I keep my ipod in a sock.

Just in case you were wondering.  My mind was blown once again yesterday afternoon by the spectacular range of opportunities offered to photographers and photo-enthusiasts in this city.  There are miles of interesting-looking buildings; there are politicians all over; there are rallies and protests and hearings and news events galore.  Washington, I am learning, is almost like a kind of photographic Mecca.  Obviously there is the political side of everything, but there are also lots of different organizations, including National Geographic (!).  As a result of all these awesome opportunities, there are also a huge number of photographers working in and around DC.  I'm sure there were even more before most newspapers cut their DC bureaus, but that is a whole different ball of wax.  Anyway.  There is an organization here, the White House News Photographers Association, whose mission is "to protect and promote photographers' interests in pursuing their mission," which was originally to cover the President and the White House, but it has expanded to include Congress and different political events (www.whnpa.org/about/index.htm).  Basically, it is a group of photographers from different news outlets who all cover the news in and around Washington.

Its significance for me is that they host an annual competition for photography, video and multimedia projects.  I have seen the winners online over the years.  The photos were one of my favorite ways to spend my time when I probably should have been doing homework.  But the images from the contest were always just sort of There.  I never really put much thought into the submitting or the judging or even, I'm sorry to say, the photographers themselves.  So you can imagine my disbelief and overwhelming excitement when I found myself at the National Geographic building yesterday, sitting in a large auditorium, looking at the submitted images on a huge screen along with the three judges and a number of the photographers themselves.  I basically just had a moment of, "Wow, this is real.  This is how things actually work."  When they announced their Photographer of the Year, some people were wondering if she was in the room, and one woman across from me replied, "No, she's in Baghdad right now."  (I'm fairly certain that's what she said anyway).  It's just so absurd and so awesome and inspiring.

So that was yesterday.  Today I internshipped and walked some more around the city.  And tomorrow:  Tomorrow I am shadowing New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen for a photo-story on the day of a freshman Senator.  In the evening, President Obama is speaking to a joint session of Congress, during which I will be in the Capitol, although I probably won't actually get to see the speech.  Either way, it is going to be a super busy and extremely exciting day.  Hopefully I will get some good photos.  My strategy is just to remind myself that I do actually know what I am doing.  Yes, there are better, more experienced photographers all around me, but I deserve to be here; I am not out of place among them.  It doesn't matter who or what I am photographing.  I know how to take pictures, and I know I can take good pictures.  Just look through the lens, focus, release the shutter.  Go.