Newseum, Washington, D.C.

Newseum is a museum dedicated to news and journalism located in Washington D.C. I first heard of it from my sister Lois when I asked her for ideas on what to do in the capital of the United States. On the morning of February 3rd, 2010, I walked down from where I was staying, Normandy Hotel, to Dupont Circle, took the Metrorail from there to Archives/Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Station. (It cost $3 for the round-trip.) Newseum was only about 5 minutes walk distance from there. Entrance fee to Newseum is $20, and it is good for two consecutive days. That is, you can get in the museum and come back again the next day to see the rest of the exhibition with the same ticket. I arrived at the museum at 9:30 AM. I had only about an hour and a half to enjoy the exhibitions before I had to return for the schedule at the conference I was attending. I had to be quick. The ushers suggested that I begin with the 8-minute, introductory video that gives the overview of what the museum was about. (Getty Center in LA also welcomed the first-time visitors with an introductory video. Perhaps it is a trend.) It helped me calm down myself so that I won’t rush myself in the excitement of trying to cover so much in so short time. The place was full of interesting exhibitions. There were blocks from the original Berlin Wall. “Today’s Front Page” section had the inkjet-printed images of the front page from selected major newspapers around the world. I especially liked Pulitzer Prize Photograph Gallery, along with the stories of the original journalists. Just to name a few. It was also interesting to note that almost every video and slide projection in the museum (there were lots of them) was in very crisp, high-definition image quality. I guess we will have such HD projections in our offices and conference rooms pretty soon. Thankfully taking photos were allowed in the museum. Here are some of the pictures I took at Newseum: All photos were taken with Nikon D80 + 50mm F1.8 lens. ©2010 Soonuk Jung]]>