This photo was taken during a dramatic sunset in Washington D.C. this Spring. I recently moved to the Washington D.C. area for work. I was excited about both the new job, but also the endless opportunities the area provides for photography. Like all avid photographers I did my research, looking endlessly through photo galleries of photographers in the area to get inspiration. I had been all over the area and photographed many of the monuments, buildings, and surrounding areas but the one building that had escaped me was the U.S. Capital building.

It has been under construction for over a year and covered in unsightly scaffolding. Finally this spring, the scaffolding came down and the Capital building had shed it’s ugly cocoon and was restored back to it’s glory. So I was finally able to make the trek downtown to capture my long awaited photo of the Capital.

After arriving at the Capital building, I walked around the building looking for the best angle to take a sunset shot of the building. After my walking the area, I found a good location in the front of the building and was able to compose the main part of the building and the reflection on the marble outside. Once setup, all I had to do was wait for the sun to set. When it did, the effort was not wasted.

This photo was taken with a Nikon D600 on a SLIK tripod with a Tokina 16-24 wide angle lens at 19mm, ISO 100, f/13, and 1/5 sec. The photo was edited in Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.