koerbel photography

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Now for something COMPLETELY different from what I usually do, portraits.

This was fun though. My friend from Colorado, Sam came to visit Washington. This was probably my 3rd year in a row trying to get him to come during cherry blossom season and this year we finally made it happen! Although the cherry blossom trees were not as full as they would have been during peak bloom, he still could not stop saying “Wow this is so beautiful”. It was funny to hear him say it so much because I know I kept on saying it during peak but to hear him say it so often when the petals were falling off made me realize how lucky I really am to live so close to the cherry blossoms.

This image was actually inspired by my friend, Larry. He had taken a similar image of his wife and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to recreate it with Sam. He was completely down for it and it made it even more fun.

We started grabbing all the petals we could from the grass and collecting them in our hands. I love the way this turned out. His facial expression is just perfect! LOL. And I can’t stop looking at all the different ways the petals flew out of his hands. We tried this three times before we stopped and this was the second attempt. I don’t think it could have come out any better.

Luckily, Sam had a faster lens that he let me use for this image. Now I am really considering the 24-70mm F2.8. It’s a beautiful lens and the bokeh is just amazing. Don’t be surprised if you see an updated gear list soon 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F2.8 at 1/1000th of a sec and ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and the 24-70mm lens.