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E-Shoot at the DC Monuments

brendamanbrendaman
First Comment
in DC
We just had our engagement photo shoot this morning. My photographer had told us a while back that you really don't need a permit from the National Parks Service (NPS) unless it's a wedding party. I found a post here mentioning that you do need one for picture taking session at the monumemts, so I decided to check it out anyway. And the NPS said if it is a commercial photography shoot. I mentioned that it's not commercial as I'm not going to sell the pics. They said if I were paying someone to take my photo, then that qualifies as commercial. It's a $50 charge for the permit and an additional location fee of $50 for having pics at the Jefferson and Lincoln. Well, even with the permit, they didn't allow us even near the columns of either monuments. To all those thinking of having pics at the monument. It might be better to do it discretely and pretend you and your photog are tourists taking photos. It was kind of a downer, but it was good practice to just let it go. My FI thinks I should complain to NPS.
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Re: E-Shoot at the DC Monuments

  • polkadotbride1polkadotbride1 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    yea unfortunatly they use the "we dont really know what you are doing with the photos." I am all about national safety but I think its crazy they wont let you take like 20 minutes of pics... I think it also depends on the guard on duty... our photog said that they had been bothered by some guards and not by others- and most guards say that there are cameras on site so they are funny about letting you shoot... either way- hope your photos come out lovely :)
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  • kafunderkafunder
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm not sure it's a national security issue--I think it's a way to make money. In any case, i also think it highly depends on what guard you get. We had a permit for Lincoln, which clearly stated that we couldn't go beyond the marble steps. However, when we arrived in full wedding regalia with our bridal party, we just started going up the steps figuring we would ask forgiveness later. At the top of the steps, a guard approached us, and we begged to go to the backside of Lincoln to take photos with the columns. She started to say no, but a huge crowd had gathered around us b/c they thought we were celebrities. When she saw that the crowd was starting to gather and were also trying to plead with her to let us go back there, she couldn't say no and let us go back, as long as we moved fast. It was pretty cool. So, bottom line, be nice to the guard and get a crowd going, and they may let you by.
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  • jenncoyle05jenncoyle05
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yeah our photographer is one of our best friends and he has his own photography company so he doesnt really look like a big ol photographer like the other prof. ones sometimes do...anyway, we went to the monuments and we just pretended we were tourists and we were never asked for our permit etc. there is a really cool column monument thing near the lincoln memorial...it looks like a nat'l monument on the picture and our pics came out gorgeous!!! i wish i knew the appropriate name for the monument but i dont- if you turn your back to the lincoln memorial and see the big long field that sometimes sports teams play on, to the right of the fld there is a really cool column like monument thing tucked into the woods- we took a lot of pics there b/c it was pretty and no one was ther etc..and we actaully used the one we took there for our STD. just a suggestion if you need one :)
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  • PharmJenPharmJen
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We went to the Lincoln Memorial on a Sunday night and were about to take pictures without any problems or a permit - I think it's really hit or miss and we just got lucky. We were quiet and actually did spend some time just admiring the monument like tourists since it was our first time there at night. Our photographer was also pretty discreet and never used a flash. As we were leaving, I did notice a guard come out of nowhere on the steps and said hello to us. I don't know if they were about to yell at us but we were on our way out so they didn't say anything. Our photographer posted 2 pics from the Lincoln on her blog. Just scroll to the bottom: http://www.alisonconklin.com/blog.cfm?postID=211 Here's one of my faves:
    Yorkie Jenga
    image

    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
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  • PharmJenPharmJen
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    [IMG]http://tinyurl.com/ybzgl9o[/IMG] www.alisonconklin.com/blog.cfm?postID=211 (ignore any if they pop up in the link)
    Yorkie Jenga
    image

    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • deltagirl77deltagirl77
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    This is useful to know. I had no idea we could possibly encounter issues like this during our photo shoot. We got engaged at the monument and were planning to have our engagement pics there. Looks like we'll have to come up with another plan.
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