Before they're gone...

I cut it kind of close this year, but I did get out for the annual Cherry Blossom Photo Shoot. It was an iffy proposition, what with the blossoms all showing up two weeks early and disappearing a week before the start of the actual Cherry Blossom Festival. There's going to be a lot of disappointed people visiting this weekend and next.

Even though the blossoms are gone for 2012, they will live on here (and on my Flickr page, link to the right).

The goal for this year was influenced by a call from my dad asking for landscapes of the Jefferson and Lincoln and a portrait of the Washington that he could frame together. Told him I'd do my best, although it was going to be tough getting Lincoln in the same frame as the cherry blossoms since, to the best of my knowledge, there really aren't any nearby. I did get some good ones of Washington and Jefferson, so I'll be sending those off to him.

One thing I did decide to do was concentrate on depth of field. Rule of thumb: Smaller apertures - the ones with higher numbers (yeah, I know) - give you greater depth of field, i.e., f/32 is deeper than f/14 which is deeper than f/2.8. But shooting small apertures at 1/30 or 1/20 of a second with out at least a monopod (which I left at home) can be tricky, to say the least. So, through a combination of adjusting aperture, shutter speed and "film" speed, I kinda pulled it off. For instance...
This shot of the Jefferson Memorial was shot at 1/180 at f/10 with a 400 ISO. The higher ISO - what we used to call film speed - gave me the ability to shoot faster at a medium aperture giving a middling depth of field.

This picture of our beloved, but cracked, Washington Monument, on the other hand, has a greater depth of field (both the blossoms and the monument are in focus). It has the same aperture (f/10), but a slower ISO (200) meant I had to slow down the shutter speed to 1/60 of a second. Basically, I gained three stops from the previous picture.

I could go into all the technical details of this picture (400 for 1/125 of a second at f/10), and how they did what and why, but I won't except to say the slightly slower shutter speed put the monument into slightly sharper focus than the first picture. It's one of my favorites. So I'll leave it at that and just enjoy looking at it.

And, finally, DCist liked this shot enough it chose it for a story earlier this week, The Great Cherry Blossom Massacre of 2012. I think the title speaks for itself.

Then and now...and kites!!

How do you know when you need new shoes? After walking around the Tidal Basin and part of the Mall your legs feel like someone went after them with a bat. Thankfully, that's why god made analgesics.

You know what time it is, right? It's time for these:

I'm no expert, but I'd say the cherry blossoms were about at about 60 percent this past weekend. For what the experts say check out the bloom watch page of the National Cherry Blossom Festival site.

First off, let's get the rules straight. If you're thinking about doing this:

Or this:
Don't! This just annoys the crap out of me. Basically, the trees that are big enough to climb or hang off of are some of the oldest and really don't deserve being abused by idiots.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Remember Dec. 19, 2009? Let me refresh your memory. It was the first day of our first big snow storm. That Saturday morning I headed out for a trudge around the Mall and the Tidal Basin. Remember how everything looked that day? Here, let me jog your memory:

That's how the Tidal Basin looked on Dec. 19. This is how it looked on Saturday, March 27, 2010:

I did my best to replicate the angle and view of the first picture. In fact, I was looking from a print of the snowy picture to the viewfinder and back just to make sure I got the blossoms right. Here's another one from Dec. 19:

The thing I find amazing is that the snow was coming down so hard you can't see the Washington Monument. Thankfully, it decided to show up on Saturday:

With another week or so of blossoms left, I'm sure I'll be back out there with my camera again soon.

Another big event on Saturday was the Smithsonian Kite Festival. The skies around the Mall were alive with color zooming this way and that. Here's a couple of shots of the skies over Washington, D.C.:

And, finally, one last shot of the Tidal Basin:

More to come, after I buy a new pair of shoes.

A Walk Among the Flowers

Along with the first robin of Spring, D.C. has its own little "Hey-Winter-is-over-it's-time-to-break-out-the-sundresses" signal: the blossoming of almost 4,000 Japanese cherry trees. 

Since I moved to area, I've made it down to the Tidal Basin each year to take in the blooms and snap a picture or two (or 200). I've also learned a lesson or two about when to visit, namely not on the second weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. A weeknight stroll is a much better choice.

For those of you from out of town, this weekend in D.C. the tourist hoards descended upon our fair capital. In the millions. 

Friday night was a bit blustery with a bit of wind and some overcast, but nothing too terrible. Anyway, here are a couple from my 2009 Cherry Blossom album. Enjoy.

Some of the prettiest blossoms hang right down over the

paths and into the water.

Sunset over the Tidal Basin.

Two of the more famous icons of the District.

When the wind blows, and it was blowing Friday,

it's almost like standing in a sweet smelling blizzard.

A few clouds can't take away from the view.

Finding a break in the clouds, the sun peeked out 

for one last shot before hiding in Rosslyn.

On Saturday, there'd be a line behind this little break 

in blossoms. Friday night I didn't have to wait a second.

Even in black-and-white they're still pretty.

One last shot before the dying of the light.