The inauguration

Anyone here going to be at the inauguration?

I will be making a cross-country drive from Los Angeles. Will be settling at a home base in Richmond, staying in Alexandria the night before the night before the inauguration, and staying with someone in D.C. the night before and night of.

Definite stops so far include: Austin and/or Houston, TX, Lafayette, LA, New Orleans, LA, Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, New Bern, NC.

If weather looks to be reasonable, I may even make a little leap up to N.Y.C. I highly doubt weather will be reasonable, however. Too bad, as I would love to hit Detroit on the way back.

I will definitely by shooting; prob. mostly 35 with Delta 3200.

Anyone else going? What are your plans?

You and 50 million other people trying to occupy the same space.

Having covered most inaugurations since Reagan in 1981, I'm skipping this one unless someone is willing to pay me a lot of money to attend. Just knowing we have a new president is enough joy for me. I see DC too often as is. Rather stay on the farm or go to Baltimore.

Have fun.

I'll be there shooting. I did a photo essay on the 2001 inauguration and am planning to bookend it with another essay on the 2009 inauguration.

My 18 year old "baby girl" gets to go, but sadly not me.

Have fun 2F/2F

Cool deal, Barry. If you see a pair of guys shooting pix, one of whom looks like Fidel Castro and the other of whom looks like Charles Manson (some say Rabbi Yeshua Ben Yosef), come and say "Hi".

2F/2F said:

Cool deal, Barry. If you see a pair of guys shooting pix, one of whom looks like Fidel Castro and the other of whom looks like Charles Manson (some say Rabbi Yeshua Ben Yosef), come and say "Hi".

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Be sure to post a couple of shots when you come back. That trip sounds wonderful. I'd love to join ya. Swing by Phoenix on your way out, okay?

I'm one-quarter serious, but I have to work. That would be an amazing trip.

Oh lordy, I imagine it to be sort of like a superposition of the annual cherry mayhem with extremely bad weather!

I live 2 hrs from DC and plan to maintain that comfortable distance! Why we have our inaugs in January is beyond me. I mean, one of our Presidents actually died as a result of that. (Quick trivia! Which one was it?)

Well I wish you the very best, that's all I can say! If you come down to Charlottesville....

William Henry Harrison. He was inauagurated in March, though.

Oh yes it was March. Oh well, not the greatest weather then either! And according to wikipedia my facts are wrong, he didn't really die as a direct result of that exposure.

Apparently Pres. Harrison was also the first US president to be photographed.

On March 26, Harrison became ill with a cold. The presumptive story, which has become common knowledge despite its falsity, is that the inauguration day exposure was the cause of his illness. In fact, it was more than three weeks after the inauguration before Harrison showed the first signs of ill health. The cold worsened, rapidly turning to pneumonia and pleurisy.[48] According to the prevailing medical misconception of that time, microorganisms being then unknown, it was believed that his illness was directly caused by the bad weather, when, in fact, he was likely a victim of the common cold virus, exacerbated by the drastic pressures of his changed circumstances.

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Wait, it gets more interesting....

Harrison's doctors tried cures, applying opium, castor oil, Virginia snakeweed, and even actual snakes. But the treatments only made Harrison worse, and he became delirious.

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As with Pinholemaster, I was working in DC for both Reagan, Bush 41, and both Clinton inaugurals. I had moved to IL by bush 43 (who wants to see an idiot made president).

BTW, I never got to the actual inaugral, I was working.

I unfortunately will be trapped in the midst of that scrum, by virtue of the fact that I live less than 25 blocks from the White House. I am hosting out-of-town guests for the event. I am hoping the weather is sufficiently miserable that day that they will content themselves with watching it on TV. If I am dragged to it forcibly, I'll just bring along the Rollei or something similarly small and easy to work with.

I'll be around (we Feds get the day off anyway), but don't know whether I'll be shooting seriously or not.

It's a paid holiday for all federal employees as well as most contractors. Schools in Montgomery County (where I live) will be closed. Just trying to get within 10 miles of the Capitol is far more work than I expend in a normal workday. So, I intend to watch it on TV with my family.

To quote Beldar Conehead: "Ahhh, Inauguration Day. We will observe the consecration of your new High Master utilizing your primitive image digitization device. We will enjoy it."

By the way, someone in my research group has an apartment not too far from the events, beside Capitol Hill. They will be away and are looking to rent out their place, so if anybody has interest they could PM me and I will pass it on. I gather that they don't have a direct view but are a few minutes walk from it all.

Well, I just picked up a 50-pack of HP5 from Freestyle, so I am ready. I am taking off tomorrow afternoon to stay in Twentynine Palms with a friend for the night. Monday morning, the true cross-country journey begins. Las Cruces, NM the first night, Houston the next, then Jasper, Alabama, Nashville, and Richmond. Then up to Washington for three nights (Alexandria for one, Silver Spring, MD for two). No definite plans for routes on the way back yet. Wish I had the time and money to stay off the interstates, but another time. I'm bringing my FD kit (several bodies and backup bodies, 17, 28, 50, 55, and 200mm lenses), my Nikon F with 35 and 135mm lenses (I no longer have these lenses for FD.), my Blackbird, Fly, my M645 kit in case I want to shoot some landscapes along the way, and my Eastman View No. 2 5x7 and a box of FP4 just for the heck of it, my Bogen 3051, my monopod, my Pentax Digital Spot Meter, Brockway (Sekonic) incident meter, and a Sunpak 555 (just in case). A lot of crap that I probably will not use. For the inauguration itself, I will just have a few 35s.

if you want to meet up when you get to Richmond let me know.

