theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Washington D.C.

  • Wedding: Location, Location, Location

    We drove through Scott Circle today — on a journey completely unrelated to the wedding — and noticed that were two “extra” hotels that we had missed previously: the Courtyard Marriott Washington Embassy Row and the Holiday Inn Washington Central/White House.

    These, not to mention that our rehersal dinner location is itself attached to the Beacon Hotel and Corportate Quarters.

    Up to this point, we had just been thinking we would encourage everyone to stay in our block at the Hilton Doubletree (which owns 15 RIA, which is where the reception is) because we can have as many rooms as we want for $129 a night (which is an abjectly fantastic rate for D.C.).

    That being said, we will check with a the other hotels near-by in case you want to use your miles or points or the like. Obviously, if you have rewards with a particular hotel, you will probably want to use those regardless.

    Click on the map to the right to poke around the neighborhood, and see where everything is.

  • Photos: International Shooting All the Time Day

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    For Christmas this year, I got a subscription to “Popular Photography” (thanks Jo-Jo!).

    One of the first bits I read (in my premier issue) was about an awkwardly named holiday that they obviously made up the week before the issue went to print: International Shooting All the Time Day.

    The general notion is that to be a better photographer, you have to take more photographs. Why this has to happen the third week of January, I will never understand, but maybe it has something to do with self sacrifice and mutilation.

    Regardless, the idea behind I.S.A.t.T.D. is that you should take a picture every 5 minutes, all day long (sans 8 hours for sleep, and another hour for the uncomfortably vague “personal” time). This turns out to be 225 pictures in 24 hours.

    Ignoring the fact that the whole premise is either weird, shakey, or unfathomable, I decided to give it a go. Trying desperately to keep my new year’s resolution (shoot new places) alive, I started in the northern reaches of DC’s Rock Creek Park, and worked my way down to Georgetown, and over to the National Mall.

    To get a better idea of where I went, check out my new-fangled, geo-tagged Flickr map of this day’s photograph locations.

    I took more than 325+ pictures in about 9 hours, though only ~130 of them were worth space on my ever-shrinking hard drive. I have until March to pick my five favorites and submit them to the magazine.

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    International Shooting All the Time Day

  • Photos: FDR at Night

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    The Lady Sparkler’s mom is in town, helping her pick out a wedding dress, and after dinner one night we decided to drive around a little to get the “monument at night” feel of the city.

    I have shot the monuments (and FDR in particular) seemingly hundreds of times, including several times at night. I got some orginal shots, but I am decidedly reaching to get there.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    FDR at Night

  • Photos: Mt. Vernon, near Alexandria, Virginia

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    It is hard to believe that I am saying this, but I’m getting bored shooting photographs in the greater metropolitan Washington, DC area. A cursory review of my work and I think it is safe to say I have shot every twig in the North and Central Districts of the Shenandoah National Park.

    Accordingly, this year I am going to try and go shooting in some places that I have overlooked in recent years, and not just rely on heading west towards Shenandoah.

    As part of this effort (a new years resolution of sorts) I went to Mount Vernon. It is #$%! pricy to get in, but nicely photogenic once you get past the ticket window. The grounds were so photogenic (and the lines to get in the house so long) that we just wandered the estate all day.

    Actually, the whole this was so photogenic that we talked about getting season passes … until it was discovered that you had to get your picture taken and laminated on the ID. No amount of money saved is worth carting another photo ID around, much less one as trivial as this.

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    Mt. Vernon, near Alexandria, Virginia

  • Photos: Christmas Lights, Washington, DC


    Originally uploaded by evancparker.

    I have one empty weekend between Thanksgiving and New Years this holiday season, and I took the Saturday night to wander around the staples of Christmas in DC: the Capitol Christmas tree, the train display at the U.S. Botanical Garden and the ice skating rink in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden.

    I am sure I should be out shopping, or home throwing a Christmas party, but it doesn’t look like either are going to happen this year. Perhaps it’s for the best.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    Christmas Lights, Washington, DC

  • Photos: National Museum of Natural History

    [Natural History Museum, Washington, DC]
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    National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

  • Photos: Washington Monument

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    View from Washington Monument, Washington, DC

  • Photos: National Mall

    Day two of the Parker Brothers’ tour of DC.

    This time we stayed much closer to home, including my first trip to the top of the Washington Monument since it reopened earlier this decade, a quick “thaw” trip to the Natural History Museum, and a jog around the sites on the National Mall.

    Collin’s got a great eye, and you can check out his pictures of our tour on Flickr.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    National Mall, Washington, DC

  • Photos: D.C at Night, Washington, DC

    After practically a year of trying, my brother is in town for the weekend.

    He was originally supposed to come last March for the Washington DC Regional of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (for those of you paying attention, that was the tourny where hometown-heros George Mason knocked off Connecticut). My sister-in-law went into labor about a month early, and so he missed possibly the two best days of basketball in recent memory.

    After the first attempt didn’t work out so well, we tried to get together this fall for a couple of sporting events (a DC United and a Washingtion Nationals game) but he managed to herniate a disk in his back, and was on his butt for a couple of months.

    Finally, this weekend, with only weeks left before his Southwest ticket expired, we got him down here for a Wizards game and a couple of days of R&R.

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    D.C at Night, Washington, DC

  • Photos: National Zoological Park, Washington, DC

    The National Zoo just opened up a new Asian Trail, and I haven’t had a chance to check it out before today. My parents are in town, and we decided to take advantage of an “indian summer” day by spending it outside.

    The featured image for today’s entry is probably one of my favorites in recent memory. The pattern and the sunlight … Every once in a while you just get lucky.

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    National Zoological Park, Washington, DC