Wildlife Photography: Great Blue Heron in Accotink Wildlife Refuge, VA

A Great Blue Heron perches in a duck blind at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge in Virginia, patiently awaiting a tasty little fish to swim by.  The bird kept watch in that exact position whole time I was working.  Photographing nature is a fun compliment to my professional life of architectural videography and photography in the Washington DC area. Photo: ©Todd A. Smith

Great Blue Heron perched in a duck blind ready to strike in Accotink Wildlife Refuge, VA. Photo: ©Todd A. Smith

Todd A. Smith is a VA, DC, DE, MD, PA, NJ, NY architectural photographer based in Alexandria, VA. Please visit www.tasphoto.com to see examples of his award-winning architectural photography and contact information.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toddasmithphoto/

Presidential Dining Room in Washington, DC

This view toward the dining room fireplace in the Woodrow Wilson House Museum @wwilsonhouse,  Washington, DC reveals a portrait of Woodrow Wilson's wife Edith, painted in 1920 by Seymour Stone.  If you look carefully at Edith's portrait, you'll notice her chair has no left arm.  The story goes that after the portrait was completed Edith requested a revision that her waistline be made to look more "trim". Stone grudgingly obliged but in doing so he only painted one arm of the chair in subtle protest!  I chose this composition with the stair case's rail and newel post in the foreground to frame the image and add a first-person experience.

President Woodrow Wilson House Museum in Washington, DC.  Vignette of the second floor hallway looking into th dining room.  Photo: ©Todd A. Smith

Since we could not actually light the fireplace of this historic property I used special lighting to create the illusion of fire to add interest to this otherwise empty area. From there I spotlit both the child's portrait and Edith's portrait to draw the viewer's eye to them and then added other accent lights around the room to bring out form and detail.  Had I just used ambient light I could not have achieved these enhancements.  Photo: ©Todd A. Smith

Todd A. Smith is a VA, DC, DE, MD, PA, NJ, NY architectural photographer based in Alexandria, VA. Please visit www.tasphoto.com to see examples of his award-winning architectural photography and contact information.  Instagram: @toddasmithphoto

2017 Ellicott City Show House Drawing room

Detail image of Washington, DC interior designer Rhonald Angelo @rhonald_angelo_interiors drawing room in the 2017 Ellicott City, MD Designers Show House at White Hall.  White Hall is a stunning 19th century Federal style mansion near Baltimore, MD.

Detail of White Hall drawing room fireplace by Rhonald Angelo Interiors.  Photo: ©Todd A. Smith

Rhonald's flair for seamlessly combining diverse design genres and historical periods is shown here with an African JuJu hat over the fireplace, Lenox vases and a Chinese calligraphy brush on the mantel and antique Chinese garden stools flanking the fireplace.  A Bakshaish Persian area rug ties his design together.  Rhonald completely restored the fireplace.  He commissioned fine artist Lisa Malveaux @lisabrownmalveaux to hand paint the fireplace insets with a combination of White Hall scenes and faux marble.  For safety reasons we could not make an actual fire in the fireplace of this historic property.  To make the fireplace area as inviting as possible I placed special lighting in its interior.  Next I lit the entire room with three more lights in a way to reveal details and contours in the design elements featured in the architectural photography I produced. Photo: ©Todd A. Smith.  Instagram: @toddasmithphoto .

Todd A. Smith is a VA, DC, DE, MD, PA, NJ, NY architectural photographer based in Alexandria, VA. Please visit www.tasphoto.com to see examples of his award-winning architectural photography and contact information.