03.01.26: Framed by columns

‍Washington, D.C., is a city filled with monuments and memorials.

‍Many — like the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial — are located along the National Mall, always a destination for tourists. The U.S. Capitol Building is at the west end of the National Mall. Various Smithsonian museums line the north and south sides. And the memorials/monuments I listed are at the east end.

‍And all of those memorials/monuments are at or near the top of the list of most-visited sites in Washington, D.C. They are easy for tourists to find during their walks.

‍A trip to the Jefferson Memorial requires a bit more walking. To find it, tourists journey east along the mall, make a left at the Washington Monument, and cross a couple of streets to reach a walkway with a view of the Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin. To reach the site, tourists must continue walking across a bridge and along the edge of the Tidal Basin.

‍In my opinion, it’s worth the walk.

‍The memorial dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and one of the founding fathers, was completed in 1943. The single chamber in the domed memorial stands 91 feet high and houses a 19-foot-tall, five-ton bronze statue of Jefferson. The statue stands on a six-foot pedestal, bringing the total height to 25 feet. From a distance, the Jefferson statue doesn’t seem very tall inside the mammoth chamber. But the size of the statue becomes obvious to an approaching visitor.

‍I had taken several photos of the Jefferson statue inside the memorial during this September 2016 visit. As I turned to leave, I noticed the Washington Monument, standing against a cloud-streaked sky, was framed perfectly by the columns on the Jefferson Memorial. I thought it would make a nice photo, but I was concerned about the number of people in the foreground sitting on the steps or standing around. I grabbed a few shots, hoping the crowd would clear out. 

‍It never did.

‍But as I studied the scene on my camera’s screen, I realized that the people in the foreground, standing between the massive columns, provided a sense of scale to the scene. It was a much better photograph with the people than without them. So I grabbed a couple of additional shots and left instead of waiting for the crowd to thin out.