Every year spring rolls around in DC and photographers from across the land inevitably flock to the Tidal Basin to see what they can come up with. I guess if it’s your first time shooting down there you’re kind of working from a blank slate (as I was last year), but as the years go by you realize that it’s extremely difficult to get a “wow” shot of the cherry blossoms. Every shot seems to have been done already.

There’s the “frame the Jefferson Memorial with some cherry blossoms” shot. Then there’s the “frame the Washington Monument with some cherry blossoms” shot. There’s also the “show some people on a paddle boat with the blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial in the background” shot. And if you’re a tourist with a camera phone, there’s the famous “point your phone up at a tree and push the button” shot. Those are always spectacular.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
Not only is it difficult to come up with unique, original photos of the cherry blossoms, but each year other challenges are thrown our way:

The weather. It’s not always ideal for shooting. It could be rainy, overcast, windy, you name it. When I went down to the Tidal Basin on Sunday (I got there at 6:30 AM) it was completely overcast and gray. Not exactly a cheery backdrop for trees with white blossoms.

The sea of tourists. I was there at 6:30 in the morning, and by 7:00 the parking lot was full. So much for the “early bird” theory. People swarmed in at a maddening pace to point their camera phones up at the trees. Others were walking their dogs, fishing from the ledge, and pushing their babies in strollers. Don’t these people know that we don’t want them in our photos? Then there’s a matter of zig zagging between them just to make your way around the Basin, and stopping every 3 minutes when someone asks, “Can you take our picture?” It’s enough to make a sane person crazy.

The occurrence of “peak”. Mother Nature doesn’t always play nice and coincide peak bloom with a weekend. What do you do if peak is on a Wednesday? Take off work just to take photos of the blossoms? Only if you’re extremely dedicated or work downtown.

Nevertheless, I keep going back for more, and next year I’ll be right back out there to see what kind of photos leap onto my camera. Of the shots that I’ve seen on Flickr this year, this one by prsphoto really caught my eye. This is a very common area to shoot from, but his use of HDR and the sunrise (which somehow escaped my eye) is beautiful. Very well done.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs