sharpener Pro a try.

If you've never used a plugin from Nik, I definitely recommend trying it out, and at only $150 for the full suite, it's an incredible deal.  I paid more than that just to get Color Efex Pro.

In this photo of the Carthay Circle I used a few of my favorite filters, Pro Contrast, Detail Extractor and Tonal Contrast.

2013-03-22 01:47:09 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

Kansas City BBQ
San Diego, CA

Made famous by the movie Top Gun, I've still never been inside this place.  A few scenes from Top Gun were shot inside the bar, and they supposedly have a collection of Top Gun memorabilia.  I've heard mixed reviews on the food, but it seems worth a visit just to check out the Top Gun stuff.

2013-03-21 01:28:20 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 23 +1s)

New York Sunset
New York City, NY

I never really get tired of looking at New York.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, I guess it's how it's so different than the city I live in.  It's a place with huge skyscrapers, iconic, recognizable buildings, and it's also a place I associate with vacation.  I've been to New York a few times, but only as a tourist.  I think I would probably have a different take if I lived there.

2013-03-19 05:13:02 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 33 +1s)

Code Red
San Diego, CA

I went for a walk around Downtown tonight.  It was crowded everywhere, I think there's a convention in town.  I saw a few jackets and bags referencing Neurology, so maybe it's a Neurologists convention.  

In any case, I walked through Seaport Village and noticed this strange red glow coming from the side of the Midway.  Once I got closer I heard music and saw people on the ship.  Somebody from the convention was probably hosting a private event on the Midway.  I've never been to a party like this, but it seems like a pretty unique and very "San Diego" venue for a hosted networking or marketing event.  I'm just not sure why they chose the red lights?

This is a 7 exposure 32-bit HDR.  I processed this using the 32-bit Lightroom plug-in, Photoshop and filters from Nik Color Efex.

2013-03-15 04:46:28 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

NYSE
New York, NY

If there's one thing that stayed consistent during my trip to New York it's that I was always going wide.  The buildings in New York are huge and there isn't a lot of space to move back.  I was regularly going as wide as possible, like in this spot.  At first I tried to capture it with my 17-40, but 17mm wasn't enough to fit everything, so I strapped on the Fisheye which ended up being just enough to fit everything in the frame.  For my next trip to New York I might look into renting or buying the Canon 14mm or the Sigma 12-24mm (that lens seems pretty cool, has anyone tried it?)

2013-03-14 04:12:39 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 23 +1s)

Vegas Flyby
Las Vegas, NV

I took this when I flew to Vegas for CES in January, but really it ended up being more of a learning experience for taking night shots from an airplane.  I wasn't really paying attention to how close we were to Vegas, and before I knew it, we were minutes away from landing.  The flight from San Diego is really quick, and it caught me by surprise.  As I noticed the strip I started scrambling to pull out my camera and snap a few shots.  Just as I got my first shot the flight attendant gave the instruction to turn off all electronic devices so I had to be quick.  I snapped off a few more, but didn't get a chance to chimp and adjust my settings or my lens.  

The lens on my camera was the 24-105mm F4, which is not the best option for trying to take night shots from a plane.  To be honest I didn't realize it at the time, but it'sreally... more »

2013-03-13 01:19:01 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Public Parking
San Diego, CA

I was walking around downtown and I liked the cool vs warm color contrast of the natural and artificial lights.  I had to wait for a car to leave the scene, then I crossed my fingers and hoped another car wouldn't drive through while my brackets were going off.  Luckily they finished with about 2 seconds to spare.  Just as the last bracket finished, another car came around the corner to exit the structure.  I love it when the timing works out like that, seems like it's usually the other way around.

2013-03-12 03:24:58 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Soar at the Shore
Anaheim, CA

I've been playing around with blurs in Photoshop.  The motion blurs and radial blurs are pretty cool, I just need to figure out how to apply them where it makes sense.  In this one I decided to try a tilt-shift effect.  It seemed pretty logical since the top and bottom of the image doesn't have anything interesting.

This is a 32-bit image processed with the Photomatix 32-bit Lightroom Plug-in.

2013-03-10 02:33:13 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 33 +1s)

Ruocco Park
San Diego, CA

Ruocco Park opened at the end of last year along the San Diego Bay waterfront.  It sits between the Midway and Seaport Village.  When I went by a month or two ago all the grass was dead.  The grass seems to have recovered, but I'm not sure why the trees along this path are dead, or at least without leaves.

2013-03-08 06:58:50 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 36 +1s)

Salk Institute
San Diego, CA

This is a spot that's been on my list of places to shoot in San Diego for quite awhile.  Since the rain held off this afternoon I decided to head out and give it a try.  Unfortunately the fountains are under construction, so I didn't get to see the water in action, and then I got chased away by a security guard just as blue hour was getting started.  Apparently they close at 6:00pm.  I think I'll wait til next winter to go back, even though there's a pretty big event for this spot coming up in a couple weeks. 

