John Boal Photography

I've lived in the DC area since 1984. I have seen all the monuments, most of the museums, and many of the statues and memorials. DC is a city that is great for all of those. Mostly because the vast majority of them are free. The Awakening is one of those cool sculptures that I think anyone who lives in the area for any while has seen, and probably enjoyed. Up until this past weekend, I've never seen this sculpture. Over the weekend, my girlfriend and I decided to see it. We heard they were planning on moving it the next Wednesday, and I had hoped, in vain, to take some pictures without it being mobbed by visitors, probably very much like ourselves: grabbing a last look at one of Haines' Point's landmarks before the area fell to development. I originally planned on bringing my new toy (4x5) out to take some pictures, but to no avail. With all the people clamoring for the best spot atop his knee, posing with their arms in his mouth and nose, I decided I didn't

Last night was a long day. I drove a lot. I waited in lines a lot. Lines in a hallway, on my feet. Traffic jams. Lines at the counter for dinner. For those of you who do not know me well, I despise waiting in line. I've never found many things worth waiting a long time in line for. Maybe I’m just spoiled and I never had to wait in lines. I once heard someone say about Soviet Russia, that if you were to walk by a line, get in it. It was probably worth waiting. I tried to vote in the morning. It was sort of a last minute thing. But as soon as I walked inside and saw the line, I walked away. I was already close to being late as it was. So there I went, on the road to take pictures of real estate. I know, not the most scintillating of jobs, but it pays. I drove and drove and finally I got to the house, 50 miles away. Then I went to another house. Then I had lunch and waited almost 30 minutes to get my check. Then I went to another house. One-hundred twenty-seven mile

So here are my first 4x5 negs ever. Ok, so it isn't some momentous occasion, but it is interesting to point out that I metered the scene as ISO 400 (b/c that's what the film, Ilford HP5, says). All my other negs from that point on were metered as ISO 200. Just looking at the negs, the midtones were really hard to locate, whereas the blacks and whites were obviously there. Oh, and naturally, the first subject was my girlfriend. I'd post some more of my 4x5 stuff, but since I process it all myself, it's a little cumbersome, and I should have another 15-20 negs to go through in the next week. I went to a couple "election" events over the weekend, including an Obama town hall meeting in Alexandria, VA today. Here, are a couple selects from that, but just from my digicam: Here's another volunteer pic for my ongoing project, along with the speech pictures. This last one is just some more volunteers cleaning up after the meeting. The light on the woman on t

Working with a 4x5 camera is a phenomenal experience.  Maybe it's the novelty.  But it could be that I've been able to see photographs in an entirely new light.  For anyone that has taken photographs with a monorail camera, you know what I mean.  Suffice it to say, it takes a while before you can take a picture with a camera like this. But it's wonderful in that very way.  The way a 35mm digital camera is unbelievably versatile and allows the user to photograph virtually anything,  dark or bright, shifty or static, the large format really forces you to previsualize.  This is something that's easy to forget once you lose yourself in the trappings of a nice digital SLR.  It's really just a beautiful way to take a picture.   I am taking a class at the Northern VA Community College in Alexandria, VA.  The price of admission guarantees the rental of all the necessary gear for the semester.  Pretty friggin' sweet if you ask me.  So I've decided to use it to supple

Yay!  I finally met up with some Hillary Clinton supporters over the weekend.  It took several weeks, and several phone calls, but I was able to attend a town hall-type meeting where a bunch of volunteers from Montgomery Cty, MD got together, discussed strategy and donated time and money towards the campaign.  One of the first interesting moments is when I walked in, wheeling my large case of camera gear (more on that in a moment), and I bumped into this woman whom I photographed months earlier at the DNC meeting in Tyson's Corner (holding the stickers here).  I've learned quickly that the more I show up to these events, the more often I run into the same people.   "Hello, my name is ... and I'm calling on behalf of Hillary Clinton...Will you be voting in the upcoming primaries?..." Maybe it really is necessary to remind supporters to actually support, and more importantly, donate.  As these elections wind on, it seems ever more important on the Democratic side,