Mother Nature scheduled a full moon for last Tuesday evening and while the weather was mild enough, my photo colleague Joan and I watched what might be called the dance of the seven veils from 6:02 PM (scheduled moonrise) to about 6:30 PM when the image below was captured.
Full Moon over Lincoln Memorial, February 22, 2016
(Technical data: Nikon D810 with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens extended to 165mm; exposure setting: 3 sec. @ f/8, ISO 400 taken at 6:28 PM)
The original idea was to catch the moon as it cleared the horizon, just to the left of the Memorial. Sunset was 5 minutes before the moonrise, so we were hoping for the sweet spot in the period of Civil Twilight. By the time we were able to see the moon, however, the evening was well into the phase known as Nautical Twilight. For details on these various twilight phases check my post on the subject here.
But that’s OK, it was a really nice evening and no other photographers were around.
On a related matter, the Lincoln Memorial is finally being scheduled for a much-meeded sprucing up, thanks to a substantial donation from a private citizen. Check here for the details. The announcement was made on February 12th, Lincoln’s birthday that David Rubenstein, who has also donated funds for the repair of the Washington Monument and Iwo Jima Memorial, had provided a gift of $18 million to fix up the Memorial and add a large visitor center underground.
So before this project begins, those of us who want to photograph the Memorial had best get going. Hint: The next scheduled moonrise is on March 23rd.
Keep Shooting…..
photographybykent 
Oh Robin, we had the same cloud formation with the full moon at a similar time. This is a beautiful capture!
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Thanks, Robyn. Very cool that it looked the same where you were.
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I thought so too 😀
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Beautiful capture. Thanks for sharing 😊
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Thanks very much. I’m pleased that you liked it.
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Beautiful as always!
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Thanks, Valerie. We weren’t sure it was going to work out, but we got lucky at the end.
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Another great one, Robin. Beautiful photo.
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Thanks, Greg. Yes, I was getting cabin fever with the weather around here. But we were lucky on Tuesday night.
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I’m glad the evening was fruitful afterall! Nicely done! Michele
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Thanks, Michele. We were getting a little worried but then saw a faint glow above the Memorial and decided to wait and see. Glad we did.
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The cloudy sky makes the scene more artistic. For the astronomy purposes it is better to have clear image of Moon :-), but for the Art picture it is great what you have on your image. I love it. IMHO.
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Thanks very much, Alexander. I appreciate that. I agree, clouds can make the scene far more interesting. I always hope for for them to arrange themselves poerfectly and, while that rarely happens, it is a special moment when they do.
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Absolutely beautiful…I bet much more so being there, however thanks for the picture.
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Thanks, Kathy. It was pretty nice getting out again. The only company we had was a gaggle of geese and a rowing crew that passed by while we were setting up.
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Hi. Where in DC or VA was this taken at?
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It was photographed along the Mount Vernon Trail on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, about halfway between the Memorial Bridge and Theodore Roosevelt Bridge.
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The moon is gorgeous, of course, but I also love the reflections of the streetlights and the Memorial in the river’s water. So much lovely light.
Thank you for sharing your incredible image, and for the info about the restoration
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Thanks very much for the very kind words.
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You’re so lucky you have these incredible places to photograph! I love the moon behind the wispy clouds. 🙂
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Thanks, Laura. You have a pretty good place yourself;-) Yes, clouds can have a nice effect sometimes.
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We are lucky!!
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Very cool! Looks like I was right beside you. The location was really nice for that day
http://www.navinsarmaphotography.com/blog/snow-moon-over-the-potomac/
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Yes, it looks like you were pretty close. Nice images. Thanks for your comments.
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i saw a couple folks shooting to my left, next time i’ll say hello 🙂
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Look forward to it, although the next time there will be a good opportunity in that spot won’t be until October and it will be coming up after the blue twilight has faded. November 13, the night before the full moon, looks like it has potential.
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