But I could not stand the idea of spending ten days in the Capitol and leaving without some good photos so I went back to a process we used in theatre. The gist is you choose one word to sum up the idea you want to convey. I wanted something very positive, something that could cover an experience, a moment, or an inanimate object. I needed all of two minutes to come up with "reverence," and another twenty to surf the web for some basic help on how to shoot tall stuff while being by nature somewhat (okay, VERY) vertically challenged.
In retrospect, I do not think I nailed the concept of reverence at all, with the exception of maybe three images. However, having an idea driving my process definitely led me to some better images than I would have captured if I had simply pointed at whatever struck my fancy as we walked around. Washington ended up being one of my favorite places to shoot this entire year. Here is a slide show of some of my personal favorites, some of which we have already shared recently but some of which are new. All of them are in the photo gallery under the tab "Washington D.C."
I think I'm going to have to use that old word idea process more often.
-Jenni