wbeem's photostream  

Like many other communities, we have a local group of photographers & models who meet regularly to get to know each other. I started attending last summer and so did Justin, the model in this photo. He looks a bit different than he did in his suit & tie last time around. I never knew he was inked up like that when I first met him.

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I joined some friends to photograph the sunrise in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom yesterday morning. Disney had a promotion for Leap Day to stay open 24 hours. While spending the entire day there didn’t interest me, a sunrise shot is a unique opportunity that doesn’t really come about very often.

The weather didn’t quite cooperate with what we planned, but I got something else that is also unique & rare – a shot of the castle through the fog. There were plenty of other photographers lined of to take this photo and most of them were grumbling. I was actually very happy, though. That early morning fog provided plenty of different moody shots in the park, at least until the sun came up. Then it was just another overcast day – with lingering fog.

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This sunset photo of the Virgin river leading up to The Watchman was one of the last things I shot on my trip to Zion National Park a few weeks ago. It’s just a peaceful way to end your day. You have the quiet of a canyon, only interrupted by the babbling river below and a few shutter clicks. Another photographer or two came up to shoot the same scene, but we didn’t really talk that much. Each of us just enjoyed watching the light fall and made our clicks as things continued to get better.

Would that every day could end like this one.

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This is the Old Supreme Court Chamber inside the U.S. Capitol Building. It took a very long time before the court could successfully argue to get its own building. Until that time, they met in this chamber. Some of the most historically important cases before the U.S. Supreme Court took place here. John Quincy Adams argued the Amistad case here, as was the Dred Scott case.

I really debated whether to show this photo or not. It has a bit of noise because I had to resort to a rather high ISO, but my love for the room itself won out. The room has great ambience and I asked if I could use my tripod here, but the Capitol Police are no longer providing tripod permits to visitors. You either need to be credentialed media or working for the Capitol in some capacity. So, I cranked up my ISO, opened my aperture, and slowly exhaled as I snapped off my shots.

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Wormsloe Plantation’s Oak Avenue – it’s a popular place for photographers and you can find many images similar to this one. Even so, each one is a bit different. Some like to shoot through the main gate. Others like to head down the road a bit to include a white fence on the horizon. The seasons affect the color & mood. It’s all the same place with a few different twists.

I couldn’t help but think what it must be like to ride down this road on a horse & buggy, just slowly loping along while surrounded by the oaks. It’s a very peaceful and serene place when there are no cars whizzing down the road. It reminds me of the neighborhood where I grew up on Oak Island Road. Just a dirt path, a few houses on the side, all surrounded by plenty of oak trees. I almost expect to see some of my childhood friends run barefoot down the road to take me fishing.

Please visit the blog at williambeem.com