Senior Portraits at The National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Seniors

Dec 8

Emma and I had an absolute blast running around The National Mall in Washington D.C. for her senior portrait session! We were smart by planning her session on a Thursday evening in September, so the crowds were very minimal. And man, we thought we were going to have a nice mild day for photos as summer comes to an end but nope! It was 85 and sunny during the whole session!

The day started getting Emma glammed up by our fantastic hair and makeup artist, Haley. Since we had some time to kill before we needed to be in D.C., we stopped and grabbed coffee at Social Coffeehouse in Leonardtown, our favorite! Then we made the drive up to Washington D.C. which was just over an hour. Not too bad! I have my “go to” parking area saved in my phone that’s right by the Tidal Basin. I love parking there because it’s a modest walk to the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and Capitol Building. I like to be around the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial around sunset, I think the light is the best over there and the water is always a plus!

Our first stop for photos was a little garden right by the parking lot of the Tidal Basin. This garden was SO cute and we had to get creative while shooting in full sun because it was BRIGHT! Emma’s favorite picture from the session is actually of her walking in the garden! One of the FIRST pictures we took! After frolicking in the garden, we walked towards the Lincoln Memorial, but it was just way too bright out to do any photos out in the open just yet. So we walked around the reflecting pool and found some perfect spots to do photos along the walkway in the shade and they are some of my favorites, for sure! We lucked out with very minimal crowds. We made our way to the Lincoln Memorial and unfortunately it was under a lot of construction! So we couldn’t get any of the images we both were hoping for at this beautiful memorial. Emma wanted a photo with Honest Abe, so we made that happen, snapped a few more pics and then left.

The rest of the shoot was just us gallivanting around the National Mall, finding spots with great light, and waiting for that beautiful golden hour to hit so we could get the Tidal Basin for our final portion of the session. After an outfit change, we made our way over to the Basin. On our walk, the very kind owner of the paddle boat rental company let us take over the boats and do some photos in their boats. It was SO FUN!

I always tell my seniors that you’d be surprised at what people are willing to do for you when you’re dressed up and have a photographer with you! ;)