Georgetown Waterfront Park

Author's Comments

The Key Bridge does something interesting at sunset that I did not fully appreciate until I had been here a dozen times. The stone arches face west, and in late afternoon the light comes straight through them, so the bridge reads as a series of glowing frames rather than a solid structure. That is the image. Not the whole span, but one or two arches with Virginia in the background going soft and amber. Fall mornings are worth noting separately. The Potomac holds fog through October and into November, and there are days when the scullers come through before the mist has lifted and you get these fleeting figures in a grey and silver world. It burns off fast. You have maybe twenty minutes. Walk east past Washington Harbour before you settle on a position. The angles improve as you go, and the riverbank curves in a way that lets you pull the bridge into tighter relationship with the Virginia treeline. Most people stop at the first overlook and stay there. The park rewards movement. Summer here is full of life but difficult light. The river is active and the color of the water in July is genuinely beautiful, that particular deep green that the Potomac holds in heat. But the contrast is hard past nine in the morning. Spring and fall give you more to work with, and the low sun of late October means golden hour arrives at a reasonable time. This is not a place I come to make a single decisive photograph. I come to spend an afternoon by moving water, watching the light change, and letting something find me.

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