Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: travel

Portraits in Washington, D.C.

For anyone who is new here (welcome!), I’ll start by explaining that I used to be a wedding and portrait photographer. Not too long ago, I had a very busy business for six years (before I decided to close that chapter), and one of my favorite parts about the job was the opportunity to explore the areas around me. I live in Northern Virginia just a hop, skip, and a jump outside of Washington, D.C.

Offering such a photogenic background, portrait sessions in D.C. were always in high demand and I found myself photographing couples in front of the city’s quintessential monuments and memorials on the regular. Those sessions inspired me to explore the city further outside of client work and I’ve made it a point to visit more often. I loved my photography business even though I had to let it go, so I thought it would be fun to reminisce by revisiting some of my favorite iconic D.C. portraits!

Washington Monument

It doesn’t get much more iconic than the Washington Monument. At over 555 feet tall, the obelisk can easily be spotted from so many vantage points in the city and it showed up frequently in my photography.

District of Columbia War Memorial

Tucked away in the foliage along Independence Avenue, the War Memorial is a little less traveled by the tourist crowd, so it made a perfect spot for images without a lot of people in the background.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

This is another one where we could often find a quiet spot among the columns for portraits, especially around the back of the building. The Jefferson also offers a beautiful view of the Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument in the distance.

Lincoln Memorial

I’m no longer up-to-date on the current photo permit requirements, but when I was doing weddings and portraits you were not allowed to photograph inside the Lincoln Memorial without a permit, and the security guards were very strict about it. If they saw a photographer carrying professional gear with a bride and groom in tow, they turned you away immediately! Every once in a while I was able to get away with a casual engagement portrait if we were discreet. But I’ll never forget taking this photo of Nick and Marjorie in front of the memorial (which is totally allowed) in the rain. It’s one of my absolute favorites.

Capitol Building

My very first time doing an engagement session (eee! nerves!), I was photographing a couple who had access to the Russell Senate Office Building (Shawn worked there) and we were able to get a cool shot of the Capitol from inside, but there are so many other great spots in D.C. to photograph our Capitol.

Cherry Blossoms

Last but not least, and while they aren’t technically a monument, I can’t write about my sessions in the District without mentioning the Cherry Blossoms. Spring is a magical time in the city and the blossoms were the perfect backdrop for magical photos!

December 14, 2015
Photo Friday – Inverary Castle

When Chris and I are on a road trip, he typically does the driving while I’m on the lookout for places to stop for exploring or photographing. I have to give him a ton of credit for being flexible, quick-thinking, and easy going! We can pretty much be anywhere and if I find something I think we should stop and see, he’ll make it work by finding a good place to stop or circling back a second time if needed.

We drove past Inverary Castle castle on the way to Islay, and the best vantage point was on a little bridge in the road. He crossed it at a slow roll so I could take a quick snap of the castle in the middle of lunchtime traffic. I got my shot and don’t think anyone was too upset at us!

December 11, 2015
What I Packed for Ireland and Scotland in Late Summer
Full disclosure: packing for a two-week trip in Ireland and Scotland gave me a fair bit of anxiety. The weather in Ireland and the UK is fairly unpredictable to start with, and on top of that I wasn’t sure if our early September trip would call for summer or fall outfits.

The temperatures for our trip ended up ranging from 55-70 degrees as the high. Most days were sunny or partly cloudy, and even when it started off with a cool morning we rarely needed all of our layers all day. My main goal was to keep our luggage very light since we were moving from eight different accommodations over the course of two weeks, so I booked a couple of places with access to a washer/dryer and planned do laundry a few times.

As far as the level of casual vs. formal, Chris and I expected to have mostly active days (tons of walking/hiking) and we wanted to eat as much pub food as possible, so jeans and casual tops were fine for us pretty much every day. I was able to wear a long-sleeve top with a scarf plus my flats for a few places when I needed to look a wee bit more polished. So here’s what I packed for fifteen days in late August and early September:
- 2 short-sleeve shirts
- 4 long-sleeve shirts
- 1 zip-up hoodie
- 1 tank top (for sleeping)
- 1 pair of lightweight hiking pants
- 1 pair of jeans
- puffer vest
- waterproof jacket
- 2 scarves
- waterproof hiking shoes
- ballet flats
- undies and socks
- baseball-type cap
- sunglasses
In case it helps to have some more details, here are a few of the specific things I packed:

1. Long-sleeve waffle henley from Eddie Bauer (similar); 2. Striped long-sleeve top from Loft; 3. and 4. Long-sleeve cotton crewneck tops from Nordstrom; 5. Warm puffer vest for layering (that I wore on so many days) from J. Crew Factory.

