Autumnal Equinox Sunrise on the National Mall

Twice a year in Washington, DC the sun rises at exactly 90 degrees east of North on the National Mall, providing an opportunity for photographers to capture a beautiful glow right behind the Washington Monument when shooting from the plaza of the Lincoln Memorial.

One of these times is the Autumnal Equinox on September 23, 2025, when the sun will rise  at 6:57 AM., so we will gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at 6 AM to capture that pre-dawn reddish glow of the dawn sky  as the sun begins to lighten up the sky directly behind the Washington Monument and the Capitol, about 2 miles away to the east. Using our cameras or phones, we will capture that iconic view down the Reflecting Pool .

And then we will wait  until a few minutes after 7 AM when the sun creeps over the horizon and shines its light directly into the Lincoln Memorial Building and onto the face of the Lincoln Statue itself, bathed now in the direct golden glow of sunrise, an image only available twice a year.

After that we will hustle back down the stairs to photograph the entire Lincoln Memorial Building which turns gold in this early morning golden hour light of the autumnal equinox.

Time permitting, we will then  go down to the Korean War Memorial and capture the fear-filled faces of the 19 soldiers in squad formation in the rice paddies of Korea, each of them scared of being shot at any moment.

Paris–trained  architectural photographer E. David Luria will be there to guide you in camera settings and lens usage and white balance settings to help you get the best images.

Parking is available on nearby 21^st and 22^nd side streets. Closest METRO is Foggy Bottom (Metro opens at 5 am). Tripods are optional but recommended. We may move the date to September 22 or 24,  based on weather  and cloud conditions.