For the first time in about a month I used Photomatix on this.  I blended together a Photomatix processed image and a 32-bit image, so don't worry, I'm not giving up on 32-bit.

2013-03-07 01:34:05 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Five N Dime
Anaheim, CA

This is one of my favorite storefronts on Buena Vista Street.  Processed using the 32-bit lightroom plug-in and some Color Efex filters.

2013-03-05 02:16:20 (14 comments, 1 reshares, 26 +1s)

Mountain Horse
Bishop, CA

I tried a new side road on my way home from Mammoth this weekend.  It lead to a different perspective on one of my favorite shacks that I've stopped to photograph a few times before.  I went with my 70-200 since I was kind of far away and I wanted to compress the shack with the mountains in the background.  As I was shooting, this horse galloped over so I moved back and included him in the shot.

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2013-02-27 22:55:17 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 31 +1s)

Zero to Sixty
Anaheim, CA

California Screamin's top speed is actually only 55mph, which it reaches in 4 seconds at launch.  This used to be the most photographed area of the park, but ever since Cars Land and Buena Vista Street opened it's been a bit neglected.

2013-02-26 02:34:27 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 32 +1s)

Ocean Flow
La Jolla, CA

Since I discovered 32-bit HDR processing a few weeks ago (and by discovered I mean actually tried it instead of just reading about it) I've been motivated to get out and shoot more.  I spent all weekend trying to get a nice sunset shot, unfortunately, clouds weren't in the forecast.  So I went home last night and dug this one out of the archives.

2013-02-25 02:06:44 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 28 +1s)

Convention Center Hall G
San Diego, CA

The San Diego Convention Center hosts various groups throughout the year, but Comic Con is by far the biggest event each year.  In addition to the convention center, most of downtown gets taken over by some kind of special event related to Comic Con.  

For the first time I actually bought tickets to the convention for myself.  I've been before, but only for a short time using a friends pass.  This year I have my own 4 day pass, I don't know how long I'll actually go, but it should be interesting exploring "The Con" and hopefully catching a few panels.

2013-02-24 18:55:09 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 20 +1s)

Sunset Splash
La Jolla, CA

I've gone out for sunset the past two nights, and both have been a bust.  I started looking for something more interesting than the sky and managed to find this splash where I could justify leaving out as much of the boring sky as possible.

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2013-02-22 01:55:04 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 25 +1s)

Billboards fit for New York
New York, New York

The turnover on advertisements in Times Square is extremely fast.  With a little knowledge of pop culture you can pretty accurately guess when a photo was taken.  Or in many cases, like with the purple billboard on the left, the date is printed right on the advertisement.

If you want to see Times Square nearly empty like this, just go around 1am.  I'm sure it probably gets even more desolate as it gets later.  This was from my last night in New York, and I did my best to capture as much as I could before I had to leave.  I processed this with the HDRsoft 32-bit HDR plug-in for Lightroom.  It's so easy to use, it is definitely my favorite method for creating an HDR.

2013-02-21 00:39:26 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

Fillmores
Anaheim, CA

Fillmores is located near the entrance to Cars Land, and is a appropriately themed based on the Cars movies.  It is a home suitable for hippies with tie dye colors, beads and ornaments made from re-purposed car parts.

As with my past few uploads I used the HDRsoft 32-bit plug-in for lightroom.  It really makes increasing the dynamic range of an image easy.  A 32-bit image is similar to the file I envision coming directly out of a DSLR image 5 years from now.  I don't know the details of sensor technology, but this seems like the direction it should be going.

2013-02-20 01:50:10 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Rockefeller Center
New York City, New York

I was walking the streets of New York and I noticed this building I'd seen in photos before.  I was across the street so I didn't get quite the same shot I've seen from others.

This is a 32 bit HDR, I think 32 bit has become my new de facto processing method.  Everything just seems to come out so much cleaner with less noise, and fewer unexpected dark or light spots.  I suppose the trade off is less texture than detail extractor in Photomatix, but I still use Nik Color Efex or Topaz Adjust filters to bring out some details.

2013-02-19 19:01:54 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)

911 Memorial Fountain
New York City, New York

There is still a lot of construction in the area, but the finished part of the September 11th memorial is very nice and well done.  I wish I had the chance to see it at night, but during the day was better than not at all.  If you're going to visit the site I recommend signing up for a visitor pass online.  You don't have to do it more than a day or possibly even a few hours in advance, and at least when I was there it saved me from waiting in a pretty long line.

2013-02-18 20:33:58 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Presidents Day
Washington, DC

Happy Presidents Day everyone.  George Washington's birthday is February 22nd,  and Abraham Lincoln's is February 12th, so I guess February 18th is a good in-between day to celebrate (or at least get a day off work).

This is another 32-bit HDR from my trip last year to Washington, DC.  I went to DC in 2011 and found this reflecting pool under construction, so I was happy when I returned last year to see the construction was complete.  I hope everyone has an enjoyable President's Day.