Washington Monument and Reflection Pool
The Washington Monument is just one of several places to visit in the National Mall located in downtown Washington, D.C. – but don’t expect any department stores! This mall is comprised of various memorials and museums spread across several city blocks. The National Mall is located within walking distance of several hotels, but there’s also a mass transit system known as the Washington Metro, various bus tours, and other common modes of transportation such as taxi or Uber.
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C. I wanted to make sure I got the opportunity to capture some shots around the National Mall during the twilight hour and headed out one evening during the middle of the week – big mistake if you want to avoid crowds of people in your shots. This ended up being a good scouting trip, an that was about it. There were still tons of people out and about as the sun went down. Plan B quickly came into play, and I decided to get up around 3am the following morning and walk from my hotel back down to the National Mall area (about a 45 minute walk). Only one other photographer was out and about, I saw him inside the Lincoln Memorial, he was there quite a while. As the morning slowly rolled on (around 5-6am) a handful of joggers were around, but still quite a few less people than the evening before. It was still quite dark out when I got there, but it gave me time to get an idea of where clouds would be as the morning went on. I was able to capture this image of the Washington Monument without any crowds of people filling the shot.
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