Scenes from Washington - Day

I did not have much of a chance to see Washington by daylight (one morning walk before the workshop and around half and hour after the workshop ended). What photographs I did manage to take benefited from a wonderfully clear sky and quite dazzling sunshine, especially in the morning.

Front of White House
Morning of 18th November

This was taken from the front gate of the White House in President's Park, under the watchful eye of a couple of guards. It was just as well that I took that morning walk, because the Park is close after 4.30 pm!

Stylistically, the front part of the White House is actually more impressive and imposing than the back view that we get from Pennsylvannia Avenue. The back of the White House is rather like a genteel plantation mansion from the South (I keep thinking Tara from Gone with the Wind), while the front is rather more grand in an officious manner. It would be great if this front view was a photo opp as well. But I guess it's understandable that the President of the USA would not want his front doorstep to be so open to public scrutiny!


Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Morning of 18th November

This is one of the two government building flanking the White House. The Eisenhower Building is to the West and a mighty lovely piece of architecture. The gold-topped monument in front is called the First Division Monument.

What I like about this building is that it is so completely different in style to the White House and to the Treasury Department building which flanks the White House on the East. This building reminds me of the Hotel Du Ville in Paris (which was not a Hotel at all, but a hospital, if memory serves correctly). It does not have the imposing exterior of a government building and could just as easily have been a manor house converted to a modern hotel.

Treasury Department
Morning of 18th November

This is a very treasury looking building, with its classical columns and the Roman-temple extension in the front. Unfortunately, there were works being done in front of the building, which rather spoilt the photograph.






General William T Sherman Monument in Sherman Park
Morning of 18th November

This monument sits in Sherman Park, in front of the Treasury Department and diagonal to the White House.

William Tecumseh Sherman was a commander for the North during the American Civil War. Not being an American, I did not know much about him, but I could admire this monument for its clean lines and the elegance of its structure.

Unfortunately, the sun was shining from behind the monument directly into the camera lense. The image turned out to be a little darker than I would have liked and the shot as a whole is a little overexposed.


Rochambeau Monument in Lafayette Park
Morning of 18th November

This was taken from the White House side of Pennsylvania Avenue, looking onto the south section of Lafayette Park. This monument stands at the south-west end of the park.

Lafayette Park's 4 corners contain statues of European military heroes during the American Revolution. Regretfully, I only managed to photograph this monument of French commander, Lt Gen Comte de Rochambeau.


Washington Monument, White House and Monument of Andrew Jackson
Morning of 18th November

This was taken in the middle of Lafayette Park. I was trying to capture the three structures in a diagonal line. Because the sun was shining directly into the lens, this was not an easy shot to take. I had to position the camera such that the sun was hidden behind trees. Thankfully, Washington was still in autumn mode despite the coldness of the weather, and the tree still had leaves!

The equestrial monument of General Andrew Jackson is in the dead centre of Lafayette Park (which has a most pleasing, European symmetry in the placement of its monuments). According to this website, this is the first esquestrian statue cast in the United States.