by Allie Richards

It’s been awhile since we’ve put together a collection of new work and travels! So why not start with some spring blooms??

This spring, Kris Simard and I traveled down to Washington D.C. to see the famous Yoshino cherry trees that blossom every spring around the Tidal Basin. This festival and celebration has been an annual tradition since the trees were gifted to the US by Japan in 1912. It’s a spring “photographer pilgrimage” of sorts, and we’d been trying to see them for years but never quite timed it right. Well this year - we did!! And we were overcome with excitement, color and spring energy.

As soon as we arrived, we were hit with the spring aromas in the air and the sight of literally thousands and thousands of flower blossoms. We whipped out our cameras and took shot after shot, and before we knew it - hours had gone by. We learned the limit of how long we could stand holding our cameras up!

We also learned to have patience. The Tidal Basin is exploding with people - doing literally anything you can imagine for the camera. It was a bit much, but a price to pay for this short-lived phenomenon. Roads were cordoned off, taxi drivers were confused - but all was worth it in the end.

We got to explore a bit outside of the Basin too - for something different. We made stops at the Capitol, The Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery, the National Botanical Garden and the National Zoo! Quite a lot of just a couple of days.

We had such a wonderful time photographing every petal and memorial, that we hope to return again but with a photo tour group in tow. We think this very short trip is tailor-made for a fun learning experience, especially for the macro lovers! As you can tell, we’ve been hard at work planning for 2024, with our tour dates to be released soon.