584 - Tidal Basin
Today I found out that the separation of church and state isn’t real.
It all started on a lovely Sunday morning in the depths of Washington, DC. More specifically, the Tidal Basin- which if you didn’t know, is a semi-massive reservoir of water surrounded by cherry blossom trees.
Historically, these “Sakura” trees were given to the United States from Japan as a symbol of friendship back in 1912. Since then, their annual blossom has developed into a yearly festival attracting thousands of tourists every year.
But it wasn’t just a festival.
Weeks before the sacred bloom, whispers of the tree begin to appear in conversations like dollops of sour cream. At first it’s light, and then suddenly overpowering. Symbols of the cherry blossom pour across the city in a wild sort of “pre-bloom,” as businesses, organizations, and governmental entities urgently reminded us of the flower's imminent arrival.
As a result, my anticipation for the event began to boil. Shooting the cherry blossom trees had always been a casual bucket list item for me, but it’d never felt so imperative until now. I’d slowly begun to realize this event had a sort of religious undertone in DC, to the point where, as an outsider, it felt like I was about to witness the birth of a god-like figure.
Traffic doubled over the course of a few days, and the city began to pulse as the week of festivities drew nearer. To add to the chaos, the bloom’s timing depended entirely on the weather. The prediction was given about two weeks of leeway, with the understanding that if rain hit at the right moment, the flowers could be gone in an instant.
I believe this added to the spiritual tone that seemed to be emerging around the event. You had to be there- or a chain of misfortune might spawn into your life.
Thus, every morning at sunrise, a few onlookers gathered at the Tidal Basin in the brisk spring air, praying for the bloom’s arrival. And then one morning, their hopes were answered. On Sunday, March 17th, 2024, sunlight splashed across the trees, and the observers were blessed with a spring greeting like none other.
A few images leaked on social media, and then the real wave hit the Tidal Basin.
Tourists swarmed like bees, and suddenly every square inch of land was occupied by either a photographer or a smiley family in semi-casual attire. It almost felt like I was scrambling to a sort of mass, except the communion was a photo on Instagram instead of the body of Christ.
This made it a polarizing event, to say the least. The more I walked around the landscape, the more I couldn’t quite determine if this was a representation of heaven or hell. Everything was in extremes.
Beauty was at an all-time high as sun-kissed flowers breezed in front of DC’s stunning monuments. Everyone looked gorgeous as the morning light gleaned their eyes, and fresh-ironed linens swayed in the gentle wind.
But vanity spewed from the cracks. Families yelled at their kids to smile, photographers angrily fought over spots, and influencers were walking around like they ruled the world.
I picked my way through the crowd, doing my best to take everything in slowly. It would be too easy to let the frantic nature of the crowd take my mood. The last thing landscape photography needs is hysteria.
I trialed and errored several scenes, but admittedly found it difficult to focus. Every time I started to set up a shot, another photographer or family seemed to be impatiently waiting at my side to get their turn.
But finally, a single tree caught my eye that I had no intention of giving up on. It had a wicked sort of spiral to it, which felt right to represent the moment. Chaos and beauty were surrendering themselves to one another:
“Cherry Spiral”
Taken with Sony a7rIV + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 500 ~ 13mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/2500s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Once I looked at the shot, a rush of euphoria fell over me. I got it. I was here.
But then I considered- is this what I came for? A beautiful image? Or was it to celebrate nature with the community? Or was it for vanity purposes?
I couldn’t quite tell. After all, we were all here for the same physical thing. A photo. An Instagram post.
But at the same time, it felt wildly like I was part of a community. A chaotic community of people all looking for some type of bliss in their lives. Which at the end of the day, is what religion is all about, right?
Who knows. Maybe I’m pulling here. But one thing is for certain- there’s is a power in that cherry blossom. An unmistakeable one.
I’m on a mission is to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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