A Photographic Trip to Washington D.C.

What was, at first, a late submission into Colorado’s Sixth Congressional Art Show soon became a trip to our nation’s capital. Although the photograph I gave to my teacher as a gift was unsigned, untitled, and unframed, it won first place and will hang in the Cannon Tunnel for one year. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Ceremony, in which I received a National Visions Award for the same photograph, was also being held in Washington D.C. three days prior. Since I had won a free trip to Washington D.C. that included arrangements for one parent and one teacher and two ceremonies I was to attend, my parents and I decided to bring the whole family and stay for ten days. 

The day after we arrived, I attended the book-making event for Scholastic at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where my art was displayed. The event was called Make Your Mark. Scholastic wanted to put together a single work of art consisting of contributions from all of the people who received awards. They gave us each a piece of paper and offered us colored pencils, crayons, markers, and pens. Many people complained about the lack of subject matter and low quality supplies, but how can you make art if the medium is the most important part? I don’t think you can find art unless you find it in everything.

At seven o’clock in the morning on Sunday, June 18th (Father’s Day), my dad and I went out to photograph the city. We quickly learned that the Metro (subway) doesn't open until eight o’clock on weekends, but there are always hopeful taxi drivers waiting close by. If you want to know one of the best ways to spend an early morning, even if--like me--you think you’d rather sleep in, go walk around the vacant grounds of the Capitol Building, the so-called People’s Building. Watch the tired night-shift security guard question and stare at the tourists who are smelling the flowers in the trees and photographing the stone railing.

On Tuesday, the Congressional art show—An Artistic Discovery—was held. Each Congressman had a first-place winner from his or her district. I watched each student follow his or her representative around the capitol, trying to keep up. The students were treated like honored guests. My family and I went on a tour of the capitol and walked through the Cannon Tunnel to see the display of amazing art from across the country.

Throughout the week, we visited the common tourist attractions. Of all of them, I think the monuments were my favorites. Each one is different, and they all offer strong messages. I just hope we respect and remember the people and events the monuments represent as much as we say we do. Arlington Cemetery is also very high on my list of important places to visit. It isn’t as if you feel you have to mourn and regret the past. Experiencing the cemetery is more like a way to see real life for the first time and learn about the past by understanding the enormous human involvement through your own eyes.

Washington D.C. is like a three-dimensional history book. Until you see it with your own eyes, it isn’t real. Dorothea Lange once said, "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

Editor's Note: Elizabeth and her sister Michelle are interns this summer at the Apogee Photo Magazine office. Click here to see her winning photo.