For the past few years, the thing I’ve been looking forward to most during this season is the winter plum blossoms, heralding spring’s arrival in the depths of winter.
In mid-January, thinking it was still a bit early no matter how you looked at it, I went to check on the plum grove at Shinagawa Ward Park, eager to see how things were going. To my delight, a few blossoms had already opened, rewarding my hopeful expectations.
The unique, yellow translucent flowers and strong fragrance of the winter jasmine. Because its blooming period and the shape of the tree and flowers resemble those of the plum tree, it is often planted in plum groves. However, to show off the results of my last-minute study, it seems to belong to the winter jasmine family, a different lineage from the plum and cherry trees, which are in the rose family.
I really wanted to come on a day with a blue sky background… Well, I guess complaining about that is pointless.
This shoot used the LUMIX G9proII with the Leica DG12-60mm and Leica DG45mm MACRO lenses.
I’m trying my hand at unfamiliar foreground blur shots too.
After enduring the lonely winter scenery, soon we’ll be able to enjoy both the peak of winter jasmine and early-blooming plum blossoms together. Though it’s still the coldest time of the year, this might just be the season when I’m happiest to photograph flowers.
That’s all from the field.
