First Prize!

Hurray! I won my first photography prize! I belong to the World Bank/IMF International Photographic Society, which holds monthly photo competitions. The theme for November was "Details", and I won the FIRST prize in Category B! By the way, Category B is nothing lower or lesser, it's just the category designated for newer members of the club. Here is my pic below. It's a close-up view of a glass paperweight.

I need to thank photographer Judy Reisman, since I was at her house doing a workshop on Macro Photography when I took this picture. It's her paperweight after all! Thank you Judy!

Gaston

Inauguration Aberration

Already, we are getting indications here in Washington, D.C., that Obama's inauguration week will unimaginably insane. 4 million people are expected to make the pilgrimage, and hotels as far away as Richmond VA, and Baltimore MD, are already all booked up. It's hard to even imagine how that will affect our peaceful everyday life in our little District of Columbia with its 500 000 inhabitants.

This morning by my metro station, loud-mouth entrepreneurs were trying to recruit people willing to sacrifice their housing to tourists, for gargantuan bucks! They were yelling: "Make a month's salary by renting your apartment for 2 days!" ; "Go on vacation and make some money while you're away!" ; "People are willing to pay thousands of dollars to stay in your house!" And they were not joking! Talking to a few friends, I am hearing rumors of houses on Capitol Hill ALREADY rented for more than 20 000$. Another person I met said he was putting his small student apartment up for 5000, for 2 nights$ I just checked Craig's List, and houses located about an hour away from Washington's centre are listed for 10 000$ or 12 000$. That is simply insane!

But, we will be staying home, sleeping in our own bed, and nobody has asked us yet to crash on our sofa (don't try it, this is not an invitation!). One thing though, I think we should stock up on food, water, and toilet paper (hey, three essentials!) before the inauguration, as 4 million additional people here might just cause the whole infrastructure to collapse! And, thankfully, we are close enough to walk over to the Mall, and will not have to suffer in overstuffed metro trains. Maybe, even with 4 million other people around, we will still get a mini glimpse of Barack and Michelle... but one way or the other, I am certain it will be worth all the trouble to be there!

Gaston

Free Jeans!

I went to Macy's today, since they were having a sale (woo-hoo!) I chose a pair of jeans, then walked around the store to get some socks and a pair of shoes. At the register, the cashier could not find any tags on the jeans. He removed the security button, handed me the jeans, and said: "If you don't mind, could you pay for them in the denim department, since I don't have the info here to ring them up." He basically handed me a free pair of jeans! Without any tags or security devices, I could have walked out of that store and nobody would have ever noticed that a pair of jeans had disappeared! But, I am an honest little Canadian after all, I was raised better than that. So, I did pay for the jeans, and chose not to shoplift. But I kept on thinking: 'Man, these Americans are so damn trusting!"

Gaston

Gotta Do More Gotta Be More

The air in DC today felt like it had drifted straight down from Canada. It smelt of Ottawa in the Fall. The sun cast a cool yellow glow on everything, the atmosphere was crisp and uplifting, and the cold wind came at you like a slap in the face. Not the kind of slap though that would come from an angry lover – rather the kind that urges you to wake up, and injects you with energy. It made me want to jump up on the nearest Washington Post box and scream “Gotta do more, gotta be more!” (Funny how “Dead Poets' Society” still has an influence even twenty years later).

(Pic from the movie Dead "Poets' Society", taken from the Internet, not my own, of course)
Speaking of young over-achievers, I met a most inspiring photographer last night, Jeff Hutchens. DC Photo Week is on right now and the town in saturated with opportunities to meet top professionals in the field. Jeff Hutchens’ pictures really convey strong feelings, a definite sense of place, and I was really captured by them. It makes me want to think of everything differently when looking though my camera’s view finder. You can see his stuff at http://www.jeffhutchens.com/

So, continue checking my website http://www.gastonlacombe.com/ to see if my photography style will eventually get more refined!

By the way - Happy 90th Birthday Latvia! Even if you've pushed me out, I still wish you the best. Hope your next few years won't be as dark as the last three.

Gaston