Back in February, Ligia and I plus good friends of ours took a photowalk through downtown DC. Our objectives: the Watergate Hotel and the Kennedy Arts Center. I used my Exakta EXA Ia to take the photographs. It was a lot of fun to use it, as always. I still love to shoot on film, even though it’s fairly expensive and time-intensive to get the photos in digital format. I say expensive because I’m used to shooting a LOT. I’m not satisfied with a few photos. I use up rolls of film during a session. Then I have to develop them and spend hours scanning them in. It takes about two hours to scan 24 exposures at the quality I want. And then I spend extra time editing them. But the results are worth it, and of course, the experience of using a fully manual, quality-built, metal camera like the Exakta is a treat in itself.

Here are a few photographs from that photowalk. We started down by the marina, walked up the street alongside the Watergate Hotel, then passed the Saudi embassy (which is quite an ugly building btw) and crossed the street to reach the Kennedy Arts Center. It was a cold, windy day and we froze, but I really like the photos I got, so it was worth it.

A modern interpretation of Don Quixote adorns the front of the Kennedy Center, and may I say what an ugly beast it is… Looks like whoever designed it was out to scare people, not inspire them.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset over the Potomac River.