Washington DC Photo Recommendations/ Tripod Use

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Hello all,

I'm headed out to DC for a week in a few weeks and am planning on bringing an LF camera along. I will be busy with work during the day, but was hoping to photograph in the evening and at night. I want to photograph the monuments and buildings along the mall, but am concerned that I would not be permitted to use a tripod. Does anyone have any recent information/experiences with trying to use a tripod to photograph in DC lately? Also, apart from the well known monuments and buildings, does anyone have any recommendations for photo sites in the DC area? Thanks for your help!

[Jeff Conrad]

No direct experience in many years, but using a tripod is considered a demonstration, and the U.S. Capitol Police want a special event (http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/special_events.php) permit for using one in the areas shown on the map. Local folks can give you a better idea of how evenly it's enforced.

[BarryS]

I carry around my tripod all the time around the National Mall area and have rarely had an issue with anyone objecting. Closer to the Capitol, the guards are more touchy, but it's still worth a try--depends on your location. I do get questioned regularly because of my big wood and bellows terrorist camera (as seen on Al Quaeda Photography Today!), but patient explaining will usually remedy the situation.

[Scott Davis]

The only area where it is a real problem is ON the Lincoln memorial, and the US Capitol grounds. You may get the stink-eye from security guards around some of the federal buildings, but that will be for taking pictures period, not for using a tripod. I did get hassled briefly trying to photograph the antique carousel in front of the Smithsonian Castle, but that was because the guards were worried that A: my friend and I might be vandals, and B: we might be professionals photographing it for profit. As neither was the case, they moved on and let us go about our business. They get fussy at the Lincoln because they're worried about spiked feet chipping the marble, and more importantly, tripods impeding the traffic flow.

Someone has told me that the FDR monument is off-limits to tripods, and it may be closed at night anyway.

I often go out at night to photograph around DC. If you'd like a shooting buddy, let me know and I can arrange a time. I can also take you to some really neat off-the-beaten-track spots that will give you memorable, recognizable yet non-cliche photos of DC.

[Louie Powell]

You may get the stink-eye from security guards around some of the federal buildings - - -

It seems to me that those in government (or quasi-government, in the case of rent-a-cops) always seem to be suspicious of Joe Sixpack. No wonder the Tea Party crowd has developed a distaste for government.

That said, I can report that I had a very positive experience with the guards at the Ariel Rios Building in DC a number of years ago. I was in the building on business (long before paranoia became so common) and had made this photograph of the spiral staircase in that building using the rangefinder that always traveled with me in my briefcase. A print from that negative won a prize in a competition, and in order to claim the prize, I had to allow the sponsor of the competition (Kodak) to inspect the negative. They did return the negative, but they had scratched it. :(

So several years later, we were back in DC on a family vacation, and my wife reminded me that I wanted to reshoot the staircase in order to have a clean negative. I wasn't totally sure which building it was in, but when I asked the guards in the Rios building, not only did they acknowledge that they had a spiral staircase under their watchful eye, they showed me how to find it and blocked pedesterian traffic while I made my photographs.

[Bill L.]

Hi Brian,

In general, I've found tripods aren't a problem on the mall (at least in non-peak times that are generally preferred for landscapes), but don't bother on the Capitol grounds or near the White House. I have been chased off of the Korean memorial once, but usually it is not an issue. Inside the monuments such as the Lincoln or the Jefferson, don't bother. Outside, not a problem. If you are across the street from the Capitol (say at the Grant statue), you can photograph (don't use the word "shoot" around there) the Capitol, but setting up a tripod on the Capitol side of the street will have the Capitol police visiting you and telling you not to do that within 1 minute. I guarantee that I am in some Federal database somewhere based upon learning this fact.

I haven't been down to the Mall region since new year's but my understanding is that the Jefferson is under fairly heavy construction. If you haven't been to the area in years, the WWII memorial (between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln) is pretty rich in photographic opportunities - be sure to look for the "Kilroy was here" part of it in the back of the monument near what looks like a service entrance. There are a number of unusual statues around the area, including the boy scout memorial (IIRC) - aka the monument to boys with naked parents, and the Meade memorial. I'm a landscape photographer at heart, so my favorite in the area is Great Falls on the Potomac just outside the beltway. There is a National Park at Great Falls both on the Maryland and Virginia side of the Potomac - for the falls themselves, the Virginia side I think is much more photogenic, but both sides are excellent.

