The Foreign Service Journal, December 2021

LOCAL LENS Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local Lens. Images must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi at 8” x 10”, or 1 MB or larger) and must not be in print elsewhere. Include a short description of the scene/event, as well as your name, brief biodata and the type of camera used. Send to locallens@afsa.org . BY JASON SMITH n BRASILIA, BRAZIL Jason Smith, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service and an AFSA member, is currently serving in Beirut. One of the greatest privileges of serving in the Foreign Service, he says, has been the opportunity to bear personal witness to significant moments in world history, to see the diverse realities of the human condition around the globe and to carefully document his experiences along the way—often through photography. T his image of Brazil’s National Congress, designed by the famous Brazilian modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012), was taken just after dusk in June 2020, as wintertime’s late afternoon rainfall was beginning. Hence the striking color tones. As a federal capital with standard opening and closing hours for official buildings, the city empties out relatively quickly after close of business. But when this photo was taken, Brasilia was in the initial stages of its COVID-19 response, and most federal government office buildings were closed. Hence the look of desolation. Oscar Niemeyer, who lived to the age of 104, was arguably the most consequential architect in Brazilian history, earning the country’s capital, Brasilia, designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The twin towers shown here house offices of Bra- zil’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies, each occupying a separate 110 DECEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tower. The white dome at the center is the Senate chamber, where legislation is deliberated. The photo was taken with an early-version Hasselblad 503CW medium format camera, using Kodak Portra 400 film (6x6cm) and an 80mm f/2.8 Zeiss Planar T lens. n