Blog / Random thoughts and musings.

Washington Photo Safari

A week and a half ago I went on a “Washington Photo Safari” — a very early (and very original!) birthday gift from Kathie. The safaris are short (3-hour) practical photography classes in and around Washington DC, usually focusing on a particular aspect of photography. My class was “Monuments at night”. Scott came along as well, and the evening started off great with 1) an impossibly good parking spot 50 feet from Constitution Ave, and 2) nearly perfect weather, considering the time of year.

There were six to eight people in our class, and we started by hearing all about tripod use and shutter speeds. We started at the World War II memorial, where the lighted fountains were a great night subject. We also had the Washington Monument to the East and the Lincoln Memorial to the West to photograph. Next was the Korean War Memorial, 19 haunting statues of soldiers dramatically lit from below, and then we went inside the Lincoln Memorial. The last two stops were the Vietnam Memorial, and the Albert Einstein Memorial.

I had a few technical difficulties through the night (dirt on lens, crooked tripod, problems focusing clearly at night), but still took some pretty nice photos I think. The best of the night are in my gallery here, and a sample is below: