The rat that I thought was in my chimney pipe a couple days ago turned out to be a bird. I took the chimney pipe apart today, after realizing that my feathered friend had been held captive by my heating apparatus for at least two days. I used my laundry bag and a Mag-Lite to help get the bird out. Then it flew around my house for a while before I let it out the front door.
Every time I pass this Sun Trust Building on 15th St and New York Ave NW I am amazed by its brass rotunda. Every time I see brass I think of sailors polishing it. Really ... every time. I pass by this building a lot but never get a photo. Today, before we passed the building, I reached in front of me and opened up the bus window, then hopped into the seat in front of me and shot back at the building as we passed by. I hopped back into my seat and closed the window. I heard some lady on the bus say I was probably "some kind of secret agent."
There was a rat stuck in one of my heater vent pipes earlier today. I could hear him scratching around. I grabbed a Mag-Lite and a hand saw and went to the heater closet. i opened it slowly and discovered the sound was coming from the large pipe from the heater. I called the landlord. He called animal control. I banged the side of the pipe with the Mag-Lite. Now the rat is gone.
Today the cicadas were all over the Mimosa tree in the front yard, and buzzing around all over every tree in the neighborhood. They lay their eggs in branches that break off and fall to the ground. The eggs will hatch and the larva will burrow into the ground and emerge in another 17 years. The males die after mating and the females die shortly after laying their eggs. A lot of them end up smashed on the sidewalk, an inclimactic end to a 17 year life.
Today, I was taking a breather in the park with one of my freinds Alex. He is a Fine Arts student at the Corcoran and paints for the well-known mural artist Bill Newman. While me and Alex were sitting in the park we noticed a man roll off a bench. We watched, amused, as the intoxicated man tried to lift himself from the ground to the bench. After about 5 minutes he had success. While we were walking out of the park and got a closer look, the man amused us again! After I took this shot I put 50 cents in the mans hand and he murmured, "Thank you ..."
This is my favorite shot from a quickly-scheduled shoot of a multi-ethnic group in front of some of our nation's monuments. It is one of the shots I took in between the "group-style" shot. The backdrop is the newly opened WWII Monument. These are the friends I could gather in 24 hours, minus a few. An agency asked for a multi-ethnic group in front of some of the monuments to promote the National Greenhouse Survey.
I was admiring the view from inside my nice plastic glass of ice water early this morning. Since the District of Columbia has given me a free Brita water pitcher because of our lead pipe problem, I've been drinking a lot more water. No need to look for any irony there. This is a cup that my cousin Steve used to "take one for the road" at a party in Pittsburgh several years ago. I found it in my car the next day. I sold that car almost two years ago ... my license expired about two years ago.
Today I got a snooty reply from a "spiritual" stock photography company, claiming to "Put the Soul in Stock." Usually they send me back a reply either giving me their stock photo agreement or telling me that they don't need my services. I guess I should be more hesitant about who I solicit for information. They're a righteous bunch of nice guys.
I am shooting a feature story for the Humane Society's magazine. The feature is titled Approaching a Closed Door, and is about people with mental illnesses that cause them to horde animals. The basic stereotype is the "cat lady," the woman who lives with 300 cats yet she is unable to properly care for herself. There's even a "cat lady" that makes an occasional appearance on the Simpson's. For the story I'm shooting a lot of mysterious window and door shots, some cats doing things horded animals might do like drink from the bathtub, and some other shots still in progress. I can't just go take pictures of a cat miser because of the legalities involved so I shoot a lot of staged shots. So far I have about 18 related shots including this one I took tonight at Dave and Rose's place of Dave's silhouette. He has a cat and some other dramatic lighting situations I was looking for.
This is Helen Veronica, Foggy Bottom's neighborhood bird lady. She said she spends $70 a week to feed the birds popcorn and birdseed. The homeless guys in the park like her. One of them named Eugene calls her Miss Helen, everyone else calls her Roni. I met Eugene while I was waiting in the park to meet Roni. When I went across the street to get a drink at the drug store one clerk told the other Roni was so good-hearted that she, "has already made it to Heaven."
Homeless Stereo System
This is Eugene's radio that he seems to have tuned to classic rock most of the time. He lives in Potomac Plaza Park. He told me about Miss Helen's cat before I saw it. He said it was a big fat cat. When I first saw it come out of her apartment into the hall I was surprised by its size. I saw that the hair on its back was matted. Roni said it was because her cat couldn't reach its back to clean itself. About five minutes later she told me it was because the cat had been shedding a lot, so Roni put moisturizer on its fur earlier. "It was a bad idea," she laughed.
This alley connecting 14th and 15th Sts NW has a green sign like a regular street that says Historic Waverly Alley. I ask a guy named Jack who was sitting on a stoop by the alley why it was historic. He said it had been used in a couple movies including In the Line of Fire starring Clint Eastwood. I think it's one of the most interesting alleys I've seen in D.C. It has a lot of stairs, windows, and doors.
