Last Sunday, Melissa attended a baby shower near Rock Creek Park. I gave her a ride to the shower and, despite the fact that it was a drizzling dreary day, I figured I'd use the opportunity to take a few photos of Rock Creek in Rock Creek Park.

Rock Creek And I'm really glad that I did. I love this photo. I love the color and the juxtaposition of hard and soft.

To get the shot, I had to climb out on a number of big (and some unfortunately not so big) slippery rocks to get into the middle of the river. The blur of the water comes from using a 2.5 second shutter speed and a tripod. The slow shutter speed was made possible by my use of a 6-stop neutral density filter. The lens reduced the amount of light going through my lens by a factor of 2^6 = 64. That's really dark. In fact, it was so dark looking through the lens, I had trouble focusing the camera.

Sunday was also a good day, despite the rain, to see the azaleas, which were just starting to bloom along Rock Creek. I love the wild azaleas around Washington, DC. They're called "pinxter azaleas" or "Pinxterflowers" (Rhododendron periclymenoides). They aren't your garden variety azaleas (literally!) because the shrubs lose their leaves during the winter and most landscapers prefer a plant that retains its leaves. The species name comes from the Latin for "naked-flower", since the flowers of the plant often appear before its leaves are fully expanded.