Best Portrait Session Locations in Northern Virginia: The Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin
It may not be Northern Virginia but it’s pretty darn close. Washington, DC is an obvious choice of portrait session location for anyone in the Northern Virginia area and for very good reason. With tons of history and iconic sights, it can almost feel like a waste of opportunity NOT to have photos taken here at least once in your life. Here, we’ll be highlighting just one of my favorite areas for portraits within Washington, DC – the Jefferson Memorial and surrounding Tidal Basin.
An important note about this location is that it does require a permit for any portrait sessions, according to the National Parks Services. Beauty of the Soul Studio covers the permit fee for any of our booked wedding clients who choose to do their engagement session here, and we will take care of submitting the permit for you! If you are not hiring us for your wedding or this otherwise doesn’t apply to you, then the total permit fee is $140 for the full day. The permit must be faxed, mailed, or handed in-person into the NPS office. They have a surprisingly fast turnaround even during the cherry blossom season when they’re inundated with photography permit requests! The permit is emailed to the person who submitted it, who then signs and returns it via email (why they can’t allow you to email the permit application in the first place is beyond me). They’re also quick to respond to rescheduling requests, which come at no charge as long as you give them notice – I wouldn’t request to change the permit the day it was originally intended to be used, but even the morning of the day before is fine. It’s also worth noting that this permit gives you access to the entirety of the National Mall and Monuments under the same fee, so you aren’t limited just to the Jefferson Memorial/Tidal Basin area (though that area is plenty big).
Looking for specific examples of sessions at the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial? Check them out:
Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms
Anyone who has been in the greater Washington, DC area during the springtime knows that the Tidal Basin is where it’s at for cherry blossom season portraits. And you know what? It’s for good reason! The cherry blossoms are absolutely beautiful and there aren’t very many public spaces that have such an abundance of beautiful pink blooms. They’re neutral enough to satisfy most people and go well with most outfit color palette and style options, while still being fresh and pretty and romantic in their lightly pink hue. I even had my own first wedding anniversary portrait session during peak blooms at the Tidal Basin! You can typically expect peak bloom to happen in early April, though it could be more like mid April, and you have a window of about 1 week to get the best of the blossoms. If you photograph them too early you may end up with light pink buds on the trees with or without some early blooms opening up, and if you photograph them too late you may end up with more pink blooms on the ground and along the edges of the water and green leaves covering the trees. These aren’t inherently bad, but know that if you can’t follow the recommended window for peak blooms, your photos may turn out a little different than those pictured here!
Something to keep in mind when planning your own cherry blossom season portraits is that the Tidal Basin gets BUSY. Anyone local will already know that, but it’s especially important to keep in mind for photos. Planning your session for anytime after 9am is going to result in a lot of waiting around for access to the best spots, spending more time in each spot as others pass close by or between you and the photographer while you’re trying to get your shot, and generally crowded photos with other people clearly in the background. If you really want to enjoy your cherry blossom portrait session experience and end up with beautiful, unmessy photos, you have to plan for a sunrise session on a weekday. And it’s not a negative at all because this is the best time of day to take portraits anyway! The reflective water and bright white Jefferson Memorial marble help a lot with brightening your images at the start of a sunrise session while you wait for the sun to peek over the top of the cherry trees, and once it does, you’ve got about an hour of gorgeous light with the blossoms almost entirely to yourselves! There will still be a handful of people around, particularly other photographers and their clients, but not nearly the number of people you would get even just an hour later into the morning.
Tidal Basin – The Rest of the Year
We know that the Tidal Basin gets all the love during cherry blossom season but I’m here to tell you that it can still be beautiful year round – especially in the warmer months when the trees are lush and green! The views around the Tidal Basin in general are iconic, whether you’re shooting on the south side with the Washington Monument in the background or the north side with the Jefferson Memorial in the background. Just like with cherry blossom portraits, I still recommend shooting at sunrise on a weekday for the most beautiful warm light to add interest to your image and fewer people hanging out in the background of your images; but the good news is that the Tidal Basin isn’t typically very crowded outside of cherry blossom season and you can get away with shooting throughout the day without too much disturbance from others.
I also like to include the MLK Memorial in this category; while it is its own beautiful space along the National Mall, for photography purposes the seating areas around the memorial are more a part of the Tidal Basin than fitting their own category and in my opinion it feels irreverent to photograph most couples in front of the actual MLK Memorial (plus, it’s a copyrighted work so the legality of photographing the memorial itself is tricky). This area is a great way to add some variety to your Tidal Basin photos as you’re able to stand on wider walkways and use the long stone benches.
The Jefferson Memorial
This is my favorite memorial to use for photographs! The Lincoln Memorial seems to get all the love, likely because of its central location and strong reputation around the world as an iconic part of DC. However, just a 15-20 minute walk away on the other side of the Tidal Basin is the Jefferson Memorial, which can offer a similar DC monument vibe with far fewer crowds. Because the Jefferson Memorial is fairly out of the way for the average tourist (not a super long walk, but across the Basin from the rest of DC), there aren’t nearly as many people around at all times of day. You can still get photos along a set of marble steps out front for those beautiful leading lines and change of composition by sitting. You also still get the classic marble columns – at the Jefferson Memorial in a circle formation rather than the straight lines of the Lincoln Memorial (because the Lincoln Memorial is rectangular while the Jefferson Memorial is a round building) which I actually slightly prefer because of the interest it adds to your photos. Note that photography is not permitted within the inner chamber of the memorial where the statue of Jefferson lives, though it is too dark and not particularly interesting for most portrait photography sessions anyway.
While the Jefferson Memorial isn’t quite as crowded as its more famous sibling on the other side of the Basin, note that it can get a bit too busy for photos on weekend evenings. A lot of large school groups in matching neon shirts like to stop by the Jefferson Memorial before heading back to their hotel, and locals tend to go for their evening workout by walking or jogging to and around the Jefferson Memorial. For weekends especially, a sunrise session is your best bet if you want those marble steps and columns to be entirely yours. Weekday evenings are hit or miss, especially depending on the time of year.
