I know I just talked about this on my last blog post, but I’m still not over it. The difference between now and then was that I was able to actually go see the Martin Luther King Jr memorial print in person! Shout out to Shane who runs the social media for BWI and who arranged and escorted me to the different terminals and even outside to see the hanging. It was so cool to see it from all different perspectives. While walking through the terminals all I could think about was how all the people around me were able to see my work. It was the coolest thing ever.
The image above was from outside. Honestly, I thought I was going to have to wear the ear muffs and bright vest that you see everyone else wearing and was a little disappointed that I didn’t have to. LOL. Oh well, this probably came out a lot better that I didn’t have it. But you can see the size difference between me and the print. I mean that thing is big!
The print is hanging outside of Terminal C which is American Airlines but if you go to Terminal B, Southwest, you get a very nice view of the print. This was taken in a little food court area. I’m not sure if this guy is actually looking at the art but I wanted to capture some images of people looking like they were 🙂
And this last image was taken in the observatory. It’s a direct view of the image and I could not be any prouder.
Also seeing a little behind the scenes of the airport was fun too. I love airports. It’s always so exciting going to one because you know an adventure is right around the corner.
Thanks again BWI airport for selecting my image and for Shane who showed me around the airport. Now I’ll be even more tempted to fly out of BWI for my future travels 🙂
Happy Friday! I have more good news 🙂 Remember this image from 2012? Probably not, but it was one of the first images I ever created of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington DC. I remember when the memorial opened in August of 2011 at the Tidal Basin. Everyone was talking about it and it was just so exciting to go see. If I remember correctly, this image was taken at sunset. It’s hard to believe since there’s no one around. I just think that it was such a new memorial, not many tours were visiting it yet plus I remember it being pretty chilly while I was capturing it. So those two factors probably had a big role as to why it was so empty in the evening. If you go now in the evening, it would be nearly impossible to get a shot like this, no matter what the weather.
Well, fast forward 6 years later and this image is now hanging on the outside of the BWI Airport! AHHHH I haven’t been able to see it, mostly because it’s in the terminal and I would need an airplane ticket to go inside but it’s 22′ wide x 14.8′ tall. I heard it can be viewed from B Pier so if anyone is headed that way for holiday travel, please take a picture. I would love to see what it looks like in the day time.
Here’s an image that I received from the contractors who put it up.
BWI isn’t the usual airport I fly out of just because it’s further away from where I live, but I think I can make an exception for my next trip 🙂
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 I compiled the top 7 best spots to make your trip to the Nation’s capital easier to navigate.
I’ve done all the research for you so you can just get out there and shoot. Here’s everything you need to know to capture a stunning sunrise in Washington DC:
How to Prepare for Sunrise
I love the alignment of where the sun rises among the monuments as opposed to where the sun sets from. It gives off this amazing warm glow on the memorials that’s hard to get at sunset. Plus there is this overwhelming feeling of peace and calm in a city that’s usually hustling and bustling during the day. At sunrise you’re more likely to get images with no one in them while at sunset it’s nearly impossible.
Don’t worry though even if no one else is around, park police have the memorials under constant surveillance which makes this one of the safest places to be in DC at night. If anything bad should happen, help will not be far away.
I typically try to arrive at my sunrise location about 30 minutes before the sun actually rises. That way you will see all the great predawn colors in the sky. Dress according to the weather and grab a coffee, you won’t regret it.
For the serious photographers out there, you may be wondering about tripods. For the most part they are not allowed. However if you’re photographing sunrise and there is no one else around, you could probably get away with it. I think the biggest concern is when the memorials are crowded and other people may trip over the legs. Out of all the times I’ve been out for sunrise (trust me it’s way more than I can count), I have been asked to put it away once while I was at the Lincoln Memorial. All other times other than sunrise at any of the memorials, it’s pretty much out of the question.
