Sunrise at the Tidal Basin

There aren't too many places in DC where you can see three major points of interest in one view -- the Washington Monument, the US Capitol (it's tiny in this photo!), and the Jefferson Memorial. The image above was shot with a 24 mm wide angle lens.

I knew I wanted President Jefferson's statue inside visible in profile, but wasn't certain exactly where the sun would hit the Memorial when it appeared. What a gift that it rose between columns to create a beautiful starburst, and for just a few seconds, two starbursts!! For that alone I was very glad I'd responded to my 5:00 am alarm.

Last year I missed the cherry blossoms and wasn't going to let that happen again this spring, so after a couple days of rain I made another sunrise trip into the city to see them once more. We're so blessed to live close to the nation's capital, while visitors come from around the world to experience this annual event with hopes of catching the gorgeous blossoms at or near peak bloom.

This second morning's sunrise was much different with clouds painted across the lower sky, creating striking reflections on the water. When the sun finally appeared it made a shimmering backdrop for the delicate pale pink blossoms. Over a decade of shooting these scenes has prompted me to try to come away with something unique, and my fun surprise takeaway this time was learning that squirrels LOVE to eat cherry blossoms!!!