Blog posts for Patrick Malone's photo blog

  1. Making a Good Photo Better

    It’s no accident that the word photographers use for what happens when the vision before their eyes gets turned into a digital file or a piece of celluloid film: It’s called “capturing” an image. The word conveys that this is an elusive, fleeting, often frustrating endeavor.  This blog post is…

  2. Combo: Go low and background first

    This is a photo from the Washington Post’s very talented Matt McClain. He’s inside the U.S. Capitol, at a news conference with Senator Schumer, the majority leader. It’s a daily, even hourly occurrence at the Capitol. A ho hum assignment for an ordinary photographer. He has to get Schumer into…

  3. Moon Over Memorial

    So how do you get a shot like this of the rising full moon, resting on the roof of the front portico of the Jefferson Memorial? (And looking like a big orange marble ready to roll down that sloping roof and – plunk! – into the Tidal Basin.) It’s actually…

  4. Reflections

    Let’s reflect a bit on reflections. They’ve been a storied part of the photographic portfolio for many years. Urban planners in Washington, D.C., and around the world have long incorporated shallow bodies of water into the city landscape for the express purpose of attracting photographers.  In our nation’s capital, we…

  5. Go Low

    Going low, for photographers, is not a metaphor for slinging unfair personal attacks against an adversary.  It’s about the physicality of taking an image, and it means getting your camera close to the ground. Interesting stuff happens down there Take a look at this shot of a pedestrian bridge I…

  6. Background First

    The great photographer Sam Abell (Nat Geo, Marlboro Man) used to quote his photographer dad “Sammy, start with the background.”  It’s a puzzling bit of advice, until you see it in action.  My own photography isn’t in the same galaxy of talent as Sam Abell, but I think I understand…

  7. Blue Hour

    Here are a few images from my Monumental DC collection that show you what Blue Hour is and why it’s so special for photographers. (Click on the thumbnails to scroll through the set.) Blue Hour happens twice a day: at dusk, when the last direct rays of sun have disappeared…

  8. Golden Hour

    The 19-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln that dominates the Lincoln Memorial was carved  by the Piccirilli brothers from blocks of Georgia marble.  White marble.  You can see the indisputable whiteness of Lincoln’s statue in the first of these two photos that I took, ten minutes apart, on a recent early…

  9. Finding a Stage (2 of 2)

    This is a postscript to the “Finding a Stage” (first of 2) blog post.  Can you spot the wedding photographer at the lower right of this image? On any weekend morning, you can count on seeing at least half a dozen of these blissful-to-be tableaus at the Lincoln Memorial. The…

  10. Finding a Stage (1 of 2)

    How did I get this shot of the women tossing their graduation caps into the air, with Lincoln’s statue looking on from behind? The answer is to find a stage, and then wait for the action. Finding the stage: This is a basic concept of any photography anywhere, but especially…
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