If you’ve been following me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter over the past week or so, you’d likely know that I had recently been in the Washington, D.C. area to attend a major conference related to my day job as an Acquisitions Editor. And although it had been over 25 years since I was last in D.C., this time, unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of the city because I was so busy. In fact, most of my time was spent at Union Station, the new Walter E. Washington Convention Center and our Air BNB just off the Shaw/Howard University Yellow and Green line stops of the Washington Metro; however, I have a cousin who moved to Silver Spring, MD a couple of years ago that I hadn’t seen in over 15 years — and by far, the biggest highlight of the trip was seeing her.
Caption: Statues at Union Station, Washington, D.C. Sadly, this was one of the few things in .D.C. that I actually took a picture of; of course, to be fair during my conference, I was carrying two laptops — theirs and mine — so carrying additional electronics just wasn’t going to happen. Also, the two laptops were enough as it was.Caption: Chinese Zodiac Crosswalk in D.C.’s Chinatown.
Caption: Cousins!
So after a wonderful burger and a couple of beers at The City Tap House, near the Convention Center, I walked over to the Red Line in Chinatown — not far from the Verizon Center, actually — and took the train up to Silver Spring. And from Silver Spring, we drove a half hour or so east to Baltimore for the Light City Baltimore Festival. Launched last year by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, Light City Baltimore is the first large-scale, international light festival that feature large, light-installations, sculptures and projections, interactive technologies, performances, concerts, food vendors and a children’s area — all located in and around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. (As I joked to my cousin, there’s something glorious about walking around and drinking beer — and having art around you.)
Check out some photos below.
Caption: Me standing by a 1950s Baltimore Police Department Car. Photo Credit: My cousin Lisa, who was using an SLR camera for what I presume was the first or second time in her life. Not bad, if I must say so? And yes, I was still a bit dressed up from my conference.Photo Caption: Part of the festival included some live performances by local bands, including Bloomer, who played for about an hour or so right by the Harbor.
Caption: One of the first things we actually caught was this incredible drum-led parade featuring stilt walkers and lights. I managed to capture part of it just in time.
Caption: House of Cards. Some of the cards featured some incredibly detailed artwork while others featured depictions of local, up-and-coming artists.
Caption: Many of the installations were interactive, including this one, which glowed in a variety of colors. And as you can imagine, it cast everyone who played with it in an eerie and almost alien glow. But perhaps more important, it was quite of fun — and as you can see, adults and kids played and laughed together as they went about from pod to pod
Caption: These dancers both delighted and frightened the crowd around them.
Caption: This egg-like structure was actually even more immense once you stepped inside of it. Timed for every few minutes, the egg would release a fine mist of water, as you’d hear sea sounds, evoking being out on the open sea on a boat./Caption: This particular installation included a performance art portion that no one could really understand or really figure out what was going on. At one point there was some version of an ancient ritual being played out as it was played back on a TV screen with a ton of distortion and haze. As my cousin said “Well, that was different. Indeed it was. Indeed it was.
