Washington, DC
Brrr. There is a new term that meteorologists have thrown out there in recent days, the Polar Vortex! It has turned our weather in this New Year especially cold, very quickly. Early on this occasion, I had second thoughts about an early morning shoot with the wind and very low temperatures. It took a pep talk to myself to get out of the car. Parking right on the banks of the Potomac River, the wind was the first to hit me. During the walk small flecks of snow that were kicked up in the wind were biting against the little bare skin I had exposed on my face. Immediately, I thought that I should have worn more than my scarf to protect my face!
I started walking quickly towards the monuments. Since there was snow on the ground, I had the objective to photograph the Korean War Memorial situated close to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a perfect morning if you were trying to get photos of the National Mall without any distractions in the background – there was no one out there! A crew of Park Rangers was just arriving on the monument to start spreading salt over the marble stairs and walkways. I was obviously envious of their winter gear. I walked over to the Memorial, and the snow-covered statues really added to the solemn, quiet feel to the monument.
Korean War Memorial
The statues depicting all the branches of the US military as they worked their way through some harsh terrain. There are 19 statues that are reflected in the large black granite wall next to their position making them look like a total 38 soldiers commemorating the 38 parallel. The granite wall was sandblasted with more images of soldiers on the surface.
As I exited the memorial, the sun was just starting to rise above the horizon. The bright orange color contrasted with the blue hues from the memorial that was still in shadow. In the cold, I moved as quickly as I could to compose and make the photos before the sun was too high in the sky, changing the look and mood from dramatic to flat. It only lasted a few minutes.
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