The United States Capitol is slightly different. Technically, it’s not the National Mall so the same rules don’t apply as they do at the memorials. There is way more security there and I’ve heard conflicting rules about tripods. The last time I spoke to a Capitol Policeman about it, he said they are allowed. However since then I’ve heard of photographer friends being asked to put it away. It seems like there is no right or wrong answer so I would just take your tripod if you want and just be respectful when photographing the grounds. The worst that will happen is that someone will ask you to put it away.
In my opinion, the Reflecting Pool is the ultimate sunrise location in Washington DC. It’s the most iconic and it is the place that I tell everyone they must go to if they have never been to the national mall and especially at sunrise. It’s the center of 4 great landmarks all within a central area. A one stop shop if you will.
Whether it is sunrise or sunset, I have a group of places I usually default to depending on the time of day. The Martin Luther King Jr memorial is not my usual sunset spot. Actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever taken a photograph here at any other time of day besides sunrise. The only reason being is that I know it gets packed with tour buses as the day goes on and I try my best to avoid that.
So a few weeks ago I got commissioned to take some pictures of the memorial. I was waiting for a cloudy day because I knew the sky would take up most of the image. The previous days had been too cloudy though. So cloudy to the point where it almost looked like a cloudless sky because there were no details in the clouds at all. Just straight up grey. Until finally I was driving around, running some errands when the sky started to open up. I knew that sunset would probably be my only chance of getting the image I wanted, so I took my chances and headed straight to the Tidal Basin.
I was correct in the fact that there were bus loads of people all around the memorial. But I was also correct in the fact that the sky was going to be amazing that day! This was not the image I was commissioned for, but to be honest, I think this one is better! I love the way the way the colors in the sky are casted in the clouds. Maybe I should add the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial to my sunset list instead of sunrise. LOL, what do you think?
My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/200th of a second at ISO 800 (handheld) with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.
Another one of my goals this season was to capture the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial with the cherry blossoms. If I was going to be at the Tidal Basin, I wanted to try different things from what I typically do. Going back and looking at my images, I barely have any of the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms. So weird, right? Last year they were like peanut butter and jelly. This year it was like the Jefferson Memorial didn’t even show up to the party.
I also realized that I don’t have very many images of the Martin Luther King Jr memorial in general, let alone with the cherry blossoms. So anytime I was close or even from far away, I was trying out different compositions. I was determined to get something I liked.
This one was taken about 30 minute before sunrise. As you can see, another windy morning but I love the color combination of the pink flowers with the blueish looking sky. We got real lucky this year. We had almost two solid weeks of cherry blossoms, compared to last year when we didn’t even have a week. So I had time to play with compositions. I still haven’t gone through all the images yet, but this one stood out to me. I like how he still looks very powerful and determined with the cherry blossom framing him. Like nothing can distract him, not even pretty flowers. On the other hand, I’m the one who’s driving around and will break for pretty flowers growing in people’s yards and point them out to all my passengers. Ask Andrew. He’s not a fan of when I do that. LOL
One crazy cold morning I met up with my friend, Albert to shoot the sunrise. I remember the day before I heard on the radio that we were expecting a lot of fog and obviously I got really excited and told Albert about it. The weather can be so finicky because I woke up the next morning to one of the clearest skies ever! I’m so sorry Albert I made you get out of bed so early in the morning! Plus it was crazy cold and windy. It was probably one of the shortest sunrise sessions I’ve ever had. 20 minutes and I was back in my car.
But as we were about to leave, I noticed the beautiful light that was coming from the front of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. I asked Albert to stand right at the light ray and I love the way that this turned out. It’s so simple with the little pop of “warm” light. But I think my favorite part is the overall cool-ness to the image. I love how blue and cold it feels because that’s exactly what it felt like being there. Remember how I was saying this is a composition I wanted to keep on working on? Click here to read my previous post about the MLK Jr Memorial.Â
To be honest though it’s not exactly what I had intended from the original post. It’s a little bit closer to what I had in mind and I’m still very happy with it. I’m going to keep at it until I get it exactly how I envision it.
Did I mention it was crazy cold that morning? LOL.
