In 1912, the City of Tokyo donated more than 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C. Many of the cherry trees were planted around the Tidal Basin and every year they blossom in late March or early April, turning the Tidal Basin into a beautiful photographic opportunity. The peak bloom only lasts for about a week, so the window of opportunity for shooting the blossoms is quite small, particularly if the weather doesn't cooperate.

Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin I shot this image at sunrise this morning at the Tidal Basin. It was a bitterly cold day, which is why you see very few people in the photo. Normally, when the sun is out, the sidewalk would be packed with walkers, joggers, and scores of photographers and their tripods. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is rain and snow, so I may have had perfect timing. The exact date of the peak bloom also happened to be today.

I like this image because of the varied color, the interest generated by the directional light from the rising sun on the left, and the movement created in the image by the line of the sidewalk leading up to the tree and then by the curve of the branches leading back around the image to the bottom left again.