Renee Cobb

It’s almost that time of year.  The Cherry Blossoms will soon be upon us.  The Cherry Blossom Festival runs from March 27th – April 11th.  Lots of brides are hoping to have their engagement photos taken when the blossoms are out.  But there are a couple of considerations.  1.)  The weather.  It can be very fickle at that time of year.  I schedule a very limited number of shoots in order to allow for rescheduling.  40 degrees and raining just doesn’t make for natural smiles and 30 mile an hour winds doesn’t do much for your hair.   We usually make the final call the night before. 2.)  The crowds.  I only shoot in the early morning and even then there are a surprising number of people out and about at the Tidal Basin at 6:45 am.  The early morning sometimes makes for some beautiful warm light.  By 9:00 am your chances of getting portraits without lots of strangers in the background is pretty much nil.  And you will see hundreds of photographers from Washington DC and around the world descend on the area surrounding the Jefferson Memorial.  Another factor to keep in mind is the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Race.  This year it’s Sunday, April 11th. That can make a short drive over the bridge from Arlington a little more involved due to road closures and parking issues.  Here are some favorite photos of the blossoms themselves.  These were not taken during an engagement shoot but rather on a lucky beautiful morning a few years back before I did wedding photography – I managed to get out there at dawn.  If the weather’s looking clear, I’ll ask if you’re up for a 6:00 am or earlier start in order to catch the breaking red sky.   I will be following up this post with Cherry Blossom Engagement Photos.