Post 18 - Georgetown Glow 2019
10-minute read, including photo captions
The landmark dome of the PNC Bank, Farmers and Mechanics Branch, on the corner of Wisconsin Ave NW and M Street NW in Georgetown
Wait….I know….
Let’s head to Georgetown on an evening when it’s been raining the whole afternoon, but it’s not forecasted to rain that night. That way the streets will be wet, and we’re bound to get some nice reflections off the lights. Right? Sound good to everyone?
[That’s me convening a meeting with the Committee of Multiple Personalities in my head that insists on being a part of all decisions. It can be kind of a drag sometimes, since they rarely have any constructive wisdom to impart, and usually either agree outright or whine about some bureaucratic point of order. But, you know, you gotta keep the peace and placate the Committee - otherwise it can get a little rambunctious in that big, empty space between my ears. I also have to be careful, and put notes like this inside “aside brackets” so they can’t see them, or there would be hell to pay - so this stays strictly between us, got it?]
So, yeah, that sounded like a good idea, and the motion was passed. The day was chosen: Sunday, December 29th - the second-to-last weekend before the Glow was due to end. Everything was working out perfectly - wet streets, dry skies - until it started to drizzle. Which turned to a light rain. Which eventually turned to a moderate, but steady rainfall - not exactly a downpour, but more than I really wanted to subject my Nikon D810 to, even with its legendary weather-sealing.
Fortunately, by that time, I had gotten most of the shots I wanted, so I called it a night. Didn’t get to visit all the installations, but enough to feel like I’d “seen” the Georgetown Glow.
Although not really comparable to Baltimore Light City in either scope or scale, Georgetown Glow is along the same lines - an “outdoor light show” - so I figured we’d continue that theme with this week’s post.
For those of you unfamiliar with the event, Georgetown Glow - established in 2014 - is a series of free outdoor public art installations, usually centered around displays that are lighted, either internally (glowing), or externally (with spot lights and other projections). The installations are spread out over the Georgetown neighborhood in DC - seeing all of them entails about a 3-mile walk, with most of that distance (in this year) being taken up by the trek to Book Hill Park. I’ve been wanting to go for a couple of years, but one thing or another got in the way until 2019. This time I didn’t even let the weather get in the way….
Here is a map of all the installations:
Based on where I parked, I started with Installation #9, “Atomic”, after which I made my way down to K Street and the Waterfront. I then wandered back up through the heart of Georgetown, and finally up to the Library on Book Hill. Here are some of the shots I took along the way.
The evening started with a bang, when this guy - seeing my camera - pretty much jumped in front of me insisting I take his picture. He seemed to be highly enamored of his hat, which had hands (paws?) that popped up when you squeezed the bulbs attached to the hanging tassels. I obligingly fired off a few frames without much thought, assuming they wouldn’t amount to anything, but when I saw them later in post, I couldn’t resist his beaming display - so he became the de facto “poster man” of the Gtown Glow. We are now GTG, fer reals….
My first stop was at Installation #9, “Atomic”, located in the courtyard of the Grace Church on Wisconsin Ave. These two ladies were taking selfies under the display, and instead of waiting for them to leave, I asked them to pose for me. They very obligingly struck the perfect postures, with one smiling at the camera, and the other looking up at the artwork - thank you ladies!
This installation, conceived by New York City artist Hou De Sousa, is a hanging fishnet with a series of hula hoops of different colored fabrics sewn into it. Sidelit by several spot lights, according to the literature, it is meant to symbolize the sub-atomic particles that shape the universe.
The next stop was #10, “Lightbattle” in the Waterfront Park. An arch composed of 5,000 LEDs, it was “powered” by rows of stationary bikes with which riders could compete against the “challenger” opposite them. The one who pedaled the hardest was able to push their beam of colored lights to the other side, being rewarded by a flashing display. Although it was still only drizzling at this point, there weren’t many riders, but I think you can get an idea of what the installation was like.
Although the weather was sort of miserable for humans (and not the greatest for camera gear), the low, heavy cloud cover made for some very nice, ethereal scenery, which I couldn’t resist. I’m not sure if I like this shot of Rosslyn, VA across the Potomac better in B&W or color (with a desaturated orange/teal palette)….leave a comment below and vote for your preference.
I love shooting in the rain (especially street photography), despite the physical discomfort and the hassle of having to wipe off the lens every few minutes. The reflections and often hazy/foggy feel can lend great “atmosphere” to an image. Again, not sure which I prefer, the B&W or color - what do you think?
Installation #11, “Tall Grasses”, was a bit underwhelming, possibly due to the weather. A series of plastic tubes filled with LEDs, these “electronic grasses” would change color with the temperature, and their flashing displays would react to breezes with increasing activity.
