Old Town Alexandria Smartphone Photography Tour

You will meet your local guide at the Alexandria Visitor Center at 221 King Street, where you'll discuss the type of camera that you've brought with you and your photography experience. From there you will leave on a half-mile route. The tour will end at Christ Church, where you will be close to public transportation, shops and restaurants.

With cobblestone alleys and gaslight homes, Old Town Alexandria is a photographers dream. It was a wealthy international port city during the 1700s, a cross-road for spies, soldiers, and slaves seeking freedom during the Civil War, as well as the site of a controversial surrender during the War of 1812. Occupied during two wars and thus spared destruction, it is amazingly preserved to this day.

Your tour will explore the history of Old Town by focusing not on facts and dates but on the lives of a few key people, such as America's first President, George Washington. You'll learn more about the real George, not just the persona from history books, and how the city looked to his eyes. You'll see where he got a humble start as a surveyor, trained his first militia, changed from a Royalist to Revolutionary, became a millionaire, and where he addressed the public for the first time as President.

Along the way, you'll learn how to take great photos under any weather conditions or time of day, practice the best composition techniques that create visual interest in any photo, understand how to get your best photos of your kids/grand-kids/pets, get tips for posing people to make them look their best, and find out how to make your photos sing through the basics of photo editing. To get the most out of the tour, please download two Apps: Snapseed and VividHDR (iphone only).

Some of the sights you will see include Carlyle House, Gadsby's Tavern, George Washington's townhouse, Fairfax House, Light Horse Harry Lee's home and Christ Church. We will remain outside during the tour and be at each location for approximately 10 minutes taking photos. We'll be walking to each location and comfortable shoes are recommended.

The tour starts a different times based on the season, please check the options to find the start times.