Tag Archives: potomac river

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Fake explosion at Key Bridge over Potomac on Wednesday

This Wednesday, March 23, a fake explosion will take place at or near the Key Bridge over the Potomac River, in Washington, DC, between 9:30 am and noon. A new TV show called “Washington Field” is being filmed there. One of the scenes in the pilot involves a sculling boat that blows up.

Key Bridge over Potomac

The explosion will yield a 20-30 foot fireball which should injure no one if everything goes according to plan. The Potomac Boat Club, founded in 1869, is right at the foot of the bridge, so I think it’s in the plot as well.

A short video of mine, filmed in the spring of 2007, and titled Washington DC Panoramic, features the Key Bridge.

Washington DC Panoramic from Raoul Pop on Vimeo.

[via Reuters]

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Places

An afternoon by the river

The Potomac River shore in late afternoon. Taken near Great Falls, MD.

The Potomac River shore in late afternoon. Taken near Great Falls, MD.

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Places

Washington DC panoramic

In May of 2007, I happened to be at the top of the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA. That hotel has the most amazing view of DC and Arlington from its ballroom, which sits right on top of it and has floor to ceiling windows.

I also just happened to have a video camera and tripod with me (ahem), and took some footage of the DC skyline, the Key Bridge, and the Potomac River. That footage sat around on my computer till last week, when I finally had the time to edit it properly and to work on a soundtrack for the video.

This video is the result. You can download it below, or view it at Vimeo or YouTube. (The soundtrack doesn’t sound as good at YouTube, their compression isn’t that great.)

➡ Download Washington DC Panoramic (720×540, MOV, 2:16)

By the way, I took this photo that same evening, from the roof of the building. The hospitality manager was a really nice guy and he let me go up and spend about 15 minutes taking photos up there.

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Places

Night falls gently on the old river

This was taken from the roof of the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA. I’d just finished a meeting and asked a favor from John, the hospitality manager: could he please let me go up for a few minutes to take photos? He kindly agreed, and he, along with a security guard, escorted me through the labyrinthine corridors of the top floor onto the pebble-lined roof.

What a gorgeous view that hotel has! I quickly took a whole series of photos, and I still need to post-process quite a few of those. I really like this one, as it shows the sun just about to fade over the Virginia hills while the old Potomac River goes on about its business.

Night falls gently on the old river

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Places

The Watergate Hotel and the Kennedy Arts Center

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.

The Watergate Hotel

Political rhythm

Change of historical perspective

I see, you see, we all see

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.

He’s at it again

A clear day

Sit, sip, stare

Do, don’t talk

To scale

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

Potomac sunset

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