You have to see this shot of the Washington Monument...

This stunning image was taken by Mike Palmer. You may recognize him (or at least his name) as one of the March photo contest winners, if not, let me formally introduce you now - Mike this is the world, world this is Mike.

After Mike won the March contest I paid a visit to his website (just 'cause I'm nosey) and came across this image and was blown away, so I asked him if he would share it here for others to see.

1. Where the image was taken (from what vantage point)?

"The shot was taken at the edge of the tidal basin near the Lincoln Memorial"

2. How did the image come about?

"At the time I took the shot I was living in FL, I had lived in the DC area from 1987-2002 and never took shots of the memorials at night. I had always wanted to, but as per life, never made the time. So in October 2006 I was in DC for a family visit and made the time to go down one night and get some shots. At that time I did not know I would be back living even closer to the city, its only a 20 min drive to downtown DC for me now."

3. What equipment did you use (camera, lens, lighting, etc)?

"A Nikon D200, 18-70mm @ 35mm, F8, shutter speed of 7 seconds, mounted on a tripod"

4. Post production work (what was done and software used)?

"I used Lightroom and Photoshop - I am sure I was still doing my BW conversions in 2006 with the channel mixer adjustment layer, and sharpened"

5. How did you get into photography, how long have you been a photographer?

"I was always interested in photography, I took some class's at a local college when I was in the Army back in the late 80's, did some freelance stuff, and was the DC area manager for a popular 90's photography destination at the mall, yep ole glamour shots, got a little burnt on the business by the late 90's. Our family has been traveling for the past 5 years with my wife's work, I now have the opportunity to indulge my passion for photography! I have had a few jobs in the past year, and this summer with both kids in camp and my youngest starting preschool in the fall, I hope to get a few more paying gigs."

6. If there is just one thing you wanted people to know about you, what would it be?

"I take this Dad thing pretty seriously. = )"

Thanks for sharing Mike, both your image, and a bit of yourself. Though I'm not sure if I would have admitted to the Glamour Shots thing.

;)

If you guys want to see more if Mike's work be sure to stop by his site.

(click in image to view larger)