Gardens of Northwest DC

In the late summer of 2012, Leica released a digital version of its flagship M camera that only recorded images in black and white. The Leica Monochrom, I can honestly say, changed my photographic life. The very first picture I took with it is the first picture in this gallery; it was captured in my garden on a warm September afternoon. I fell in love with black and white photography all over again, though this time without the smell of darkroom chemicals that was such a feature of my ‘tween years.

My family is blessed to live in a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. whose borders can be understood to run from the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral to Dumbarton Oaks, a 27-acre urban sanctuary filled with eccentric features at the top of Georgetown, a mile and a half away. The pictures in this gallery were amassed from there and a few other spots in Georgetown and environs, over the past decade, and making them remains among the most joyous moments I’ve had as a photographer.