Mark Anderson

When I arrived at work today it was non-stop. I was able to quickly grab some lunch from across the street in-between meetings, so I never had a chance to grab some photos.

When I got home I didn't have any ideas, so I went outside to try my hand and some astro-photography. I got some interesting shots and generated some ideas on what I want to try for next time. Just before I decided to pack it in I decided to grab some shots of one of our backyard trees. I liked how this one came out.

I was playing with a new photo filter called Loko on my iPhone today.

Construction has picked up at several locations in downtown Bethesda, which is a good economic sign. While I was walking past this building I took a shot of the guys doing some welding about 6 floors up. When I got home I noticed that one of the workers must have noticed me taking photos and smiled for me.

This painted notice lets people in a Bethesda parking garage know where they should walk to exit the garage. The funny thing is by the time you see this painted wall, you are already looking at the exit to the garage.

Every time I pass this sign I wonder what the people are carrying. Are both the man and woman (assuming they are a man and a woman) carrying books? Is the one on the right carrying a purse and the second a laptop?

The final design of these templates were probably discussed in a city planning committee for several months before they were finalized.

Yamas Mediterranean Grill opened near my office about a year ago and the food has always been great. They have recently started serving rice bowls for lunch and I think I will be coming here more often.

On Sunday I went out for the afternoon to shoot some landscapes and panoramas. I still need to do some post processing to my panorama photos before I can post anything. I grabbed this shot with my iPhone while on the road.

The weather was very nice for a late January day so I went for a hike on the Blue Mash trail in Laytonsville. I was able to get several photos I like. While walking back to my car I noticed a dried out mud puddle on the ground and took the photo above.

My office held its annual chilli contest today. We treat it like a potluck and everyone brings in food. This year we had four competitors for the chilli contest and I took several shots of chilli bowls today. However, the hit of the party was one of the desserts that was concocted. What you see above is a hamburger and hotdog dessert.

The hamburger is made of a doughnut bun, chocolate rice crispy treat patty and fruit roll-up bacon strips. You had a choice of adding red icing ketchup or marshmallow fluff for mayo.

The hotdog was an eclair bun, with your choice of snickers or three musketeers dog. You can also top with ketchup or relish icing.

Since I have started this project I have taken several photos of this column. I also have several photos from years ago when I lead a photowalk in Bethesda.

I'm always looking for different angles or ways to look at this art piece. The main problem is it is located in a courtyard with distracting backgrounds from almost every angle. The column is about 20 feet tall and if you try to photograph the entire column you can never get a pleasing background. One idea I have is to come back and night and try to light it with strobes or light paint it while all of the background turns to black. I'm still not happy with the way this one works, but I needed something to post for today and this is the best I could get today.

This column is called Untitled Column and was created by Ned Smyth for the Bethesda Place Plaza. He has also created several other art pieces for this location.

Michele has been in California for the past week visiting her parents. I picked her up tonight at Dulles and Emma and I are glad to have her back.