Spring: A new angle

Spring along the East Coast of the continental US starts south and creeps slowly northwards. And so on the weekend before Holy Week, the man-friend and I met up in Washington DC for a stroll beneath the canopies of fluffy dreamy blooms of the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin. The air was still nippy and the wind made it no less cozier but sitting beneath the trees with a picnic basket feels as well as bidding goodbye to the long winter.

A month after the DC trip, New York City is starting to bloom as well. Last weekend in a walk at the park revealed cherry blossoms in their pre-bloom stage. Most of the trees were still covered in buds which I calculated would not be in peak stage until another to weeks. Still, warmer weekends bring people out and same with the cameras.

These days my walks are more about rehashing my photography skills with a new DSLR in tow. My Canon and I have now become inseparable and my weekends and travel plans are all worked around when to capture the best images. And as I get consults from the pros (Paul Mobley in New York and the very patient Jim Paredes via Facebook!), I am now resolved that my next purchase will be a new lens that will cost me a cool $1k and it will involve fewer wardrobe/shoes sales and probably skipping a few meals. I have never believed in lens envy until I stepped out one morning to shoot pictures at the Easter Bonnet Parade on 5th Avenue only to be surrounded by Canon cameras with lenses from the high-end L- line. I have learned to pinpoint them from a distance - the familiar white barrels of the zooms and the thick red ring circling the lens made me drool with envy. It almost made me scream: that gorgeous guy in the corner is my boyfriend and I will trade for an EF-24-105 F/4L IS!!!

My next photo shoot is going to be the Brooklyn Botanical when the flowers are in full bloom. Hopefully, in a few days: