Mercer’s fourth desk is my least favorite. This is my only image of this desk from my multiple visits here. My eye has always focused on the large windows and the chest.
Mercer’s study is an intimate and very warm feeling room. I imagine that if Henry got a little bored in his study, he could always go down to his more formal large library on the main floor of the castle. The Library will be a future set of posts sometime in the future.
This third desk is nestled into a small alcove in the back part of Mercer’s study. I have not seen light reach this part of the study. Note the strange looking object hanging from the ceiling. It is an Arabic oil lantern. Mercer’s collection of ancient implements and artifacts around the world is amazing. There are very few walls in the castle that are not covered by art or artifacts.
This desk with late morning sun shining across it is located on an adjacent wall from the desk shown on my last post. Depending on his mood and light, Mercer would pick where he wanted to work in his study.
The image below is taken looking down the desk from the end. At the end tucked away in a corner is a leather lounge sofa. I imagine it was a good place for that “afternoon nap”. Above the sofa is his collection of ancient and Early American pottery.
Like the Capitol, entering the Library of Congress makes your eyes pop and your jaw drop to the ground. I could spend hours, just photographically exploring the main room, its sculptures and artwork. This building will be a subject that I will explore on its own with additional posts sometime later.
This view of the Viet Nam Memorial is quite different that most that I have seen. The camera was placed directly on the marble side of the Memorial. The scaffold-enclosed Washington Monument is seen reflecting on the Wall. Our tour guide pointed this angle out. I would have missed it otherwise. Again, the same lesson applies: Keep my eyes open … an image will appear for the taking.
This World War II Memorial image is taken from the Memorial steps looking down the Capitol Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. The Pacific and Atlantic arches are outside the view on the left and right. We only had 15 minutes to spend, not enough time for a panorama. Below is the Pacific arch.
This image was taken looking straight up inside the Capitol Dome. It was a exercise in balance from two perspectives. First, I worked hard to balance the image from side to side and top to bottom. The image is not cropped. The second perspective was to keep my physical balance as I stood looking straight up with my camera. To compensate for my dizziness I had to shoot at 1/250 second at ISO 3200. The second perspective of balance was much harder for me.
I have been inside the Capitol several times over the past years. Access inside the building has changed over time. When we lived in the DC area in the mid-80’s, one could enter the building and explore without being on a scheduled tour. I recall times when I could just walk into the Senate and House galleries and observe sessions in progress. Not so any more, times change … many times not for the best.
We first stopped by the Capitol at mid-day. It radiated its brilliant white marble color. We came back later in the early evening at about 8:00 pm as the setting sun was casting its brilliant golden sheen on the dome. This image was taken as we were walking back to the tour bus. I turned around for one last look and saw the dome nicely framed by trees along the sidewalk. I have learned over time to continuously look up, down, back, and all around as I stroll along. I can never tell where the next image is waiting to be captured.
For reference, below is a mid-day shot of the Capitol.
What trip to Washington, DC goes without a photo of the White House. So here it is. Bright mid-day sun on a cloudless day does leave to much room for creativity. Luckily we were able to return at night. Below is a different feeling from the same spot as above.
It was high noon on a cloudless day when we visited the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, VA. The Memorial is 270 feet high and appears to be soaring. Its array of arcs against the sky evokes a modern image of flight by jet and space vehicles. At the same time, it enshrines the past in permanent remembrance of the pioneers of flight who came before, and pays homage to those of the future.
The number three in the vertical design of the spires signifies several elements. “Three” is resonant with significant associations for the Air Force, including the three core values of today: Integrity first, Service before self, and Excellence in all we do. It is also the smallest number of elements needed to define and enclose a space. The spires also reflect an exploding bomb burst as well as the “Missing Man” maneuvers. The spires are asymmetrical and dynamic. Each is a different height, causing the view of the Memorial to be different at every angle.