In mid-March, I went out to see the early-blooming cherry blossoms. My destination was Shioiri Park in Arakawa Ward, which I stumbled upon last spring while photographing the “100 Famous Views of Edo.” I had been so delighted by the good fortune of encountering the Yoko-zakura blossoms in full bloom back then. This time, I brought along my LUMIX S1IIE and my usual SIGMA 20-200mm F3.5-6.3 DG, plus the SIGMA 90mm F2.8 DG DN.
The location is on the right bank of the Sumida River, near where it branches off from the Arakawa River and takes a sharp turn southward. It’s just over a 10-minute walk from Minami-Senju Station, and when I arrived, the first thing that caught my eye before the cherry blossoms were the snowbells in full bloom.
And rosemary. A hint of cherry blossom pink peeks through in the background.
The cherry blossoms I was looking for were blooming like this. The Kawazu-zakura blossoms had already finished blooming, and the stars of the day were either the Yoko-zakura or the Daikan-zakura—I’m sorry, but I couldn’t tell which one it was, or if both were in bloom.
It’s quite charming to see the Tokyo Skytree in the distance.
Well, since I brought it along, I took a few shots with the SIGMA 90mm as well.
When I have a fast prime lens, I can’t help but play around with creating bokeh in the foreground and background. That’s part of the fun, isn’t it?
This is a simple post where I’ve just lined up the photos I took, but let’s just say that with flowers this beautiful, there’s no need for any extra commentary.
That’s all from the field.
