Paris on the Potomac

Photo Safari Along the Potomac

Designed by the Frenchman Pierre L’Enfant (who loved our city so much he changed his name to Peter!), Washington DC offers many sights that rival those of the French capital:

• They’ve got classic Gothic-style Notre Dame? So what? We’ve got Washington National Cathedral.
• They’ve got the Pantheon? Big deal! We’ve got the US Capitol (whose design was in fact influenced by the Palladian-style of the Paris Pantheon).
• They’ve got Pont Neuf? Fine! We have Arlington Memorial Bridge, whose arches were designed to look like those of Pont Neuf! So there!
• They’ve got Luxembourg Gardens with a pond? Terrific! We’ve got the National Sculpture Garden with a pond! (OK, it’s a little smaller!)
• They’ve got an IM Pei-designed glass triangle at the Louvre? Good show! We have one at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, and we had it first!
• And, finally, they have a famous Paul Bakery? Guess what? We now have a Paul Bakery too, at the Navy Memorial, where we end our Safari with a genyoowine French coffee and croissant.

This photo Safari will be a whirlwind visit to each of the DC places listed above, with instruction given on architectural photography techniques, how to take the best quality landmark photos here and in Paris. We will give you tips on exposure, composition, lighting, and white balance, and you will get to see some of Washington’s most photogenic locations.

And at the end of the Safari, we will ask you (to paraphrase a song made popular in World War I), “How’re we gonna keep ya in Paree after you’ve seen DC?”

Your instructor is the architectural photographer and Washington Photo Safari director E. David Luria, a longtime resident of Washington DC who studied photography in Paris with a protege of Henri Cartier Bresson, loves Paris, and took a lot of pictures there.

Your Safari fee includes transportation from site to site, and the coffee and croissant!