Cherry Blossoms

After work on Tuesday I headed down to the DC Tidal Basin with 8 million (okay, slight exaggeration) to see the Cherry Blossoms.  I made the mistake of going on the day the blossoms were labeled, "peak conditions," but Tuesday was the only day I could go during the week.  With rain in the five day forecast I didn't want to take a chance that the delicate petals would get washed away before I missed them (again!). 

The classic cherry blossom picture on the Tidal Basin. Just not sure if I like it better as a landscape or portrait shot.  Thoughts?

I love, love, love the variations in the colors of the petals. Most of the petals were whiteish when I was there, but there was definitely quite a few pink ones as well. 

I don't know why, but the photo above just speaks to me.

If I could get light this gorgeous during every photo shoot I'd be the happiest person in the world. Also, please note that there isn't a barricade on the edge of the path, so my fear of drowning was running rampant and this was the closet I got to the water.  Certain sections had a banister, but the majority of the tidal basin didn't. Craziness. I'm actually shocked I didn't see someone fall in.

If I had a favorite tree, it'd be the one above. That's saying something because I generally can't stand the color pink.

All in all, definitely a good time.  It was insanely crowded and just dealing with all of the people really started to grind on me.  I brought my tripod and had every intention of staying through sunset but after 2.5 hours of dealing with that many people I was over it.  Plus, I wanted to get back to the metro in some version of daylight. 

I'm really happy I took the few hours to walk around the tidal basin.  It would have been a lot faster if I didn't stop every 20 feet, but that was kind of the point.  I also lost track after 20 different people stopped me and asked me to take a picture of them with their camera.  One couple in particular said, "you look like you won't drop our camera in the water or even want to run off with it."  They were nice and took a photo of me with my iPhone.  I look like a sweaty mess in it :) 

Next year I definitely want to be there for a sunrise. I can only imagine how gorgeous that would be. 

So what do you think? How did I do my first time out there? Any tips or suggestions? Seriously, I'm all ears!  If anyone has a magic tip for making flowers freeze during the windy I'm highly interested in that tip!