Cheers!
Bill

[Wallace_Billingham]

I live up in PA but I grew up in the DC area and still go there many times a year to visit with family.

I second what has been said above, and especially second the Great Falls area if you are into landscape photography. If you go there an interesting place not to far away is Seneca Creek State Park in Germantown Maryland. Off of Black Rock road in Germantown is a very cool old Mill along the creek. From the mill if you walk upstream there is a nice trail on the right hand side after a 10-15 minute walk you will come upon a nice rock outcropping into the creek. This creek and section of the park is where the bulk of the movie "The Blair Witch Project" was filmed and the rock outcropping is refered to as "Coffin Rock" in the movie. Just upstream from there you will find the fallen log that they crossed several times during the movie. All of these make for very interesting landscape shots that even most locals do not know about.

This is the Googlemaps link to the mill

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=blackrock+road+germantown+maryland+mill&ie=UTF8&radius=0.26&sll=39.126798,-77.31431&sspn=0.004062,0.009624&split=1&filter=0&rq=1&ev=zi&safe=active&hq=blackrock+road+germantown+maryland+mill&hnear=&ll=39.127206,-77.313977&spn=0.004062,0.009624&z=17

[Jim Shanesy]

Off of Black Rock road in Germantown is a very cool old Mill along the creek.

You can't, however, actually enter the mill, only look down into it.

At the National Cathedral you can set up anywhere on the grounds, inside or out, and not be bothered. One of the guards there was actually giving me some copyright infringement advice as I photographed Ex Nihilo (http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/South/District_of_Columbia/Washington/photo636906.htm).

Ditto the Franciscan Monastery (http://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/2245712127/) in NE.

Ditto the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (http://www.nps.gov/keaq/) in NE.

I've had some trouble at the http://www.usna.usda.gov/ (really beautiful this time of year) in the past, but if you convince them that you're not a commercial photographer they'll usually leave you alone. (The Bonsai House is an exception, because tripods impede egress in such small quarters.)

If my time in Washington were limited, I'd visit any of these places before I'd waste a minute on the Mall.

[Jim Shanesy]

Hello all,

I will be busy with work during the day, but was hoping to photograph in the evening and at night. ... Also, apart from the well known monuments and buildings, does anyone have any recommendations for photo sites in the DC area? Thanks for your help!

Apologies, Brian. I didn't read your post carefully enough before I shot of my big mouth about suggested sites in DC. All the ones I listed are only accessible during the day, except for the exterior of the Cathedral. If you get there just before sunset when they turn the lights on, the building is bathed in an eerie glow that's unique. It only lasts for a few minutes. As soon as the sun's down completely the effect is gone.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Apologies, Brian. I didn't read your post carefully enough before I shot of my big mouth about suggested sites in DC. All the ones I listed are only accessible during the day, except for the exterior of the Cathedral. If you get there just before sunset when they turn the lights on, the building is bathed in an eerie glow that's unique. It only lasts for a few minutes. As soon as the sun's down completely the effect is gone.

No problem, Jim. Thanks you guys for all your tips. A question about safety- how safe is it to walk around the Mall at night with a backpack of LF equipment?

[Scott Davis]

The mall is still one of the safest places in the US - between the museum security, monument security, federal office building security and park police, it's quite benign. Except for the odd squirrel with a grudge. I wouldn't wander around in the woods on the fringe between the Lincoln and WW II memorials at night, but other than that, no problem. The DC WW I memorial is there, but save that one for daylight (I don't think it is illuminated anyway, so you'd be talking about some extremely long exposures). There is no national WW I memorial, by the way - just the DC memorial, which is oft forgotten and overlooked.

[Rakesh Malik]

I actually spent a bit of time with my camera stuffed in one of the flower gardens by the Capitol, and accidentally raised the suspicion of a couple of security guards. Once they realized that all I was doing was photographing the Library of Congress (I didn't try to hide what I was doing, but from where they were they couldn't see the camera) they laughed, told me why they were wandering over, and let my friend and I go on our merry way.

Don't forget the National Arboretum. Kenilworth is totally worth it also, especially if the flowers are starting to bloom. Great Falls was always a favorite destination before I moved out west. Patapsco Valley State Park (http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/patapsco.asp) is another one worth visiting if you have some time.