By the time I headed back up the hill from the Waterfront, it had begun to rain steadily. At first, I thought that “The Heron”, display #8, should have been suspended under a bridge crossing the C&O Canal, but because of the rain, it had been raised and secured to the side of the bridge. I learned later that the upright “feather” I encountered was only one of a series of three positioned across several bridges, the others being horizontally suspended like the pictures I’d seen.
The hand-crocheted lace feathers were meant to be viewed in sequence while walking or biking along the canal, with the intention of depicting a heron in flight.
Installation #6, “Pompom”, was a series of “3-D organic forms mostly in generic shapes” suspended from wires. Heavy with clinging water droplets, they looked like a group of floating sea anemones, giving me the strong sensation of being underwater - which wasn’t too far from the truth at this point with the increasingly heavy rain.
For me, the most interesting display was #7, “Pandora’s Box”. It was a series of nine plastic benches, lit from within and ornamented with colored squiggles and random words in both English and Korean (the native language of the artist, Eunsook Lee, whose work was also being featured at the Korean Cultural Center in DC).
The words inserted into the benches were meant to “encourage visitors to communicate with each other” - but with the weather such as it was, there were very few people, and very little communicating going on….
Even a random alleyway looks intriguing in the rain….
More than simply suspended, glowing lamps, exhibition #5, “Snow Cones”, was a series of aluminum lanterns (intricately emblazoned with water-jet-cut geometric designs), each containing an LED projector that cycled through a series of colors as pedestrians walked underneath them.
Each of the LED projectors inside the lanterns cast their shapes onto the surrounding walls and street (and on adjacent windows).
One of two installations out of the Netherlands (the other being #10, “Lightbattle”), #4, “Waiting”, consisted of the standard “rotating wheel” that universally represents an online or computer process in progress (download, update, restart, etc). Inside the wheel, at alternating intervals, there were various everyday life activities projected onto a screen. Somewhat mesmerizing, I’ll admit I got sucked into this one and ended up standing on the street for a good 15 minutes watching the various silhouetted projections go about their tasks: watering plants, ironing clothes, walking back and forth, and, as below, dialing an old school landline phone (who even has those anymore?).
Old Georgetown tram tracks on a side street on the way up to Book Hill
Installation #1, “Cloud Swing”, was an interactive pair of swings suspended from a “cloud structure” that changed color as you swinged….uh….swung? At this point, the rain had really started to come down, and I was ready to fire off a few frames and put my camera back in the bag. I wasn’t even going to cross the street to do a “test swing”. Then suddenly, just as I was about to turn back down the street, a car pulled over on the corner, and a woman jumped out. She pushed the swing tentatively, and her face lit up - just in time for me to get a shot. Thank you, whoever you are! At least somebody enjoyed the swing that night….
Since I didn’t even want to cross the street at this point, I waited for this bus to pass in front of me and did a handheld long exposure (1/4 second) to blur the lights. This was going to be my shot of “Cloud Swing”, until the woman above “saved” the scene!
Looking back into Georgetown from Book Hill - I had a bit of a hike ahead of me as the rain got harder, so I put my camera away and prepared to leg it back to the garage where I’d parked.
I had actually forgotten about installation #2 “every day”, but it was on my way back down the hill, and I couldn’t just walk by without shooting it. I took my camera back out of the bag, but the rain was so heavy, it was impossible to keep the lens clean, so I quickly fired off a few frames and figured the water droplets would add “ambiance”. This display consisted of a series of neon lights that read, in sequence as you walked by, “every day / we are / slowly / approaching / a solstice”. Ironically, the word “approaching” was burned out (or shorted out due to the rain?), so not sure what that portends for the next solstice….
Even though I was ensconced from head to toe in waterproof gear, with the hood of my Columbia rain jacket cinched tight around my face, I still felt as wet as an otter’s pocket by this time. In short, I was drenched - and kind of over the whole strolling-in-the-rain thing. So when I stumbled upon installation #3, “Filament” (which had also slipped my mind), I just had no desire to deal with it
According to the literature, it was a group of live dancers, viewed through a peephole, in front of a bank of light fixtures that would create “kinetic patterns in conversation with the live performers”. Even though it was still open for another half hour - and it was inside! - I was just too focused on getting back to my car, so I took a few shots of the exterior signage and high-tailed it outta there. I mean, even the scooters were parked for the night - and if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is….
A welcome sight after a long, wet night - soon I would be warm and dry(ing) in my car on my way home….with a nice, cup of hot tea in my future!
If you’d like more detailed info on the installations of the Georgetown Glow, this page will fill in any gaps that I left:
There are more photos not shown in this post in the Gallery - don’t forget to check that out. Enjoy!
As always, thanks for reading my blog posts! Hope you didn’t get too wet on this soggy night! See you next Saturday!
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