In 1929, Alexander formed an engineering company with Maurice Repass the two knew each other from both from engineering classes and the football team at the University of Iowa. Alexander, an African American, graduated from the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa in 1912, where he was also a football player. The bridge over the Tidal Basin and the seawall were completed by the engineering firm of Alexander and Repass out of Iowa in the 1940s. The Tidal Basin was first built in the 1800s. Water from the Tidal Basin is also used (via a pumping system) to maintain water levels in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool.
The rush of water out of the Tidal Basin sweeps away any silt or sediment build up inside the Washington Channel, keeping it navigable As the tide turns, water trying to flow out of the inlet gates causes the gates to close, and the outlet gates on the Washington Channel side of the Basin open. Twice a day at high tide, 250 million US gallons of water from the Potomac River enter the Tidal Basin through the inlet gates. Fill lands separate the Washington Channel from the Potomac River the Washington Channel drains into the Anacostia River just above its confluence with the Potomac. It was built to harness the power of the tides in the Potomac River to flush silt and sediment from the Washington Channel. The Tidal Basin is about 107 acres in size and approximately 10 feet deep.
It is the location most associated with Washington's Cherry Blossom Festival that takes place each spring. They can all be visited via the Tidal Basin Loop Trail. Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the George Mason Memorial, the John Paul Jones Memorial, the Floral Library, the Japanese Pagoda, and the Japanese Lantern and site of the First Cherry Tree Planting all surround the Tidal Basin. The Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. The Tidal Basin is part of West Potomac Park in Washington, DC. Photograph by Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz, 2014 (Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0) The Washington Monument at the left, and the Jefferson Memorial at the right. So I clambered down from above carefully, camera in hand.Aerial view of the Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C. But at one point, I wandered by and noticed how the waves were breaching the tidal platform. There’s no shot here unless the water level is just right.
I first noticed its perfect shape from the cliffs above but didn’t photograph it for a long while. And when you’re out there, you realize one can’t walk into the same tidal pool twice (to misquote Heraclitus).Įven folks who were raised here may not recognize this circular pool down in PV’s Golden Cove. But while our tidal pools are familiar, they’re never predictable.Ī tidal pool changes from moment to moment: the water level, wave action, lighting, mood. That’s not always easy in the South Bay we’re all pretty familiar with the scenic locations.
The thing that excites me most about my job is the challenge - photographing someplace I’ve never been, figuring out how to shoot a familiar spot in a fresh way. And my favorite spots to photograph are the tidal pools of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. But I spend way more time here in the South Bay than everywhere else. As a landscape/travel photographer, I travel all over the place.