OK. Not sure how many responses I will get, but I am curious about what others think of this photo. An attempt at something different. I will tell more about it after I get some votes in the can.

There were three photographers in the Senate Press Photographer’s Gallery when Mark Abraham, the gallery deputy director, received an email saying that the Capitol Police were responding to a disturbance in the Capitol Rotunda. After the obligatory 15 seconds of trying to determine if he was serious or just messing with us, we took off in search of something interesting to shoot.

When we arrived, we found that as we feared, the “event” was pretty much over. The advocacy group GetEqual had staged a sit-in as part of an effort to force Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call for a vote on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. The ENDA legislation would outlaw workplace discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Of course the Capitol Police frown on such behavior.

So when we arrived, law enforcement had already cleared the Rotunda of tourists and press and where in the process of handcuffing and searching the protesters. The shot above is really all there was to get at that point, but it was made a bit more interesting in the fact that GetEqual was being arrested under the eyes of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. statue. Seemed a bit ironic.

I asked another photographer who had covered The Hill much longer than I had, where they would take them out of the building. I took off for the summer heat to see if there was anything else to be had.

Of course I was not that lucky. Just a few more frames of some of the protesters being loaded into the van. Of course the whole time all I could think was, “please, somebody try and make a break for it.” I had that vision of one of them running for freedom right at me as a couple of the Capitol’s finest tackled him. Oh well.

So not much in the way of civil disobedience or anarchy. If you ask me, it seems that protests and displays of public dissent are not what they used to be.

The Mother Nature Network picked up a photo of mine from a recent press conference when Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that republicans continue to block climate legislation.

Click here for the story on The Mother Nature Network.

While shooting Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the BP Oil Spill Victim Compensation Fund, as he testified before congress the other day, I played around with some strange in-camera cropping. I was not sure if it worked and I am still undecided, but apparently The Washington Independent like one of them since they used it on their site.

Cool.

Click here to see the Washington Independent Site.

Covering Capitol Hill means always trying to find something “different” to make a photo. The repetitiveness of chasing politicians, shooting hearings and press conferences can get to be a bit dry. Thankfully you never know who you will run into on Capitol Hill. It could be a movie star lobbying congress for their cause or George Washington himself.

Tuesday I was covering the Senate Judiciary vote on the nomination of Solicitor General Kagan to the Supreme Court, when I came across an image from history – George Washington.

Living history re-enactor James Renwick Manship, Sr. was in the line of spectators waiting to get in the the hearing room to observe the proceedings. While in line he never broke character while entertaining and educating others in line.

Manship, who portrays Washington at events all over the country, has written books about the American Statesman and recently wrote Second To None: America’s Washington.

If an organization has a message that it feels strongly about, I think it would really help their cause if their presentation was not taken from the Gypsy Rose Lee playbook.

PETA was on Capitol Hill yesterday to protest National Hot Dog Month. The event has turned into a yearly sideshow.

PETA has been coming to The Hill for the past 8 or 10 years to give away free veggie dogs in protest to bring awareness to their cause. Seems simple enough. Maybe even noble. But when you bring women in bikinis to attract attention and pass out “hot dogs” (as far as I am concerned for it to be called a hot dog it must have some type of meat in it) the message seems to get diluted.

Last year it was 2009 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Jayde Nicole. This year it was Vida Guerra, a Cuban-born American model, serving up a hefty serving of cheesecake with a side of veggies in a sausage casing. Gimme a break. The only reason anyone is showing up for this is for the free food or to be able to be in on the conversation around the office or bar when someone asks if they saw the show.

Don’t misunderstand, I have no problem with good looking women in bikinis. It is their blatant objectification in order to push an agenda that pisses me off. Using vegetarian models may work for PETA’s campaign against eating meat, but I am sure these women use products were animals are used in their creation. Leather purses, shoes, cosmetics just to name a few.

Maybe I am just bitter because one of the PETA people asked me at one point when I was shooting at a low angle to please stand up and “change my “angle.” I was trying to capture the fact that the women were in chili-pepper bikinis and still get a face or two of the patrons in the photo. Apparently she felt the story was about the veggie dogs and not the scantily clad women passing them out.

Maybe we should have taken a poll and asked the people in line what had poorer taste, the dogs or the method of presentation.

The Washington Independent picked up a photo from the weekly stakeout after the weekly caucus lunches. The stakeout happens every Tuesday and although it is very predictable and repetitive, it never ceases to amaze me how many times these photos are used.

Click here for the Link to the Washington Independent story.

The Wall Street Journal recently used a photo of mine in a story online and in the printed edition. It was actually a photo taken in April. Online version can be found on the Wall Street Journal website (Click Here).

I try to make myself take a camera everywhere. This is not always practical and sometimes I end up looking like Joe tourist but now that I think about it, that may be an advantage. I was going to write about carrying the camera everywhere in the off chance a photo shows up. Making photographs is good when working, but when you are showing your in-laws the sights of D.C., you really cannot spend time creating images. But you never know when one will be found.

The Joe tourist “advantage” is that with a single camera, small lens and no motor drive, you look like everyone else on the street with a camera. Well maybe that is not entirely true since most people carry point and shoots or just use their cell phone cameras, but you get the point.

Anyway, the point is that I was wandering D.C with the in-laws and found a photo in the process. I don’t know if it is great one, but I like it.

Since my father was in the Marine Corps for 32 years, I have a certain affinity for the military. So I recently decided to take off for Annapolis, Maryland to shoot a project on personal time – Induction Day at the United States Naval Academy. I figured if nothing else, my agency, ZUMA, would be able to sell some images from the event.

Induction Day is the official name for the first day of Plebe Summer at the Academy. Held in late June or early July, this is the day on which the newest Naval Academy class arrive and begin the transition from civilian life.

Midshipmen begin the day by reporting to Alumni Hall where they receive their first orders: “From now on the first and last words out of your mouth will be ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’. Do you understand?”

Midshipmen then go through medical screening and tested for substance abuse. Then they are sent to a makeshift barbershop for a haircut where all new male midshipmen receive identical crew cuts. Women have their hair cut short above the shoulders.

Midshipmen are fit for their new uniforms and issued a substantial portion of their necessary equipment, such as professional publications and field gear.

Before they leave Alumni Hall, they are taught basic military decorum, such as saluting. They then board buses and are transported to the midshipman dormitory.

Bancroft Hall was off limits to the press so I went into the city for lunch. From what I understand the new midshipmen meet their Plebe Summer Cadre and transport their new gear and uniforms to their dorm rooms. They are shown how to mark and stow all equipment and spend considerable time arranging their rooms appropriately. Midshipmen must also formally sign their “Oath of Office” papers, which commit them to Naval Service.

After having lunch and spending much of the afternoon editing the mornings images, I went back to the campus to photograph the swearing-in ceremony in Tecumseh Court.

Parents and families of the new Plebes are encouraged to attend this event. Following the swearing-in, the plebes are allowed to visit with family and friends. There was a lot of emotion when parents saw their kids with the haircuts and Plebe uniforms. After a couple of hours they returned to Bancroft Hall. They will not be allowed to meet with family again until the end of Plebe Summer in mid-August.

The day was great and weather was perfect. It was a fun event to shoot and I feel I got some pretty nice images.

For more from the day, go to my Photoshelter Archive (Click here).