Lincoln Memorial
Washington DC, DC
One of America's most iconic monuments, the Lincoln Memorial offers sweeping reflective pool views and dramatic columns at any hour. Dawn and dusk transform the white marble into gold and rose.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Busy
- Shot Types
- wideportraitdetail
- Best Seasons
- springfallwinter
Author's Comments
I have stood at the base of those steps more times than I can count, and I am still not sure I have ever made the photograph I was after. There is a version of this image that belongs to everyone - the wide shot, the reflecting pool, the dome of the Capitol at the far end. That version is worth making. But the photograph I keep returning for is narrower and quieter. It is the way Lincoln himself catches light at blue hour, when the marble goes from white to something closer to bone, and the columns throw long shadows inward. Come in February. Come before six in the morning. The tourists do not arrive until eight, and in those two hours the memorial is genuinely yours.
Gallery
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