1. Soft and warm wool scarf; 2. Pretty patterned scarf; 3. Hat; 4. My favorite small camera bag to hold my SLR and a point-and-shoot; 5. Super comfortable North Face Ultra Fastpack GTX (similar) waterproof hiking shoes; 6. Tieks foldable leather ballet flats.

1. Comfortable and water-repellent Mountain Hardware Chockstone hiking pants; 2. Jeans; 3. Space Dye Strength Hoodie 2 from Athleta; 4. North Face Carli Jacket for the rain that we didn’t get (yay!).

All of our stuff went into my trusty Eagle Creek packing cubes and we each brought one carry-on suitcase. I ended up wearing everything I brought, and didn’t really feel like anything was missing. Of course, if room wasn’t an issue I would have liked to have more shoes just because, but the lone two (!) pairs I brought worked out well. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about packing for either of these places!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for reading and for your support!
December 7, 2015
Photo Friday – Mini Pot Still

A few months ago, I didn’t really even know what a pot still was, but after spending a long weekend on the Isle of Islay and learning about the whisky distilling process from several distilleries, I’m intimately familiar with the function of a pot still. And when I spotted this copper pot still decanter in the Lagavulin gift shop, I had to have it. It’s one of our most favorite souvenirs ever!

December 4, 2015
Scotland Snapshot

For the past several big trips, I’ve created “snapshot” posts with a summary of superlatives and sidebars from our travels. It’s a fun way to me to reflect back on specific moments and to include some photos that I might not have blogged previously, so to continue that tradition here is my Scotland snapshot!

Best Moment

Both Ireland and Scotland have been on our must-travel list for quite a while, so it was just awesome spending a whole week in each. And, this was my most complicated itinerary to plan so far, with multiple flights involved, two rental cars, two ferries, two trains, and eight different accommodations. I was pretty anxious that something major would go wrong and foil our plans, but everything went more smoothly than I could imagine.

As for a Scotland-specific Best Moment, I couldn’t have been happier to find a Highland cow. Chris counts the whole Islay weekend as his favorite moment. I also loved my quiet morning on Calton Hill, watching the sun rise over the city.

Worst Moment

This cringe-worthy moment is still a little fresh for me (ugh, pun not intended) and I didn’t even mention it in my post about our Islay distillery tours, but it easily wins hands-down as the Worst Moment on this trip so I suppose I have to divulge it now!

Chris and I were on the Water-to-Whisky Experience with Laphroaig, walking over a hilly pasture on the way to see the water source. I was in the back of the group pausing every so often to take photos, so I had to quicken my steps to keep up. I thought I was being careful enough with my footing, but while walking down a slope my shoe slipped on a wet patch of grass, I landed in a big pile of mud, and I slid several feet down the hill. Only it wasn’t mud.

I had smeared a thick layer of fresh cow patty all over the seat of my hiking pants, and we weren’t even half-way through the 4.5-hour tour! I had no choice but to finish the hike to the water source and sit awkwardly through lunch. Thankfully our guide was able to drop me back off at the distillery after our picnic, and I was even more thankful that Chris and I had our suitcases in the car parked at the distillery parking lot. Laphroaig even had a washing machine that I could use to launder my pants and shoes and I was able to change and meet up with the group for the rest of the tour, so it wasn’t nearly the disaster that it could have been, but it was still my least favorite moment!

Best Meal

Fact: overhead can lights don’t make it easy to take a decent iPhone snapshot (so the one I took below is pretty bad). Terrible food photography aside, the Malt Shovel Inn on Cockburn Street served my favorite meal in Scotland. Their traditional Bangers and Mash sounds perfect as I write this post on a cold and dreary day at home in Virginia.

Something We Learned

The Real Mary King’s Close tour taught us about the streets and spaces that were hidden underground in 17th century Edinburgh. I think that would have been a hard concept for me to imagine if I hadn’t seen it first-hand, and it was a fascinating tour that I highly recommend to anyone visiting the city.

We’re Thankful We Packed

Outfits with layers. Half of our days in Scotland were a little on the chilly side, and the other half we found ourselves shedding jackets and scarves. It was nice to have options while still keeping our luggage to a minimum.

We Didn’t Need To Bring

Rain gear! I would still recommend to anyone visiting the UK that they bring a rain jacket and I’d certainly never travel there without one, but we really lucked out with the weather and never needed our rain gear.

Trip Regrets

I deeply regret falling onto cow poop.

Reasons To Go Back

We only scratched the surface of Scotland. Our main goal was to see Islay and Edinburgh, and I didn’t want to squeeze much else into our one week there. I’d love to see Isle of Skye and more of the Highlands. Chris wants to cover Speyside as well, so we’ll make a return trek for sure.

Favorite Photos

Chris ranks this photo of the Laphroaig barrels in his top favorites.

And I picked a photo of Edinburgh, one of Victoria Street, and probably every single Highland cow photo we took!

December 1, 2015