Monticello (image intensive)

[Sam W]

About an hour's drive from my home is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Little Mountain). We took the house tour where photography is not allowed. We also took the longer garden tour. Living near Washington DC I've seen a lot of interesting places focused on American history but I'd say this one takes the prize. I left feeling that it would be hard for anyone to leave without being inspired to accomplish more in life.

I hoped it would be a good opportunity to practice. These are some of my better shots. Your comments are appreciated.

East side front entrance 2 photos:




West Lawn (the back yard for us simple folks) 4 photos:

[NorthernFocus]

Nice series, Sam. The long shutter effect on the sky makes me dizzy in the B/W version. Well executed set of images.

[Wavelength]

A Beautiful set of quality images

[Shadowman]

Nice series, the mono skies look good.

[Geoff F]

Looks like you had some tricky light there, Sam; but these have worked well.

The girls are a bit tight to the frame edge so I would prefer to have them walking the other way; but it is still a good shot as it is now.

Nice focus with good clarity that looks very natural.

[Sam W]

Thanks Dan, Nandakumar, John and Geoff for your kind comments and critiques.

[Sergio M.]

A consistent set of exposures of an interesting subject.

Looks like you got some good practice, Sam, and were inspired at the same time.

Sergio

[bnnrcn]

A very nice set Sam. My favs are the first two and the last one

[Mike Buckley]

Very attractive series!

When you took the tours, was there any mention of wine? I ask for a few of reasons:

Jefferson was the first American wine connoisseur. Though it is often floated around that Monticello was also the first winery in America, no wine was ever made from the grapes grown there and the few grapevines that were grown were never grown in commercial quantities.

Jefferson, along with several of America's famous founding fathers, did invest in a vineyard on a parcel of property located adjacent to Monticello. Though there are several theories about how the vineyard came to be demolished before any wine was produced in commercial quantities, nobody knows for sure how that came to be. The man in charge was an Italian named Mazzei. (Benjamin Franklin introduced him to John Adams who then introduced him to Jefferson.) The Mazzei family began making wine in Italy in the 15th century and they still produce wine today sold in America and elsewhere.

[Sam W]

Mike, there was a fair amount mentioned of Jefferson's efforts to produce a viable vineyard. My only takeaway was that his efforts were not successful.