Abraham Lincoln

While in Washington DC earlier this week, my friend Rick took Greg and I to see the Washington Monuments.  One of the most impressive is the Lincoln Memorial. I do not have the words to describe just how impressive it is.  I will try to do so in the next 5 pictures (and then I still won’t get it right).  The trip that night was spontaneous and the weather was cold.  The spontaneous nature of the trip meant that I didn’t have my tripod (essential for night photography) or my wide angle lens (essential for taking pictures of building and statues).  Still, you go with what you have and make the best of it.  The plus side? It was cold and very few people were there.  This gave me the opportunity to record my experience in a way not normally possible at such a popular attraction.

Abraham Lincoln was a great man.  He may have had some rough edges and odd quirks but then don’t we all?  Here is one statement from Wikipedia that gives a sense of the difficult times in which he served: “He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserved the Union, and ended slavery.” And we think we live in tough times…

On to the photos!  Descriptions are below each picture.

This is the Lincoln Memorial.  This gigantic building is breath taking! Normally it is crowded but not this night - there were less than 10 people around.

The pillars surround the building on all four sides.  I was happy to get this shot because there were no people around to create a distraction.

 
The Secret View.  Well, not so secret but Rick dragged me around to this side of the building to show me this “best view”.  It really was amazing. You are surrounded by incredibly tall walls on one side, 44 foot tall marble pillars on the other side and you are standing there looking at the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool and the Capital building.  Wow.

This is a tribute the man himself.  It is an imposing statue with Abe looking right down at you. I looked right back at him and snapped this photo.  But I didn’t say smile. No point.

The Impossible Shot (click on it for a larger view).  This is actually an HDR photo put together as best I can.  You need a tripod to do HDR on a sunny day with lots of light and it is absolutely required for night shots.  I didn’t have a tripod.  So I laid down on the cold pavement (in a sports jacket and long coat) in front of the reflecting pool and put one hand between the pavement and the camera so that I could point the lens upward.  At that point, I shot 3 frames with the longest exposure being several seconds.  I should not have been able to get this photo – no way.  Sometimes you just get lucky …