Washington Monument & Cherry Blossoms III

The iconic Cherry Blossoms of Washington, D.C. in their peak bloom. Visitors will find mostly Yoshino Cherry Trees, but they will also find Kanzan Cherry, Akebono Cherry, Usuzumi Cherry, Black Cherry, Choke Cherry, Higan Cherry, Okame Cherry, Oshima Cherry, Snowgoose Cherry, Sour Cherry, Sweet Cherry, and a handful of other varieties. The cherry trees in bloom mark the first real sign of spring in the area. The views along with the warmer weather make it a pleasure for tourists and locals alike to get out and enjoy downtown Washington, D.C. and the National Mall.

Taken along the Tidal Basin near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, my goal with this panoramic photo was to convey the scene during the D.C. Cherry Blossom fervor and the architecture of the Washington Monument. I wanted to show the depth with the aged cherry trees whose canopy and flowering blossoms happily hang over the edge, engulfing one in a flowering tunnel as they walk around the Tidal Basin. Washington, D.C. is not a large city like New York City with the plethora of tall buildings as far as the eye can see. Rather it is filled with many unique sites and monuments which make up the cohesive whole; one of those iconic sites being the Cherry Blossoms in D.C. along the Tidal Basin on the National Mall. The Washington, D.C. Cherry Blossom peak bloom in late March / early April attracts an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year to experience the nearly 3800 cherry trees. Shot with a 200mm macro lens: this is a crop from a 21 Image Stitch (3 Rows of 7) and is a focus-stacked composite that maintains sharp focus throughout the image. As I moved through the series, I intentionally captured my input images when there were no people in a given frame, which is why there is no one in the final image.

The Washington Monument is among the most well-known landmarks of Washington, D.C. The massive obelisk dedicated to the first president of the United States stands over 500 feet tall. Construction began in 1848 and didn’t finish for nearly 40 years due to lack of funding and the American Civil War. Made of marble, granite and bluestone gneiss; one can see the different shades in color of the stone between the bottom and top sections of the monument as the quarry stone couldn’t be matched after a two-decade long gap in construction. Fifty flags surround the base of the structure, symbolizing the fifty states of the Union.

This high-resolution photo allows for making extremely large fine art prints and produces a hyper-realistic look unlike that of traditional fine art photography. It provides the viewer unrestricted access to the most intricate details of the many flowering cherry trees in their peak bloom with the Washington Monument towering above. The trees guide the viewer along the Tidal Basin to catch a glimpse of the ephemeral beauty of the of the Cherry Blossoms.