This is a tense period in the nation’s capital. Key institutions look like an armed camp. I have lived in Washington over 40 years and have never seen anything like this.



This is a tense period in the nation’s capital. Key institutions look like an armed camp. I have lived in Washington over 40 years and have never seen anything like this.
Yesterday, I was walking in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, DC. I stumbled across one of the many works of art in Washington’s abandoned police and fire call boxes. The project is called “Art on Call.” I have been making photos of these call boxes as I come across them. They have educated me about the city’s rich history.
This call box explains that three chief justices of the United States Supreme Court lived in Sheridan-Kalorama:
In addition, other prominent Supreme Court justices have lived in Sheridan-Kalorama including Louis Brandeis, Joseph McKenna and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice of the Supreme Court.
The rendering of the Supreme Court in the call box is the creation of Peter Waddell, a native of New Zealand who came to Washington in 1992 and became a U.S. citizen in 2002. Waddell’s beautiful paintings focus on America’s history and architecture. Waddell’s view of the United States is inspiring.
The Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood also includes a number of diplomatic residences, including the residence of the French ambassador at 2221 Kalorama Road, shown below.
The Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood is worth visiting.
Yesterday, I posted an album of my favorite black and white images from 2020. I don’t like mixing black and white and color images. So today I’m posting an album of my favorite color images from 2020.
Because of the pandemic, only one photo is from outside the Washington area. Early in 2020, I visited Chicago and saw Marc Chagall’s beautiful America Windows at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Although I missed traveling, I enjoyed exploring the Washington area, which has so much to offer.
I gathered in one album what I consider the best black and white images I made in 2020. Topics include Covid, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September, the dedication of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, also in September, and the November election. Through it all Washington, DC remains a beautiful, inspirational city.
What will 2021 bring?
Stella Tennant, iconic model and fashion designer, died in Scotland on December 22, 2020. She was 50 years old.
Culture and style critic Guy Trebay, writing for The New York Times, explains that Tennant had deep aristocratic roots but “wore her rarefied heritage lightly throughout her three-decade run in fashion.”
She was photographed by top photographers including Steven Meisel and Bruce Weber.
The end of an era, way too soon.
I recently started using Color Fidelity camera profiles in Adobe Lightroom. Color Fidelity camera profiles are an alternative to the standard camera profiles that come with Lightroom. To my eye, they look better. I use them as a starting point for my editing in Lightroom. They save me time.
There are several profiles for each camera model. I bought profiles for the Canon R5 and the Ricoh GRIII and am happy with them.
The profiles cost $15 per camera model. The developer improves them from time to time and emails the updated profiles for no additional charge. The profiles are small files and easy to install. He includes installation instructions with each purchase and update. I think they are well worth the money.
You can learn more about the profiles in this helpful video by John Gress: