The Fourth

July Fourth in the Capitol

Yesterday I decided to actually brave crowds to capture a better representation of fireworks in the Capitol.  I traveled to Rosslyn and walked the half mile to the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial).  Once there I walked a bit further over to the Netherlands Carillon.  The Netherlands Carillon is where many people go to capture that iconic shot of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and Capital in line with the fireworks going off above them.   I expected it to be extremely crowded, but it actually was no worse than when I shoot from the Air Force Memorial.  

People waiting for fireworks

The traditional shot

I picked a location that framed the monuments between two large trees instead of trying to jostle for a position directly under the carillon.  If I had a press pass, I could actually shoot from the top of the carillon.  I captured some nice shots through the trees from my location near one of the flowerbeds at the base of carillon.  The problem was getting home. The metro was extremely crowded to the point where they were not even letting people go down to the platform.  So, I wandered around Rosslyn to find a place to wait till the crowds died down. I ended up at a frozen yogurt shop.  The fireworks ended at 9:30PM and I didn’t attempt to get on the metro till 10:30PM at which time it was only like normal rush hour.  I arrived home around 11:00PM.   

As mentioned this year I shot from the Netherlands Carillon through two trees, which framed the monuments and the fireworks.  I took 211 photos of which I kept 48 photos.  I set my camera at 200 ISO, with an aperture of f/11 with a shutter speed around .5 to 1.5 seconds.   I am happy with the pictures I got. I will use this location again even if I don't  get home till 11:00PM.  You can see more of the photos from last night  by clicking here.