Last week I got invited to go to Altaire’s rooftop. If you don’t know Altaire, it is a luxury apartment complex right off 395 in Crystal City.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia but I’ve always known it for the Pentagon and a few good restaurants. It has actually come up in conversation recently because Amazon has decided to build an office there. But other than that, I’ve never really spent that much time there.
So I was excited to get the invite. I was wondering what kind of views I could get from Crystal City since I’ve never actually photographed anything there. HOLY COW! My jaw dropped. The views are stunning. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sharing images from here for a while because I was literally like a kid in a candy store just snapping away. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live in one of these apartments and waking up with a view like this. I don’t think I would ever leave my house. Either that or set up a tripod on my balcony and just time lapse it all day. LOL.
This image was taken just after sunset. I was waiting for the sun to go down so that I could get these car trails along the highway. I think it’s so interesting to look at all the different layers of this image and try to figure out where everything is located. For example, I think those purple lights in front of the US Capitol building is the Wharf, right?
Thanks again to the good people at Altaire for having Larry and I there. I had a B-L-A-S-T!
My camera settings for this image is F4 at 0.8 seconds and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.
If you’re looking for the best spots to watch and photograph the sun setting in Washington DC, you’ve come to the right place.
The National Mall can get crowded, overwhelming and confusing. I’m here to help you navigate the park so you can get your best shots quickly and efficiently.
I’ve lived in the area my whole life and been photographing the National Mall for over 8 years. I’ve pretty much been to every one of these places at least 20 times. So here’s my complete list of the best to watch the sunset in Washington DC:
But First, Here’s What You Need to Get Ready for Your Sunset Shoot
Because of the number of people that visit the National Mall every day, sunset is a little more difficult to navigate than sunrise. There are far more people, we’re talking busloads of people, so be prepared. That means if this is your first time in Washington DC, I’d highly suggest public transportation either by metro, Lyft or even an electric scooter! All are very convenient ways to get you around the Nation’s Capital.
Also with the number of people, I’d even say try to get to your sunset location earlier than you think you should. Who knows what kind of hang-ups you could possibly run into. If it were a cold winter day, I say you could get by with going 30 minutes early. On a beautiful summer day, I’d go as far as saying an hour before sunset would not be a bad idea.
And my number one most asked question, are tripods allowed? For the most part, yes, but you may run into some complications. If you’re in a densely crowded area like World War II Memorial or Lincoln Memorial, you will probably be asked to take it down immediately by Park Police. They can be a walking hazard and just get in the way of people. But if you’re in a more spread out area like the Washington Monument grounds or even the Tidal Basin, there is a little more elbow room so you could get away with it.
The United States Capitol is unique because it’s technically not a part of the National Mall. The last time I spoke to Capitol police they said tripods are allowed. Since then, other photographer friends have told me that the Capitol police asked them to take down their tripods. So I’m still pretty if-y if they are actually allowed. I tend to just bring my tripod to the Capitol and if I’m asked to put it away, I do so politely.
Now on to The Top 5 Sunset Locations in Washington DC:
The Washington Monument is Always a Good Idea
The Washington Monument is so iconically Washington DC and the tallest structure in the city. So because of that, there is no best time to photograph it. It can be seen from so many different vantage points around the city that the possibilities are endless. However, if you catch it at the right time, it can glow orange. It’s absolutely amazing if you see it.
In order to capture the glow, I’d recommend getting to your sunset location early and face east towards the Monument. I would suggest standing either in front of the World War II memorial or along the grassy area in front of the west side of the monument and maybe 30-40 minutes ahead of sunset will work. I think the closer you are to the monument the better the imagery. But the key is to be patient. The way that the sun reflects off of clouds and on to the monument to glow doesn’t happen every day but if you see it, it will make your travel images very unique.
So to help with my beach withdrawals, I’ve decided to go through some of my San Diego images from earlier this year. I love our annual tradition of going every year to celebrate the new year. I don’t think I could think of a better place for us to hang out for a couple of weeks. Plus Frankie loves running on the beach in the mornings.
This image was taken at sunset in Point Loma. It’s a great place to go to capture the San Diego skyline but what I liked most about this image is that single sailboat just floating by. I tried my best to capture it so it wasn’t hidden behind any palm trees or anything. I wanted it to be seen with so many other sailboats just parked in the harbor. Plus the sunset was just right to add a little bit of pink in the water.
Major shoutouts to Frankie Foto. I’ve never met Frankie in real life but anytime I have any questions about what and where to capture images in San Diego, Frankie’s blog has been an amazing resource. If you ever plan on visiting Southern California, I would definitely recommend reading his blog first.
I’ve also created a blog post about my favorite photo spots in San Diego in case you were interested in checking that out too 🙂 I plan on updating this post every time I visit as I get to know the area better and better.
My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/400th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.
Guess what? Another drone shot. I’m obsessed with my drone. It is exciting to fly and to capture such different perspectives. Its almost like a whole other world that I’ve never seen before. I just wish there were more places around the Washington DC area where I could fly or else I would do it a lot more often.
This image was captured around 6 am at Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos. It seemed like Andrew and I were the only ones who were up at that time which was awesome because we had the whole beach to ourselves. Can you spot us in this image?
My favorite part about this image is obviously the color of the water but I also think the little details are so interesting too. Like the lines in the sand created by the beach chairs. I also love how the beach chairs look so little in this image. If you saw us at all on our trip, we spent most of the time in that exact location just sunbathing. It was amazing.
I don’t know if you can tell but I’ve definitely been having some beach withdrawals.
I thought this image was interesting because it could be two different things. Either the light reflections on the ocean water or a whole bunch of fish swimming by. Obviously, it’s fish but I’m hoping it made you look a little deeper into the image to figure that out.
I was standing on top of this pier when I captured this image. I took that pier image in 2015 and to this day, it still looks the same. Either torn apart or never finished but easy to walk along the planks. Andrew and I noticed other people standing on the pier and saying something about a Baraccuda. Obviously, we jumped up from our beach chairs and I grabbed my camera to go check it out. We didn’t see a barracuda but saw all these fish swimming around the pier in what seemed like circles.
I loved how the sun was hitting them just right and made the water look so transparent. It was difficult to see exactly what I was capturing through my camera lens because the sun was so bright but I think it turned out cooler than expected.
Even though we didn’t see the barracuda, I did see a dolphin, a stingray, and possibly 2 nurse sharks just from the beach. So very cool if you ask me!
My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/4000th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.
The past week has been a little unusual for me. I haven’t been on social media as much or anything because I have been busy walking around taking pictures of row houses in Washington DC for a project. Shout out to my friends Laurie and Andy for pointing me in the right direction.
Row houses are something I don’t usually photograph so I thought it was an interesting challenge to try to come up with different compositions. I really enjoyed going to the different neighborhoods in the district and seeing the variety. I’m pretty sure I came out with at least 25 different locations when all said and done. The only difficult part was the humidity. OMG, it gets sweaty in the district in June.
If you’re interested, my favorite neighborhood was either Logan Circle or Capitol Hill. I think if I actually lived in the city, I could live in one of those neighborhoods or on the waterfront.
Of course, this image was not in either one of those neighborhoods though. LOL This was over by U street. It was one of my favorites I captured because of the pointy rooftops and repetition in architecture. I love how the telephoto lens compresses it all so they look stacked one on top of each other. What do you think? Do you think it would be cool to live in one of these row houses?
My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/1250th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.
