I recently went on a trip to our nations capital and had a great time exploring our history. Not much wildlife to be had other then pigeons and house sparrows, but as photographers we make the most of it and expand our skills. For us it should all be about architecture and angles when we get here. Trying to learn how to direct the viewers eye to the subject. You can see here that I used the bicycle lane to show you the way to the Capitol Building.
Walking the mall is a long, but fun experience. It was blocked off for the fireworks show so we had to take the long way around, plus photographically they plopped these nasty fences across it. If you look close you can see this line going across. The trick here was to zoom out and go wide minimizing the subjects in the distance. I had to balance the monument and the people, but thankfully the George Washington Monument was large enough to hold its own. Plus its not the true subject here. The people looking out are.
The view from before was taken standing in the Lincoln Memorial. One of my favorite places to visit. There are lots of people if you haven’t noticed or haven’t been. There isn’t really a great way to avoid them. The key is to work with them. We want to see that many people come to learn about our and their own Nations history. So we tell that story. Not the story of a lonesome building. This woman was nice enough by chance to point up at the building and give me a great way to lead in.
This is just part of the World War II memorial. It’s very popular both because of the tremendous war and it’s a monument that is 10 degrees cooler due to all the water features. It is situated just shortly from the base of the George Washington Monument on your way toward Honest Abe.
People, people, people. As wildlife photographers we fight the instinct to have people present in our images. Relax breathe and it will all be ok. Believe me I am not being sarcastic. It took me a while to become ok with our species inclusion in any part of our natural world. If this trio wasn’t there I would just have the concrete walkway to go on and I just don’t find that as interesting.
One of the best parts for me going to DC is the museums. My favorite of them all is The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It is a huge catalog of our history as a collective globe. I’ve always wanted a shot of people looking at an aquarium and the people as a majority silhouette. I underexposed the shot so the aquarium was properly exposed and the poorly lit people fell dark. It’s not a huge wall of an aquarium, but I’m getting warmer.
The Hope Diamond. 45.52 Carats of pure diamond. I was disappointed it wasn’t in its setting, but we make the best of it. It holds a value of approximately 300-350 million United States Dollars.
The last monument we visited on the way out of DC was the Jefferson Memorial. A man of true inspiration and contribution to our Nation and the world. That is him standing in between the columns and the Washington Monument poking its head out from the monuments left shoulder. I could have moved 30ft or so and revealed the Washington Monument, but construction equipment would have ruined it. Plus I much rather preferred Jefferson showing through the columns.
Thomas Jefferson.
Some of you may be curious as to how I navigated Washington DC. Well I decided to use technology to help me out. I would highly recommend getting a Google account strictly for this purpose. You don’t have to use the Gmail Account for e-mail that is your decision. The reason you should get one is to use its Google Maps feature. I created a Google Map and marked all the locations of where I wanted to go. I used my Motorola Droid (any smart phone with access should do) as a tour guide as I wondered The Mall.
This is a copy of the map I created. Click on it to go to a full size image and click HERE for the actual interactive map. This is a true gem of a feature I will be forever using this when I wander to locations. I don’t have to even bother inputting into a GPS. I can see what I want in real time. Plus on my phone it will have a cursor telling me my location in relation to it all. The possibilities are endless. I decided I wanted to make the map public and share it with you all. If you decide to investigate; yes we decided to splurge a little since we were there for a short while and stay at a hotel of a little more expense, but look at the proximity!
P.s. Do keep in mind it requires a data connection to access the map and it may cost you money if you do not have a plan to use these services on the go. (for example I am using Verizon’s Unlimited Data plan at the moment)
Also when planning for our trip a great tool is to find out where to eat. Many don’t factor this into their trips, but you are looking at a decent bill on top of your regular travel expenses. A website that doubles as a great food research tool is 
