It was a combination of being rushed because I wasn't alone (as I usually am when I make one of these) and it was too cold to sit in one spot for twenty minutes without moving, the wind, and the fact that I wasn't using a tripod, I had the camera perched on the ledge of the railing of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.

I don't use a tripod when I do my timelapses because I want the environment to dictate where I can setup, so that the finished product is directly linked with the location in which it was made. Usually I'll take the time to stabilize the camera sufficiently to remove all jitter but this time I wasn't so steadfast.