52Frames_Texture Photo Challenge

As usual, my husband and I never agree on the photo to submit for the weekly 52Frames photo challenge. This week the subject was texture. The first thing that came to mind for me was the Degas ballerina skirt in the National Gallery of Art. I really liked the tutu. So we drove in to town last week for the purpose of capturing that image. We parked on the mall, stopped along the way to get a textured grass photo with the Capitol in the background. Then we strolled through the sculpture garden where the fountain dances in the summer months. At the national gallery of art, the Degas ballerina is behind glass so getting a decent photo can be tricky - especially since my camera is an iPhone. After that, we walked through the early American furniture and out the front steps. We walked along the mall as we had done so many times before when we lived on Capitol Hill. We stopped at the Mary Livingston Ripley gardens situated next to the Hirshhorn Museum and the Arts and Industries Building. These gardens are one of our favorites along with the US Botanic Garden and the Enid Haupt garden by the Smithsonian castle. The gardens were bursting with late summer blossoms and almost looked overgrown. A particularly prickly plant caught our attention. It has razor sharp spikes on the leaves and along the stem. I’m not sure what it is, but the colors are lovely - making the spikes seem less threatening. In the end I posted the purple stem with the spikes - it almost looks like there is a tiny cone head figure in the center with two hairy arms - even though I preferred the ballerina skirt. I always post my second choice in the comments and other people sometimes tell me which one they prefer. I suppose it’s better to have more than one image to consider, but it is amazing that we never agree on which one to select. My husband looks for something that grabs his attention without paying much attention to the detail/technical flaws. I’m trying to do both. Thank goodness it’s just a hobby.