This year, I probably went out for cherry blossoms more than I had any previous year that I can remember. I woke up for a few sunrises, stayed for a few sunsets, and spent some time exploring during the day. As a landscape photographer, there is a fine line between capturing what is presented to you (in weather, blooms, people) and creating something with what you have. Lately, I have been focusing on the latter — trying to create an image given the available elements. Sometimes those elements are inherently beautiful, and therefore popular. Think a blazing orange and pink sunrise – not many people wake up for those, they aren’t very common, and very rarely can one get it framed right above some photogenic elements such as cherry blossoms and the Washington Monument. It’s easy to see why those shots are so popular. Sometimes, the environment doesn’t give you the inherent WOW factor so you have to try to create it yourself. It’s a good exercise in creation that I always enjoy. The practice also helps for when the elements do line up perfectly – I find myself more able to capture shots I find unique and fulfilling.

This year, the cherry blossoms themselves were very nice — as they are most years. The weather we had was also nice, but not stunning. We had a few clear days, a few cloudy days, but no real days of stunning colors. I still had a very nice time shooting at primarily the Tidal Basin, avoiding crowds by going at select times, and shooting solo with friends, and workshop participants.

So here I present to you my cherry blossom shots of 2016. Following these images will be more of the city, some long overdue Air Force Memorial shots, and some images from Death Valley I captured last month: