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To say the 2021 cherry blossom season was really different is an understatement.

They came about a week earlier than expected which worked out well because crowds were a lot more manageable. There were road closures around the tidal basin, no in-person festivals celebrating the blooms, and the Jefferson Memorial is STILL under scaffolding.

Luckily, the blossoms were as beautiful as ever. I’m glad I was able to get out there when I could. I hit up my usual spots, tested out a new camera lens, and came home with some images I was really excited about.

Washington Monument

Since parking was really limited this year, Ohio Dr and the East Potomac Park parking lots were all closed, I had to get creative with the places I parked. Most of the time that meant parking on Jefferson Dr or Constitution Ave and walking past the Washington Monument to get to the Tidal Basin. I didn’t mind because I’ve always enjoyed these cherry trees as well. Although they aren’t as big as the ones by the Tidal Basin, they are beautiful trees that frame the Washington Monument.

Tidal Basin

Cherry blossoms usually last about a week, maybe 10 days if we have some really nice weather. However, if it rains or gets really windy, the petals start falling off the flowers and start turning into green leaves. I think most locals know this and by the time the first rainstorm hits, a lot of people will stop going to the tidal basin, but it’s probably my favorite time to go. Puddles are everywhere and I love it when the petals start flying off and land in the water and all over the ground.

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Like I said before, I showed up to the Women’s March pretty early last week. I live really close to a metro stop and I just remember the huge lines that were coming out of the metro last year for the walk. So this year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have wait in any of those lines. But I arrived so early that I had time to walk around the Tidal Basin.

My original plan was just to check out what the ice looked like over the water but as I was approaching, I felt inspired to take pictures of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. The way that the sun was just above it, creating these shadows made it look so epic. This is the view from behind the memorial. I took similar shots from in front, but I just liked the way this one looked better. The way that its simplified to this one little opening is very interesting to me. I think I want to keep this image in mind and keep on working at it. I know I could make something really cool out of it on a beautiful sunrise day.

It being the day of the women’s march and just walking around the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial felt right. He has several famous quotes around the memorial but this one was perfect for the day, “Make a career of humanity, commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a great person of yourself, a great nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” Thank you so much for that Dr. King. I just got the chills.

The camera settings for this image is F22 at 1/200th of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and my 28-70mm lens.

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I took this shot right before I left to Philly. You know how it is before you leave for a trip. You get so busy running errands and making sure you have everything in order before you leave, so I didn’t have time to process any of these images.

I remember this being a super peaceful morning. I tried walking to the Lincoln Memorial a different way then I’m used to so I could see if I could find a new POV. Then I thought about the beautiful engraving on the steps. I was so concentrated on trying to get this shot, I didn’t even realize there were some army guys working out on the bottom of the steps. All of the sudden they all started charging up the steps. Well Good Morning to you guys too 😉