This is an amazing park with a museum, theater, dance hall, and great art galleries. Used to be an…read moreamusement park but now a great historical site. They also have the Clara Barton House that my wife and I toured. You can drive here or take Ride On Route 29 from Bethesda or Friendship Heights.

Tried the waltzing class at the Glen Echo Park complex and loved it. Tony Treston (affiliated with…read moreWaltz Time) was my instructor; he demonstrates the basics of waltzing in an easygoing manner. My first lesson was no pressure and I felt like I made a lot of progress. BTW, this is not Viennesse waltzing, which is a formalized style of waltzing. The kind of waltzing taught here is more of a "garden variety", and done by cultures all over the world. It's a 3-step candance (slow, quick quick), and anyone can do it, seriously. It might be the best $13 that I ever spent. That's the cost of admission, which includes a 45 minute lesson, followed by nearly 3 hours of dance time with a live band. The Spanish Ballroom, where the social dances are held, is a premier venue. The building itself is Art Deco architecture and considered to be one of the best ballrooms of its kind on the East Coast. The interior is decorated tastefully and lighted well. The expansive floor is made of a lovely maple wood. The live music is such a treat as the acoustics here are top notch. The social dances are a lot of fun, and waltzing isn't the only style offered--there's contra dancing; tango dancing; swing dancing; blues dancing, etc. The social dance calendar is quite extensive. Check out Glen Echo Park and Waltz Time websites to see all the possibilities. Am already planning when I'll attend again.

More experienced photographers may disagree, but as a beginner, I found WSP's "Focus on…read moreComposition" course super helpful. The class tried to instill a habit of thinking through a checklist before taking a picture (or evaluating it afterwards). The checklist included, among other things: * What's the subject? * Do the direction and quality of light work for your subject? * Does the background distract from the subject? * Check the frame's edges: Is the cropping awkward? * Is there comfortable spacing between the elements of your photograph? Our class was small, so in addition to the lectures and the pithy, informative handouts, we could spend more time going over our homework, getting concrete suggestions for how to improve. For example, the instructor (Joe Yablonsky) would sometimes suggest moving the camera up, down, right, left, closer, or further, to get a cleaner background, a more flattering portrait angle, or more interesting "directionality" in the photo's lines. Other times, the instructor would notice patterns-- that my ISOs tended to be too high, or that there's dust on someone's sensor, or that the focusing was sometimes off. He'd then ask how we took the shot, and suggest new settings or focusing methods (or suggest cleaning the sensor!). Sometimes he'd ask the class to weigh in on the critique, so we could also benefit from our talented (and opinionated!) classmates. One session was a fun field trip to the National Mall. At the National Gallery of Art sculpture garden,we chased photogenic squirrels and captured tourists' hilarious reactions to Joan Miro's Personnage Gothique, Oiseau-Eclair. (Google it if you don't know it). I watched as one classmate got several amazing portraits of strangers, just by walking up and asking. The instructor also gave me a demonstration of how to get my camera to focus with a neutral density filter. (I had been having trouble with that). The course just ended last week, and I still need a lot of practice. But it's made my photos noticeably better. (One of my homework assignments even got published last week, as the page 2 photo in the Washington Post Express!) The downsides: Classes can be expensive! (Luckily I had a gift certificate). Sometimes you can find coupons or Living Social deals, e.g. here's one that's on right now (as of late March 2014): http://conta.cc/1jNpdud Washington School of Photography can be a pain to get to without a car. It's somewhat walkable from Twinbrook Metro, but the commute from DC (especially with weekend red line schedules) took me more than an hour.

Love these guys...they've taught me so much about the technical and functional aspects of…read morephotography, from how my DSLR works to how to better frame and compose my shots. I'll be taking my third class, on composition and design, next month. The 2 teachers I've had, Joe Yablonsky & Cortney Jackson, are instructors that I would recommend to anyone who wants to pursue photography as a hobby or as a profession.

I signed up for Washington Photo Safari to learn basic photography for my social media job at…read moreHonest Tea. I wanted to have fun doing it so i signed up and I made a great decision. David, the tour guide, started this business as our Nation's first ever photo safari and has been running it ever since. He knows photography and knows how to teach it and practices what he teaches. On top of that, he's lived in DC for 45 years and knows the city and will share all of its secrets with you. If you do the half day, you'll start by the White House and visit the Einstein Statue, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial Korean Memorial and will send at Union Station. Highly recommend!

I signed up for a course at the Marine Corps Silent Drills. David was friendly, but there was no…read morestructure to the course at all. He basically explained what the Silent Drill Platoon would do, and then left us to our devices. He spent most of the time chatting with one of the students who it seemed like he knew. I didn't learn anything. I'm not exactly sure what I got for the course fee, I could have just showed up myself and would have had the same experience.

Do not pay in advance. I'm still waiting for a refund for services not completed. Deadline for the…read moreproject was December 2024. Apparently he spent the money and now can't issue me a full refund. He has chosen to ghost me and does not want to set up a financial payback agreement. He says, he will pay back when he can. . I don't know why business that can get away with that. I hate resorting to Yelp to get his attention.

