National Mall

As tourists, we visited the National Mall at Washington, DC, in 1997. Recent events have of course heightened security here, so these photographs are a homage to a more innocent decade.

Note

This article is part of our USA Film Retrospective series, featuring images captured mostly on film on budget cameras in the 1990s and early 2000s. The images have been scanned from film negatives (up to 30 years old) and then post processed to artificially increase sharpness. Please forgive us if they do not meet your expectations of photographic quality.

The National Mall in Washington, DC, is a 2 mile long narrow park that acts as a focal point for many famous and notable buildings and in some respects symbolises the country itself. In particular, it is the principal gathering space for the nation’s most important civic events, especially major protests and inaugural events (including the tragic storming of the Capitol). It also serves as a soul of the nation, containing many museums including significant parts of the Smithsonian including the “Castle.”

Spanning from the Lincoln Memorial on the east, the visitor can experience many iconic buildings and memorials, including the Pool of Reflection, the Washington Monument, the White House, and the Capitol. From the Smithsonian Castle, you can also view the cityscape of Washington.

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Posted by Chris Tham

Chris Tham is a co-founder of Visual Voyager Pty Ltd, the Principal Voigtländer Ambassador for Mainline Photographics and a Workshop Instructor for Mainline Photo Academy. She brings over 35 years of experience as a photographer to her role, starting with a Yashica rangefinder belonging to her dad, joining the Photography Club in school, and developing her own photos. More recently, Chris has been taking photos during her travels, and as a result has experienced some of the most interesting places in the world. Chris focuses on nature, street, and urban architecture subjects in her photography.