Cherry Blossoms
Every year the cherry trees flower in the cultivated areas of the hills of California's coastal range, and of course I am impelled to photograph the blossoms. This season the cherry trees are flowering a tad early, like everything else in California in 2009.
My thought was to create a simple image of cherry blossoms against a white background. The elegance of the composition would be determined by the intersecting lines of two cherry branches.
View this image larger.
I went out with camera, tripod, and pruning sheers, and ended up creating the effect you see indoors on a light box. Here's a luminance channel inversion of the image in the LAB color space:
View this image larger.
Here are some cherry blossom images of d'année passées:
2006: Cherry Blossom Special; just getting to know cherry blossoms with digital:
2007: Cherry; playing with turning a photo of a cherry blossom into a "watercolor":
2008: Sunburst; experimenting with sensitivity (ISO) and cherry blossoms:
It's sometimes instructive to look back through one's work, particularly when there's such a strong (and seasonal) annual affinity for a particular subject like these cherries. I don't think photographing cherry blossoms will ever bore me!
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Photography
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I absolutely LOVE these photos? are they available for public use? Please email me and i will tell you of my intentions.
Is the cherry blossom on white available for public use? I am doing a GCSE project in which I have to create a moodboard, I won't be making a profit from it but would love to know whether I could use your image or not.
Thanks,
Claudia Bell
Harold, Happened across these photos, and felt inspired by the beautiful images.
Reminds me of a line of poetry by Pablo Neruda:
"I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."
I made a piece of calligraphy with an botanical painted image of a cherry branch and these words. It's one of my favorite things I've ever made.
Carol
These photos are beautiful. Are they available for public use?
Harold, I just love these photos, simply breathtaking. Thanks so much for sharing them with us.
Simply beautiful! Love your work!
Wow, great pictures. I especially like the bottom one with the water droplet shining like a diamond
The photos are beautiful, they show the true delicateness of the cherry blossom.
omg these r some very cool photos
i want to b a photographer and tt me these pics are inspirational
Great post! Very beautiful work indeed! I need to read up on LAB color space...