With the pending Parks Service project to uproot about 150-300 cherry trees, Beau and I got up extra early to meet friends at the Tidal Basin to enjoy sunrise over the peak bloom of the cherry trees that ring the water.
It was COLD (about 35F/1.6C) but Beau and Had were nice and toasty and, WOW, were they popular with most of the tourists! Lots of videos being taken of them so if you see them on a billboard or tv in your country, please let me know. 🙂

The trees are at risk from the water levels and when removed the will turned into mulch at the end of the bloom season. After that, repairs to the sea wall can be made. According to the Parks Service, it won’t be until 2027 that we will see cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin.

These trees were a gift from Japan in 1912, so this is a sad occurrence, even if for the right reasons. The good news is that the National Arboretum will take propagation cuttings from Stumpy (pictured below) so that the original tree genealogy can live on.

For the photo enthusiasts – these were taken with a micro 4/3 body with a 12-40 2.8 lens. I also took one of my AD100 units from Godox to add pop in a few shots. These little things pack a punch and if you are motivated, I can highly recommend them.

Anyway….I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them.