Capitol Hill

On Sunday I metroed to Capitol Hill with the intention of photographing the interior of the Library of Congress and its 160-foot high domed main reading room, which has the reputation of being Washington’s most beautiful space. Sadly, though, it was not to be. Upon arriving at the library I was informed that I was more than welcome to take as many pictures as I wanted, except in the main reading room. There are privacy issues related to what people in the library are reading. There are of course other beautiful parts of the library worth photographing, but without the main reading room an interior exploration just wouldn’t be complete. It will have to wait for some phone calls and special arrangements to be made. Sunday was a lovely day, however, so I contented myself with wandering up and down First Street, N/SE instead.

A thumbnail gallery of the resulting pictures is available here, with highlights below. As usual, click to enlarge. Many thanks to Santa, who came through at Christmas (see the comments). Thanks to her the colors here are warm and deep. You didn’t know Santa was a girl, did you...


The library's front façade

Continue reading


More of the library:












The Supreme Court:










Note the person in the corner


Too bad about that mesh, but I suppose court-goers must be protected




The US Capitol:




Union Station:

Tags: urbanism photography