This is not Oklahoma by katyray

All day long, tourists wear down the stone of our monuments a few microns at a time with each step, each touch, huffing and puffing as they climb the stairs.  As a parent or school teacher you have to keep an eye on your flock to make sure they don’t take candy from strangers or fall into the bushes.  As a kid you wonder how you can get your hands on some candy or just how long you can hide in the bushes before you are found.  After a while spent mulling around, possibly reading the first sentence or two of the engraved president’s speech, postcards are purchased and this site gets checked off the list by capturing a bad camera phone trophy.  Come on kids, let’s head to the Hard Rock Cafe for a burger or a nice pig sandwich.

The night guard flips the sign from “open” to “closed”, radios to his buddies that quadrant four is secure, and soon Operation Foxtrot Charlie Delta (five card draw) commences in the bowels of the monument.  Honest Abe breathes a sigh of relief that he’s made it through another day.  He notices that he’s starting to get dirty, no thanks to the pigeons perched on his shoulders and the smog that saturates the air.  What was once a deafening scene of chaos is now peaceful, serene, and calm.  It’s his favorite time of the day.

Suddenly, far away in the darkness of night, Katy Ray’s camera makes a clicking noise that pierces the air, capturing this beautifully simple, grainy image on her Kodak T-MAX 3200 film.  The guards pause in silence, staring at each other, listening for more clicks.  Honest Abe lifts an eyebrow and scans the grounds for any signs of horseplay.  But after a few minutes, the card game resumes and the photographer slinks away into the pitch black as the scene comes to an end, only to be repeated again tomorrow.  And the day after that.

Max Cook

Hailing from the Mile High City, Max has also lived in Tinsel Town, the Emerald City, as well as the City of Brotherly Love. Now a District resident, he likes to write about cool photos by local photographers, the DC restaurant and bar scene, or anything else that pops into his mind.