Like most people who live in the the Washington, D.C. area, I don’t visit monuments much unless there are visitors. One of my fellow photographers invited me to photograph the Capitol on Friday evening to satisfy the wishes of a visiting photographer.
We were quite a sight as we set up umbrellas and tripods in the rain which fell progressively harder and harder. My favorite shot is the first one, which shows the reflection of the Capitol in one of the wet, slippery stairs leading up to it. I tried a number of long exposures, varying from about 15 to 30 seconds to get this look.
The second one is a more traditional view, but I think that the lighting was pretty cool at that time of the evening.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
This is so timely because things are truly upside down there.
Spectacular, Michael….maybe this will stop the shutdown!!
Lovely shots, both.
The lighting on the second shot really was remarkable. Well done. Though I am fascinated by politics, since you were posting a photograph, it just seemed right that you avoided the political reference.
Thanks, Lyle. You understand me pretty well.
I like that shot of the reflection and wonder if I would have thought of doing that. I also like the lighting in that second shot as well.
The reflection was directly in front of me and all I had to do was tilt the tripod head downward. The only tricky thing was the exposure. I used the self timer to minimize shaking and the exposure seemed an eternity each time I tried it.
I love the reflection of the dome in the rainy sidewalk. I’ll refrain from any comment about who is not working when the light are still on.