Working with Havar was such an easygoing experience. He is a professional, fun, and confident…read morephotographer who has a wonderful personality. We had an outdoor portrait session this fall in Washington D.C. I met with both Sharon Macorol (Bobbi Brown makeup artist) who did my makeup for that day, and Havar and was filled with both excitement and nerves. The duo were able to ease my nerves and were very welcoming and friendly. Sharon did a great job with my makeup and choose very flattering colors. I even ended up purchasing the lipstick she chose on me. Havar was able to direct me on how to pose, but also gave me the freedom to pose however I wanted to as well. He made the shoot very fun and comfortable even despite my initial awkwardness and lack of modeling ability. He was also very patient and did not rush the shoot, which I very much appreciated. This really showed me that he aims for, and values client satisfaction. What I was amazed by most was how quick Havar was in sending me the thumbnails of the shots. I believe he was able to send me all two hundred something of the thumbnails by the end of that night so that I could choose my top 10. After I chose my top 10, he had them edited and sent to my email the next day. I would definitely recommend Princeps Studio Photography to all of my friends for any type of photography that needs to be done. I couldn't have been more happy and impressed with how the photos turned out!

Chieu came through for us, even though we forgot our baby's cute outfit changes! She really…read moreimprovised on the whim and we loved the final photos. It was easy to schedule a session. She was very communicative in her emails. I absolutely loved the final photos and will definitely reach out to her in the future. it was a great experience overall!

Chieu did an amazing job for our newborn's photography. Chieu was very flexible and had made the…read moreprocess really simple and prepared the photoshoot prior to us coming at her studio. Our newborn was born during the winter holidays and we had discussed a tentative time based on our original due date. But our newborn decided to come earlier than expected and she was flexible to rework her schedule to help us by putting us in the day after new years. Thank you Chieu for the amazing photos my wife and I loved the photos.

8/16/20 & 8/22/19…read more Once again Yelp fails to understand what a review is and delete another one of my reviews...fuck you very much:) and now on to my review. Back in February or March I saw and met with a representative at the Dulles Expo Center. This business is one of the attractions that caught my eye. Getting some photos taken with my wife could be a lot of fun. Doing nudes or something risky or out of our comfort zone would be fun. Talking to one of the representative gave good feeling and something I would like to try with my wife. I wish I could remember the name of the representative, but her name escapes me. I do remember some of the promotional photos I saw on this website and knew I had found the right business. Talking with this representative gave me the information and feeling that this business is worth doing. Doing business with them looks good because of the way the representative handled my questions.

I had a boudoir session with David and had an amazing experience. He was extremely professional and…read morehighly respected my privacy. My photos turn out beautiful. I swear he made my body and skin look 10 x times prettier than real life. David was extremely fast at responding to all my emails. Pictures and edits came back faster than expected. I highly recommend. 5 stars in every category!

Justin is such an awesome photographer to work with! He made me feel so comfortable I could make…read morefaces, be goofy and relaxed! It wasn't awkward one bit! He is very reliable, delivered all the images quicker than promised (quick turnaround)!! (Also the photos are super high quality!) I first met Justin last year (2016) and loved how the pictures turned out! I have some amazing portraits (advertising styled) and action shots for my website. I really LOVE the pictures he stitched of me bouncing the golf ball! It shows my fun side, yet very professional and I look good! SUPER satisfied on how I look! Justin captured a lot of good moments where one can see how I love doing what I want! Also took some amazing intense action shots where one can see a lot of details! So I am back this year to get more pictures taken by Justin. I want to make a portfolio and update my website! I highly recommend Novak Photos for any types of photo shoot whether it's athletic portraits, professional headshots, family portraits, business websites, I mean pretty much anything for professional photography!!!!

Justin does an amazing job and is extremely talented! I have worked with him for professional head…read moreshots and an on-site shoot at the beach. He has a great eye and is very detail oriented especially when it comes to lighting which is hugely important. I definitely recommend him! You won't be disappointed in his work.

My daughter (6 y.o) has been going here for a year now and we are very happy with Artmellow. She's…read moregained confidence in her painting ability she has fun, it's a very calming environment. The teachers are wonderful and helpful. We have many beautiful pieces of artwork at home now very thankful to have found this space!

We hosted a party here for my 7yo, the artists were so helpful and everyone's paintings turned out…read morebeautifully. It's a really nice space with big windows. Highly recommend!

Irene is phenomenal. I had never hired a professional photographer before, so I was not sure what…read moreto expect. Thankfully, she was exceptionally approachable, flexible and accommodating. We were able to schedule a professional headshot session within the week despite her busy schedule. The photos look superb, and I will be using her for any future professional or personal photography needs. Strongly recommend you do the same.

Irene is the best Photographer I have ever encountered. She brought my vision of myself to life…read moreflawlessly. Irene is talented, reassuring and creative with a keen eye for detail; selecting the best lighting, poses and outfits to complement me. The mini marathon even included an excellent Hair and Makeup Artist who transformed me. I am overwhelmed with Joy about all the compliments I received on my pictures. I would give Irene 10 stars if possible and highly recommend her. She has truly mastered the Art of Photography.