Last Wednesday I went down to the National Mall to shoot some of the DC Kickball league games. There's a lot of different sports played on the Mall. The usual team sports such as soccer and softball were no surprise, however, I was surprised to find out that there is a kickball league. It was kind of cool to watch the games with the Capital and various other monuments in the background.
Im gonna go back this Wednesday again...I was hoping to get some better action shots, but it got dark too fast the last time.
I remember watching bits and pieces of the Roller Derby TV show that was on in the 80's. It was a mix between American Gladiators and professional wrestling. My parents didnt allow me to watch it, along with Dukes of Hazzard. Needless to say, I saw it from time to time and also wondered why I wasn't allowed, it wasn't any worse than watching the WWF cage matches...I included a video of the 80's Roller Derby if you dont know what I am refering to.
It seems that the Roller Derby has slowly been reemerging. I know that many major cities have Roller Girl leagues. I think it is more of an underground sport with a cult like following, kind of like a bowling league, but with more sex appeal.
I somehow stumbled upon the DC Roller Girls website and saw that they had a match coming up and decided to check it out. It ended up actually be a good time and had a descent size crowd. At $12, tickets werent exactly cheap, but I suppose renting the DC Armory doesnt come cheap either. With player names like "Speedy Gonbraless", "Killary Hittin" and "Scarlet O’Snap", it was bound to be an interesting expeirence.
I had fun...time flew by and it was great people watching. It wasn't nearly as violent as the original Roller Derby, actually, it wasn't violent at all. All in all, it made for a good new experience. The only bad thing was the arena lighting...Im not a fan of using a flash and it made it very hard to get shots that werent blurry and in focus. I may have to go back for the next match and try a few new things out.
It was beautiful out today and I got done at work early, so I decided to go on a little hike on some of the Fort Belvoir trails this afternoon. I was pretty impressed with the wildlife I saw. I walked up on a wild turkey, but wasnt able to get a picture fast enough and for the record, turtles are hard to sneak up on too. I think I hiked about 4 miles total...I think Ill have to head out to Shenandoah soon for a real hike. Most of the pictures were taken with a 200mm lens and a 2X teleconverter. Most were also cropped, so the quality isnt as sharp as I wish they had been. I guess that just another reason why I need a 500mm lens.
I went to my girlfriends parent's house for Easter. They live about an hour outside of DC in the country and have about 12 acres of land.
There is a Fox den in part of their yard and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see three young Foxes out playing around for a bit. I didnt see the mother, so I am not sure if they snuck out of the den or if mom let them go out on their own.
I tried to sneak up on them and it seemed to work as I got pretty close. They seemed too busy playing to notice me. However once I started snapping pictures, I think they could hear my camera, but still didnt manage to spot me. Finally I walked up on them and they retreated back in the den. One guy kept playing peek-a-boo with me. He'd pop his head up and look at me and then jump back down. When I got about 6 ft from the den, they went back inside for good and didnt come back out.
I got some pretty good pictures of them. Ive never seen baby fox, I was surprised what they looked like. Id say almost a cross between puppies and bear cubs.
Well...it all started the night before with a bad stomach ache. I went to the ER and early yesterday morning I ended up having my Appendix removed due to an Appendicitis. Under the circumstances, I am feeling pretty well.
Then, while I was sitting in the hospital recovering, I got an email on my Blackberry informing me that my next duty station would be in Korea and I will be reporting there in November. So, needless to say, its been an interesting couple of days.
I am kind of excited for Korea...I'm just not sure about living there for a year. Then again, its only a year and I can think of worst places to be stationed.
I spent a few hours at Great Falls National Park, which is like 15 miles from downtown DC. I was hoping to see some green and budding trees, but it was again to early for that. Guess I'll have to stop by again. I did get some descent pictures of the falls and of the hovering hawks. I really need a Nikon 600 f4 lens....anyone have about $8k laying around, let me know.
So I got up at 5am this morning and made it downtown to the Mall by 6am...in hopes of beating all the other shutter bugs and tourists...and more importantly to find a good parking spot, which I did. The weather was great, not a cloud in the sky and a perfect sunrise was captured. Its not really all that amazing how many other people were out there at 6:30am too, it was gorgeous. However, it was like a Nikon and Canon camera convention. I only lasted about 2 hours before I got annoyed by all the people with their dogs, little kids and tripods blocking the paths. I did manage to get some pictures of the Mall at sunrise and some at the Tidal Basin with the blossoms.
