cherry trees

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This was definitely one of my favorite days of 2017! Obviously Washington DC is famous for it’s cherry blossoms in the spring time but this past season was sooo unique. We had a crazy warm winter which lead to a weird snow that we got in March. It was so unexpected and out of nowhere. Everybody was so confused by it, including the cherry blossoms! They had already started to bloom and all the weathermen in the area were saying how this year’s cherry blossoms weren’t going to be doing too well.

They were right and they were wrong. A lot of the trees still peaked but some trees were complete duds. The flowers themselves weren’t as vibrant as they usually are. Which was totally fine by me because I think that also mislead a lot of people and they all decided to just skip the blooms this year. It was purrrfect.

So this was taken on a particularly foggy morning where you could barely see 10ft in front of you. It was soooo awesome and so much fun to photograph. I was probably out for 4 hours or something like that just photographing the flowers. The best part was that there was barely anyone there! Usually this place would be packed. I was in a photographer’s dreamland.

My favorite part of this image is seeing the slight reflection in the tidal basin water. It’s crazy to think that just right behind that branch is the Washington Monument which is totally covered by the fog. I usually use it as a point of reference because it’s so tall but you couldn’t even see it with your naked eye. It was bananas. And I love bananas. LOL

The settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/40th of a second and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens.

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Last but not least, my personal favorite time to see reflections is during cherry blossom season in Washington DC.

I know it’s a little unfair since the Tidal Basin itself can be super reflective, but this was a special day. This was a super, super foggy day out where hardly anything was visible except for these amazing cherry trees. I remember capturing this around 9am. The tide was really high so the water was overflowing onto the sidewalks. Luckily, I was wearing my rain boots and was able to walk around in the puddles. This gave me a perspective that no one else was able to capture or if they did, they were not able to stay in the water for that long. If you look on the bottom right hand corner of the image, you can see a slight color variation on the cherry blossom branch in the reflection. That was the line divide of the sidewalk and the water itself. CRAZY right? Definietly the best day of cherry blossom photography ever in history of all the world.

The camera settings for this image was F6.3 at 1/40th of a second at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm. I remember purposely not using my wide angle for this image because I felt like it would have added way too much to the image. Either too many trees on the left or too much white space on the right. This was captured at 28mm and it worked out perfectly.

Let me know what you thought of this week’s reflection images. Did you like the series? Should I do more of them in the future with other themes?
In case you missed the past couple of days, here’s what you missed: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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An image that didn’t make the 2018 Dynamic DC Wall Calendar cut.

I love this image. I think it sets such a nice tone for the cherry blossoms, but I wasn’t sure if you all would want to be staring at a lady’s back for 31 days. So it didn’t make the cut. LOL

I think my favorite part of the image is the little reflection you see on the bottom right hand corner. It’s definietly obvious that it’s there, but the reflection is so subtle that I don’t know if you really think about it. I like how it gives the vibe that she’s being surrounded by cherry blossoms.

To be honest, I don’t even know how this lady is. She was just there with another photographer and they were having a cherry blossom photoshoot. Totally normal if you’re ever at the Tidal Basin during cherry blossom season. I usually try to stay out of the way and I was in the middle of walking around them when I saw the scene from behind. Now, I don’t know how this lady’s photographer’s image turned out, but I’m really happy with mine. But even if she walked right past me, I would not even be able to recognize her. I completely forgot what she looked like from the front. She will now forever be called ‘Cherry Blossom lady’ to me. HAHA. But if I did find out who she was, I’d totally gift her with this print.

The settings for this image is 1/100th of a second at F/8 and ISO 160 with my 100mm macro lens. See, you can go beyond just macro images with that lens however I’m not sure why I did that. I was probably busy shooting the flowers and just happened to have that lens on my camera.

