Wednesday, January 11, 2012

First Cherry Blossom (Sakura, 桜 ) Photo for 2012 We Gotter Dun !

Today three of us piled in a car and drove north to see what the Cherry Blossoms (桜) were up to this year.  
They must be holding back, waiting for colder weather.  There aren't any in sight around Kin Village in Okinawa, Japan but, maybe some were blooming up in the higher elevations.

So, first thing this morning, I told Doc Graff and Ryukyu Ryu that my mission for the day was to shoot a Cherry Blossom.  That's all I cared about.  
Find my first Sakura ( 桜 ) for the year 2012, shoot a photo of it and take the rest of the day off.

Doc lives way up in those northern mountains and said he had checked Mt. Yaedake before coming down to meet us.  The description he gave of the Cherry Blossoms wasn't good.  Groan.

So, we went to another mountain instead.  There was only one tree with a few blossoms sprouting on it.  We almost missed it but, when I have my cherry blossom radar turned on, I holler when I spot anything that even faintly resembles one.  So, I hollered "CHERRY BLOSSOM" and Doc skillfully came back to earth and got us turned around on this narrow, mountainside road.  I ain't telling where it is because it was the only tree blooming.  The TV cameramen and newspaper reporters can just wait for Sakura Blossoms to bloom, like everybody else.  Hah !

There she is, my first Cherry Blossom ( ) Photo for 2012.  We Gotter Dun !













7 comments:

Randy said...

Nice shot! Congrats on the find.

Sherry said...

Certainly a sign of the times. Global warming is making this come out early in January?! Yikes! Reminds me, I was driving on the freeway in Seattle the other day, and I saw some trees still with falling leaves (which should've happened in the fall, a few months ago)! The seasons are no longer predictable these days.

Nomadic Samuel said...

I love the bokeh on this shot!

RyukyuMike said...

Nomadic Samuel,
Thanks. Working under some wind, I didn't get the shots I wanted but, will be back trying again, soon.

RyukyuMike said...

Randy,
Thank you. I'll do better when they really start full-blooming !

RyukyuMike said...

Sherry,
Not sure it's the global warmin g thingy but, could be, maybe.

J.Martinez said...

Stumbled across your blog today. Nice find! I haven't come across any Cherry Blossoms yet this year, but I need to. Got a commissioned shoot for exactly that and I hoped to find some before anyone else did;( Congrats on getting there first in 2012.