Macro photograph of a flower in stained glass at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC

Macro photograph of a flower in stained glass at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC

Macro photograph of a flower in stained glass at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC

The stained glass window that contained these flowers is in a staircase off to the side of the balcony at the National Cathedral, and it’s fair to say that I would have missed this window had I not gotten lost trying to find my way back downstairs. Luckily, there was just enough room on the sill for me to set-up my tripod and get myself wedged into the window sill to take these photos.

Eggplants and bell peppers for sale at Eastern Market in Washington, DC

Pumpkins on display at Eastern Market in Washington, DC

Organic tomatoes on display at Eastern Market in Washington, DC

Eastern Market in Washington, DC suffered severe damage from a large fire in 2007, and only recently reopened a couple of weeks ago. Walking through the outside market, you’ll typically see a variety of organic and locally-grown fruits and vegetables for sale; these photographs are just a sampling of what you’d find on display. The photograph of the pumpkins was recently chosen to appear in the 8th edition of the digital travel guide, Schmap.

The Crystal Pool building on a cool fall day at Glen Echo Park, Maryland

The sun sets over the horizon as a children's; art building sits empty in Glen Echo Park, Maryland.

Although it doesn’t serve any practical purpose at Glen Echo Park since it can more accurately be described as a wall, the Crystal Pool building is a prominent feature in the park that is often a willing subject for artists painting en plein air; and if I had to guess, it’s probably frequently photographed as well.

My take on the Crystal Pool building was to photograph it using an extreme wide angle lens so that I could capture its height and as much of cloudy sky. On the left-side of the frame, you can see the back of a children’s art building sitting at the top of a small hill.

A door lock is surrounded by layers of peeling paint.

A padlock keeps shut a door with peeling yellow paint.

A door lock hole offers a window to the other side of dilapidated door.

There’s a yellow and blue door on the front of the Crystal Pool building in Glen Echo Park, Maryland to keep people from getting to the other side of the wall. Like the building itself, the two doors are dilapidated with paint cracking and peeling from top to bottom. What’s left of the paint doesn’t do much to protect the doors from the elements, but their texture gave them a dimension and depth to match the history of the park.

Ivy grows on a crumbling white wall of a building in Glen Echo Park, Maryland.

Ivy grows against a wall with peeling red paint in Glen Echo Park, Maryland.

Close-up of ivy against a white wall

Ivy grows on a red wall of a building in Glen Echo Park, Maryland.

I don’t know the name of this ivy, but it seems to be growing everywhere across the Washington, DC area. This was especially true for the Crystal Pool building in Glen Echo Park, Maryland where the ivy covered much of the right side of the building. It’s probably not accurate to even call the Crystal Pool building a building since there’s nothing but green grass behind its facade, but it’s interesting how the organic manages to thrive as the man-made object slowly deteriorates against time and the elements.