I was downtown today and it's already FUBAR. My advice is to get there *early* on Inauguration Day unless you want to spend an hour or two getting through a security checkpoint. Bring lots of film, but keep your kit light and dress for the weather. In 2001, I remember a steady cold rain. If you're on the parade route, stake out a spot early, but you won't have a lot of mobility. On the Mall, you'll be able to wander through the circus, but will probably miss the parade--which is generally pretty lame.

2F/2F said:

Well, I just picked up a 50-pack of HP5 from Freestyle,

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You had me at 50-pack of HP5.

Seriously, have a great trip!

Roadtrip!

Sounds like most excellet fun. Wish I could tag along but, alas....work, wife, kids...eh, you get the idea.

Have fun and be safe!

....whoa....all I said is, "For the inauguration itself, I will just have a few 35s."

You mean the "jackbooted thugs", as the NRA called them (which caused G.H.W. Bush to give up his lifetime membership)?

Way back when, I covered Nixon's second one officially. But I was in the parade de-marshalling area, and didn't get to see any of the ceremony. Did meet a lot of interesting protesters though.
Dress warmly, in layers and travel light, but you probably already know that.
Above all, have a good time, and be safe.

In Houston. 2,050 miles logged so far, about 600 of which have been on interstates, and 1,500 of which I have driven myself. Have been zig zagging north and south on state and local highways. This is a beautiful country.

First (partial) day: L.A. to 29 Palms. Slept at a friend's for three hours.
Second day: 29 Palms to Needles to Flagstaff to Sedona to Pie Town to Socorro to Las Cruces (Interstate from Needles to Flagstaff and Socorro to Las Cruces; the only interstate on the trip thus far, aside from the 10 to 29 Palms). Slept at rest stop for three hours.
Third day: Las Cruces to White Sands to Alamogordo to Hobbs to Abilene to Brownwood to Austin. Slept at a friend of the family's for six hours.
Fourth (partial) day: Austin to Eagle Creek to Richmond to Houston. Slept with my copilot's distant family (in bed right now, hopefully for 4.5 hours!)
Tomorrow: Jasper, AL will be our destination, to stay with Hot Wanda for the night. The earlier we get there, the more sleep we get! Yet again, no interstates unless weather dictates so. Planning on taking a great looking route that will put us through some fun terrain, including a few national forests. The three back to back cold fronts will determine whether or not we actually get there (and/or in one piece)!

The most amazing things so far have been White Sands (lost three hours of travel poking around this small national monument that has only 8 miles of road!) and Highway 82 through the Sacramento mountains. I shot not one pic on 82, so I have to go back. I didn't even start because we had lost time at White Sands, and I want to go back and really get it well, with some big color film and plenty of time.

I have used every piece of equip. I brought so far, except for the 645 kit and one of my Canon bodies. At least the MF kit is small. Maybe it will see some use on the way back, when I can stop more to shoot some landscapes instead of the vignettes and people I have been shooing so far. I have been rolling with four cameras loaded with HP5. An F-1 with a 50 1.4 and one with a 28 2.0 in my lap, an AE-1 with a 200mm 2.8 IF on the floor, and a Nikon F with a 135 3.5 on the console. A loaded AE-1 with Delta 3200 and a 55 1.2 is in the Haliburton case if needed, along with an HP5-loaded FTb with a 17 4.0 and an unloaded Blackbird, Fly. My Eastman View No. 2 5x7 is ready to go as well, and I have shot 8 frames with it so far using a taped-on Super Angulon 121mm 8.0 with no shutter (the only lens I brought for it). So far I have shot 6 rolls of HP5 and two rolls of Delta 3200 (both tonight, in downtown Houston).

This is very fun.

Should be sleeping now. Goodnight!

2F/2F said:

In Houston. 2,050 miles logged so far, about 600 of which have been on interstates, and 1,500 of which I have driven myself.

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Wow! This sounds crazy to me.

I wouln't walk as far as the end of my road to see a new British prime minister take office!

Sounds like you're making the most of it though by visiting places and friends which you wouldn't normally see.



Steve.

Not that you don't have enough to do, but keep us informed when you can. This trip sounds wonderful. Drive safely.

Steve Smith said:

Wow! This sounds crazy to me.

I wouln't walk as far as the end of my road to see a new British prime minister take office!

Steve.

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Steve,
The drive isn't bad when you're seeing things. It's the dull periods that makes it a grueling drive, like I-10 across Texas, or any driving in Kansas. When I was a service tech in south Florida, I'd average 1400-1700 miles per week bouncing back and forth from Sebastian to Key West along the east coast. I did that for about 7 years before becoming a cubicle dweller (aka corporate whore, office bitch).
One of the nicest drives in FL is that run from Key Largo to Key West. Anywhere along that route at sunrise, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the road and the Gulf of Mexico on the other side. Sunset works too!
Deals Gap in NC is another pretty drive. 318 turns in 11 miles. Great fun for those with motorcycles!

Chris