Now that I think about it, this whole image sounds like one happy accident 🙂

 

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I found this in my computer trash bin the other day. LOL. Sometimes I can be so dramatic. I have no idea why I threw it out. I think I can get frustrated by my own work sometimes and without thinking, I’ll immediately dismiss it. I also think it’s the time of day that I chose to edit this image too. It was late (and by late I mean 9pm) and I had nothing better to do so I decided to edit some images. I feel images never really turns out the way I want to that late at night. I don’t even know why I bother sometimes. So I tossed it. But looking back at it now, I kinda like it. I also remember shooting this and thinking that man purposely stood there because he saw me setting up the shot to get low and he just wanted his picture taken.

What about you? Do you have a most productive hour? Mine is definietly in the morning. Probably between 10a – 1p. I usually don’t even eat lunch until 2pm because I want to make sure I get everything done that I wanted to get done in that amount of time. In the afternoon is usually the time where I’ll do the mindless things- check emails, go to the grocery store, etc. Then my second wind will come back at around 5pm. Too much info? Ok, I’ll stop now.

My camera settings for this image was F8 at 1/50th of a second ISO 1000. Yes, 1000. I had to double check to make sure I was counting all the zeros correctly. I have no idea why my ISO was so high. The only reason I could come up with was that I must of bumped it up that during sunrise and forgot to change it back when the sun was actually up. I hope the rest of the images from this day wasn’t that high.

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Ok, last cherry blossom image for a while. I know I’ve been on a cherry blossom streak but I’m lovin’ them this year and this one was absolutely incredible. This is from that same foggy morning when I lost tripod in the tidal basin also the same day that I captured this beautiful cherry tree. Actually you know what, that tree that’s almost parallel to the sidewalk is the same tree as the previous image except this is from the other side it. That morning was crazy incredible for photography. So grateful for my rain boots so I was able to stand in the middle of this gigantic puddle and capture the reflections. I’m pretty sure other photographers there was staring at me to get out of the middle of their shot. LOL. *just one more, I promise* says every photographer in the world.

But the sad part is that I should of never been able to take this picture. The flooding of the tidal basin at high tide is a growing problem that’s getting worse everyday. It’s due to the collapsing seawall that surrounds the basin. If it gets bad enough, it will be disastrous for the cherry blossom trees. Just thinking about it makes me so sad. So if you’d like to learn more about the situation or if you would be kind of enough to donate the cause, click the link here. If every visitor to the tidal basin donated just $15, then that money would really go a long way to preserve the wall and trees.

The settings for this image was F6.3 at 1/15th of a second at ISO 200 with my 16-35mm. The biggest thing I wanted out of this image was to really show off the reflections in the puddle. I think the bubbles in it were an added bonus but I’m not sure how they happened. Maybe it was me walking through the puddle? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The only way to get an image like this is to wake up super early. Way earlier than you actually want to. Way earlier than your body wants to. But it’s worth it. Theres no other time where you’ll get that amazing purple glow or find the stillness in the water or sidewalks. Nobody’s there rushing by you or getting in your way because there’s hardly anyone else there. Ive said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s such a beautiful way to start your day.

And don’t get me started with that fog. That fog just made the morning so much more enjoyable. It really fills the air with warmth like you’re walking through a  big puffy cloud. Its  hard to say, but I really do think my favorite weather to shoot in is dense fog. It just simplifies everything and your limited to what’s right in front of you. There are so many more ways to see things when you’re limited by the fog. I don’t know, did that make sense? I mean that everything is just so simplified that you have no other option but to see and think of objects you see everyday differently.

This image was shot at F/8 2.5 seconds ISO 160 with my 16-35mm on my tripod. My intention was to get the water silky smooth so you can really see the reflections of the cherry blossom trees and to get more color saturation from the fog. It was shot looking onto the the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial while standing close to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. What do you think of it? Do you like the lights from the memorial shining through the cherry blossom trees or no? I’m still on the fence but I think the colors made for a cool, slightly noticeable contrast.