Copyright (c) 2009 by Kim Baker. Reposted with permission.
Not to be outdone by Hanukkah, the Mormons are throwing their own festival of lights this month at their nearby Kensington temple. Colorful lights lace trees and shrubs throughout the 52-acre campus, their brilliance muted only by the temple’s imposing Art Deco spires. (more…)
THE DISTRICT — (UPDATE) The domed courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is usually a quiet, contemplative place, a welcome respite from the traffic-choked clamor that is Chinatown.
But on one rainy Saturday in late October, the place was a racket. Tin bells and electronic beeps bounced off the gray granite floors. Muted thumps offered a syncopated rhythm for excited “oohs” and disappointed “awws”.
Photo: This kid had never played pinball before, yet it took her only 15 minutes to dominate the game. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
The unusual noise sprang from an unusual source: an exhibit of pinball machines trucked in from Silver Spring’s National Pinball Museum. Some of the dozen machines on display were wooden games of chance (there were no flippers to knock balls back into the field of play) dating to the early 20th century, while a few more dated to the mid 1990s and incorporated electronic sound effects and animated displays.
All of them were available to museum visitors for play. No quarter (or nickel, in the case of older machines) necessary.
And the machines got some serious play. Little kids, some of whom didn’t get the concept, gravitated towards a “Stargate”-themed machine that played dialog from the 1994 sci-fi movie each time the silver ball hit a particular bumper. It took the kids about 20 minutes to dominate the game. (more…)
Photo: Yeah, boyeeee! Credit: R. Pace/SSP.
A dry, brisk November morning brought out all the fixtures of a Thanksgiving parade — floats, big balloons, and local politicians up for re-election.
Saturday’s march up Georgia Avenue through downtown Silver Spring is an annual thang, streaming with the iridescent colors of Andean-inspired costumes, burgundy and gold from the Redskins marching band, and the black and white of one large, inflatable penguin.
But there was also lots of Democrat blue, delivered by county, state and federal incumbents out to press the flesh. This year’s Thanksgiving parade was the last before the 2010 election, in which all Montgomery County council seats, as well as District 20’s four seats in the state legislature, are up for grabs. Congressional races are also open in Maryland’s fourth and eighth districts.
Laying out some face time was MoCo exec Ike Leggett (D), who strolled with the parade’s first participants. His presence was felt later, as supporters of his proposed pedestrian bridge between the Wayne Avenue garage and Silver Spring’s new library distributed yellow plastic construction hats to the crowd. (more…)
Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
Snapping pics at the annual Thanksgiving parade is always a pain in the ass. The sun hugs the horizon this time of year, placing it directly in one’s view no matter the camera angle. Also, the sky tends to take on a dull shade of blah, which offers zero contrast when photographing big balloons.
Luckily for Penguin editor Jennifer Deseo (read: me), some of this year’s parade action went down in the shade of storefront awnings on Georgia Avenue. With a little flash, Deseo caught these six dancers in traditional Andean costume jogging to catch up with others in their dance troupe. Call it the other Thanksgiving parade.
More pictures from Saturday’s event will post this afternoon.
Copyright (c) 2009 by Max Cook. Reposted with permission.
There’s something about decapitated bodies that grabs the imagination and begs important questions. Like who’s the dude with the cup of soda and camera around his neck? What’s up with the chick in the photo behind him? And where did she get those darling red shoes? (more…)
Copyright (c) 2009 by Erin McCann. Republished with permission.
Local photog Erin McCann was running around backstage at Montgomery College’s performing arts center Saturday night when she snapped this photo of young performers waiting for their moment in the spotlight.
“They were being led from a staging area across the hall to another off-stage hall, and then through the door to the stage,” she said of the girls, who were performing a bhangra-based salute to Bollywood. “This was taken right before they went through that door.”
With one click of her camera, McCann captured the apprehension, anxiety and delirium that percolates behind the curtain. She expects to post more backstage pics to her Flickr photostream next week.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Erin McCann. Reprinted with permission.
Updated Nov 9, 2009, to add Erin’s last name to the attribution and copyright. — JD
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