Trip to Washington DC, tips? Things not to miss?

[Village Idiot]

Frankly, just go walk around town, visit the museums, etc. and forget photography. There is nothing there that has not been shot a few million times before. Unless, that is, you want to shoot the reality of the town. In which case you would head out to where the tourists sure don't go.... lol.

Everything in DC is about hype, nothing else. Including the Brickskeller. How many beers can you try in one sitting?

In the time you are going to be there you will not see much as it is, so, just enjoy the history, forget the postcard shots you will miss.



25 years in DC speaking.

5 or 6, but after going there enough, I've tried a good bit of the non retarded priced Belgian beers and that's the reason I go.

 

[Village Idiot]

Of course it does.

So let me ask it another way: can the OP find those on a tour?

From his/her post, I sure don't think so.

I am going to be blunt and completely honest... One of my jobs is photography, and one of my hobbies is photography, therefor I want to see DC through the viewfinder. I tend to pay a lot more attention to details and notice shapes and colors more when I am setting up shots. I would miss the same things if it were not for the camera. And to put a point on it, I am going FOR the photography, mainly architectural, the history bores me. Take my cameras away and I have absolutely no reason to want to go.

The reasoning for the tour is simple. I get to see a lot of places, all the transportation is taken care of, and since it is a photo tour, I don't have to worry they will walk away as I am setting up a shot or get annoyed having to wait on me. Am I there for the postcard shots? Somewhat, just because they have been done a thousand times does not mean I don't want to do them too. But I am also there to get my angles, my crops, my vision of the same thing other people have captured.

I sincerely believe I could do the same thing on my own, with a couple of problems. 1) I would never be able to get to that many places in that amount of time since I have never been before. 2) I doubt very seriously any security will have a problem with me lugging around a camera in Union Station or somewhere else I have heard of problems with photographers if I am with an established tour group. 3) I have exactly two days to get in all that I can. Day one is all tours, day two is exploring on my own.

Now if you have a better solution to cover more ground for the same or less money in the same or less time and be assured of getting to the prime photo locations, I am all ears.

Allan

Hire a driver. I work for $500 a day, but don't you worry about the coppers. I got a plan to take care of them...

 

[flea77]

Well, thanks for all the advice, I wound up staying at the Capitol Skyview which was much closer than I originally planned and it worked out great. We wound up with a private tour one morning (four hours), a regular night tour (three hours) and then spent a full day wondering the mall on our own. The reflecting pool for the Washington Monument was drained (bummer) and the Jefferson Memorial was under repairs so that runied several shots but overall I was pleased. It never got above 91 degrees there so we were very comfortable and shooting at night was never an issue. I even asked permission to plop down a tripod IN the Lincoln Memorial at 5am and the guard had no problem with it!

Anyway, some of the shots can be seen http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...-different-perspective-warning-13-images.html and http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ton-dc-postcard-photos-warning-17-images.html, thanks so much for all your help!

Allan