52Frames Unexplored Weekly Photo Challenge

The subject this week for the 52Frames photo challenge was “unexplored.” That topic took us to four places that we had never been before. The first was the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum. We had our own personal docent who took us from one historical room to the next. I ended up creating a composite image of a very old mirror with a cool reflection and placing it on the wallpaper from an early 1800’s Virginia dining room. The next day we went to River Farm along the Potomac. The land was once owned by George Washington and is right next to Mount Vernon. The only good photo was some flowers with the house in the background. The next stop was the Department of the Interior. What I thought would be a decent museum was almost nothing to see. But the security to get in was more stringent than in any other place we have visited in DC. The intended last stop was the Portrait Gallery, but it didn’t open until 11:30. So we walked the streets around Chinatown and the new City Center. The whole vibe was very sad. It was literally dead except for a couple of coffee shops. I can see why the arena wants to move to Alexandria. The crime has put a big dent on a once vibrant community. The number of empty buildings is overwhelming. So it was a busy week for checking out places we hadn’t been to before. It was all very interesting, but for some reason I prefer the old familiar places. 

52Frames Unexplored Weekly Photo Challenge

This week's photo challenge was “unexplored.” I needed to find a place where we have never been before and hope to find a decent image. The new Frederick Douglass bridge located next to the Nationals Stadium in SE Waterfront in DC opened last year. It is supposed to have walking and bike lanes to get you to the other side in to Anacostia where there is a park. When we got there however, the area was still under road construction that made it impossible to even get near the bridge. At least the old bridge had been removed so the new structure was in clear view. So we walked along the waterfront and tried to get a few options from afar. The images turned out okay, but I was hoping to get something from the middle of the bridge as we were crossing over. So we took another trip last week to Old Town Alexandria to visit the Wilkes Street Tunnel. It served as a train tunnel during the Civil War and has since been converted to a pedestrian path. What was interesting about this option was that a stranger did appear in the tunnel while we were there and that made for a more interesting atmosphere - especially since this week’s extra credit was to include a stranger in the photo. Even though there were technically better pictures I decided to submit the tunnel with the stranger - just because it looked to tell a story. That always seems to make the photos more memorable - but probably not enough to get noticed. After all, there are over 3000 participants in this photo challenge every week. I was lucky enough to get a BEST 52 one week last year. I don’t think that will happen again - especially since my camera is an iPhone 8 Plus!