If you are reading this I take it you have received the call and you are now thinking crap of all the places why did they have to pick that spot 😭 but fear now there are a few simple keys to success when you are tasked with working the Washington DC Lincoln Memorial.
1. Before you try to work on anything else you have to see if you can shoot on an off day. If the bride is saying they would like to go on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Try your best to get them to choose a different day. In her mind, she’s thinking oh me and my man on the steps looking all presidential and cute. yea until you all get there and see 50 other people trying to do the same thing and who wants to spend that amount of time in photoshop cleaning up the background? But the client is always right so if that’s what she wants let’s see how we can make the best of it shall we.
2. Gotta leave/get there early my friends. It sounds simple but truuussst me DC traffic is no joke there always construction. a path you would always take to get into the city could be getting repaved in the middle of the day for no reason at all. Then there’s parking and don’t get me started on the DC parking signs... where they say all the times you can kinda park but not really and the last thing you want is to be towed while you’re out on a shoot. So getting there early is key plus it will allow you time to decompress from just getting there in one piece and allow you time to look around for other places to shoot.
3. Embrace the darkness. If you have arrived on the steps early enough you should be able to work steps without too much hassle especially the lower steps and the reflection pool. As a lot of times people get to the stop and want to have the Washington monument in the background and often photographers place the couple close to the steps which result in a blown-out background but if you embrace the darkness, take your couple aways from the steps into the shadows the columns create you should be able to have both the couple and the monument exposed evenly.
4. Pull a 180...dont be afraid to turn completely around and shot from different angles. trust me this spot has been photography to death so don’t be afraid to try something new.
5. The last tip is to actually leave the location, DC is huge and if you followed #2 tip then you should have already seen a few places that aren’t covered in tourists. 😎
