It was about 9:30 this morning, when I saw a tweet from a local photographer, talking about shooting four blocks from the inauguration.
Why the hell am I
not shooting the inauguration? I thought to myself. And I didn't have a good answer at all. I'd been thinking today was a stay-home-all-day sort of day, as the metro would be insane and the roads closed. But, f*ck it, I'm a damn street photographer! So I put on my shoes and caught the 9:45 bus. Then I watched Barack Obama get reinstated as President.
This is over the 9th Street tunnel, which runs under the Mall. When you got out at L'Enfant, you had to walk to 9th - it took 20 minutes with the river of people. It's sorta hard to tell from the photo, but it was absolutely jam-packed.
After the festivities on the Mall, everybody bum-rushed Pennsylvania to get to the parade route. I wanted nothing to do with that, but still found myself in a throng of folks. Following the flow of people, I realized we were dead-ending in some shrubbery at the OAS. Everyone just pushed on through the bush.
And that is that! On the way home, my metro train died and we had to sit in the tunnel for 45 minutes before they were able to tow us out. It's been a long day, but hey, I went to a Presidential Inauguration today.
But of course, my favorite images, always, depend on light. This scene isn't from a garden or a cool place of any sort. They're standing on a grate with a loading dock behind them. But this happened to be the spot in front of a big beige building, throwing tons of beautiful light back at them.
They hired one of my favorite officiants in DC - 
Love this candid frame.
"We got married, yeah!"
We were well done with being outside, so we shuffled to the National Gallery of Art for some quirky portraits.
And today I learned how to make a gif in Photoshop!
Revising old favorites. This is such a great hallway.
Congratulations Heather and Gary!