Photography in Bowie Town Center illegal?

Today I decided to get a filter for my 50mm lens from Ritz camera in Bowie Town Center. Since it was such a bright day, decided to try and freeze the water droplets of the water fountain on the circle there. A 'cop' (BTC security) pulled over and told me making pictures was illegal. Never engage in a discussion at this point, just let them go, but of course I decided to challenge this concept a little bit more.

I have made many pictures in BTC at times before. One time it was a little bird, to test out my new zoom lens. Ok, the pavement was on the background, but otherwise it was just the bird. Is that illegal too? Today I ran into a spider, who had made a rather intriguing web. I had never it this way before. So, that's a close-up, or is illegal now because the BTC light pole is on the back drop?

On the way out, had to wait at the traffic light and took a picture of their signature water tower. Is that illegal?

Downtown Silver Spring had a crisis like this some years ago. Security would approach people (me too once) to question/challenge their motives when using a camera. The public cried foul, and challenged the mall management by organizing a massive public photo shoot. The reason is that this area is leased from Silver Spring to this company, who then take care of the upkeep. But does that mean they own the street, and you can't make photos there? In an indoor mall the rules are perhaps a little more clear, that's a private area, not so public. Yet, plenty people use their cell phones, or little point and shoot. But when you walk around with a DSLR, suddenly you get herassed.

Butterflies, Kim Chi and Jackfruit

I am not trying to say we are eating butterflies now, this was just in brief what July 3, 2011 looked like. A long weekend, since tomorrow it is Monday July 4.

It has also been a long while that I posted here. Po's blog reminded me that a story with pictures can be so much nicer than an album on picasa. I guess they both serve their own purpose. So let me just try this one more time. If you want to see the picasa album though, where there are a lot more pictures, link over there. It was Po's idea to excersize the macro lens, since she is working on a WPS homework! Sharon decided to come along as well and work with Xavier's camera, which also has a pretty decent macro setting on its zoom lens.

It had rained quite heavily earlier in the morning, and it promised to be another hot and humid day. After the gardens and the

butterfly greenhouse we decided to get brunch at a nearby supermarket called H-market. They have a korean counter inside with lots of KimChi like dishes. It was fabulous. The sushi is also amazing.

Also in this asian style supermarket was a fruit called a jackfruit. The one I got was 16 pounds! We looked up on internet how to properly open it. Not hard. Just cut it along the narrow or wide side through the middle, and then continue in quarters and more if needed. But you do need to rub your hands in vegetable oil, these fruits are very sticky. So bad in fact, soap won't even do a good job after the fact. Lessons learned. But the meat inside is just amazing. Don't eat too much of it, it warned, it's also a laxative.

Air Expo 09

The 2009 Memorial Day weekend was choosen for the annual Patuxtent air show. Last year I was a tad too late for the Andrews Air Force Base, they had just closed the parking lot from where
the buses take you to the base. NAS Patuxtent was a pleasant difference. Driving up you were directed to drive over one of the runways and park at the end and just walk 100 yards to the entrance. Some checking was done, but it was quick and efficient. Neil tells me there's more to see at AFB (e.g. tanks) but I was already impressed with this place. Also fewer people probably. AFB is right by the beltway and that's a lot of traffic. Apart from the Blue Angels and B52 fly-over was spectacular. You can those, and more, on the picasa page.

Sappemeer

Sappemeer is the little town I grew up in. It's not far from Groningen. My mom still lives in the house, and here's that house. Picture was taken a few years ago, Christmas 2002 when I was in Holland/Berlin.

Engagement

This was a fun (even hot) day in April. A collegue of a friend from badminton was getting engaged and they wanted some engagement pictures. This seems to be a thing to do. Not as elaborate as a wedding of course,but still something memorable. So the two of use trekked to the National Arboretum and with a D80 (50mm) and a D300 (18-200mm) we got them from all angles until they were sick of us. This thing on the right here is something I didn't know existed there, but made for one of the many cool locations to shoot.

Wide angle lens

Wide angle lenses are fun. You can get them surprisingly close to the subject, and it really distorts their faces. Not daring enough to show one of those in public, but this guitar (Kari's birthday present) works, while he was singing the Peter Photographer song. Happy birthday Kari!













And then there is Derek Richardson, the man with the gadgets. This double asteroid is a scaled reproduction, really cool. Also in wide angle mode.