The National Cherry Blossom parade in Washington, DC encompasses just about everything good about spring in the Nation's Capital: festivities, lots of happy people, gorgeous scenery, monuments providing a beautiful setting, stunning cherry blossoms, boundless activity and joyful excitement.
When a dear friend asked me to go to the parade with her, I was game! We loaded bicycles on her little lime green volkswagen beetle and drove into the city. Once there, we rode through the bustling city until we reached our destination: the Cherry Blossom Parade. It was crowded, very crowded! Thousands of people were already lined up along the parade route. We were early, yet we were late: all the good spots were already taken. But as we were intent on photographing the event, we struggled through the crowd and finally found a very small space directly along the street.
While watching the parade most of my senses were in high gear: hearing, smelling and seeing were battling each other and begging my attention. In a good way! The following images represent how I experienced the parade: motion, blur, organized chaos, joy and excitement.
Halfway through the parade we took our bikes for a quick ride to the Cherry Blossom Tidal Basin and found a rest stop along the water among my very favorite trees: the weeping willows. Beautiful motion and liveliness there too but of a different nature!
Finally we were back at the little lime green volkswagen beetle and loaded the bikes back up. It was a great lively Saturday morning!
For a more traditional coverage of a parade look here: http://marleenvandenneste.smugmug.com/Editorial/Saint-Patricks-Day-Parade/47305014_253dD6