This past weekend I met up with Ken & Katy to do engagement pictures at sunrise in Washington DC. We met up at the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol building before the sun came up.
The National Mall is incredibly peaceful before sunrise and we had the view almost completely to ourselves. As the sun started to rise over Washington DC we took a few engagement pictures looking down the length of the Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial is a fantastic location for several reasons but I think the view of the Mall and the fact that the sun rises behind the Capitol building are the 2 that make this the ideal starting location for any DC engagement shoot!
Once we were done at the Lincoln memorial we took a few pictures by the reflecting pool. I love how these shots give you a feel for the enormous size of the National Mall, it’s really hard to tell just how large these monuments are until you see people within the landscape which gives things a sense of scale! Of course the beautiful sunrise reflecting on the pool doesn’t hurt things either!
After shooting a few landscapes by the Reflecting Pool we walked over to the Tidal Basin where we had a beautiful view of the Jefferson Memorial. The walk along the tidal basin is gorgeous and while we had missed the Cherry blossoms by a couple of weeks we certainly didn’t need them to make the engagement pictures look great! We wrapped up the sunrise engagement pictures with a few shots on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial before being kicked out by a security guard who must not have gotten enough sleep! While we would have loved to have stayed a while longer we didn’t want to get arrested and I didn’t want my gear confiscated so we called it a morning and took off for a couple of other fun locations around capitol hill!
If you’re reading this thinking you’d like to do your engagement pictures at one of the Memorials around the National Mall check out this link to the National Park Service website regarding photography permits. From what I can tell you really shouldn’t need but that doesn’t mean you won’t run into some guard on a power trip so having one might not be a bad idea! If nothing else print this page out and bring it with you so you know what your talking about when they tell you to leave! =)
I have more pictures to share from the morning but I think this post is long enough as it is so you’ll have to check back to see the rest! Many thanks to Ken & Katy for willingly subjecting themselves to engagement pictures at sunrise, I really enjoyed hanging out and hope you love the pictures as much as I do!
UPDATE:
They’re MARRIED!! Check out a few of their amazing wedding pictures from the Basilica at Notre Dame here!
by Ben
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