Ever since the first signs of Spring, I’ve been out with my cameras, not wishing to lose any of the magic of the Great Annual Awakening of Nature. Maryland’s topography is so varied that even though it is such a small state, Spring arrives early in the southern part of the State, especially around Chesapeake Bay and the lower Potomac – almost a full month before it arrives at the Northern regions – near the Pennsylvania border. The rolling hills and valleys of Carroll county are decidedly cooler than DC and the annual cherry flowering takes place almost a week after the Tidal basin flowering
This year (2008) the the Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off on Saturday, March 29 – the flowers began blooming a couple of days before that, and on the 29th, it was close to approaching the peak – and it was 50 degree weather the next few days are likely to be cold and rainy, and we’ll lose a lot of the blossoms. I’m hoping that the flowers last until next weekend. The Festival itself runs until April 13th – but I’m afraid the flowers may be all gone by then. Here are the flowers.. as usual, it was a family trip, but we got separated looking for parking, and never caught up with the other car (which, incidentally, had our picnic lunch). My group ended up snacking at the refreshment stall behind the Jefferson Monument. I was able to walk around a bit under the trees, and here are the pictures. The crowd was very heavy on Saturday.
2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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2008 Cherry Blossom Festival
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Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700, Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 SAL18200 lens at Landscape setting and Auto ISO. I used a polarizer. The Shutter speeds ranged from 1/320 second in the Sun down to 1/50 second in the shade Here are the rest of the pictures.
olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.
A few days ago, I had my Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens mounted on the Alpha for some family pictures. (The lens is a 75mm equivalent on the A700, and thus serves as a very fast medium telephoto lens ideal for framing ‘head and shoulders’ shots, especially effective indoors for Available Light photography. I’ll be posting some of the “candid” portraits in another post soon). Anyway, I was out in Carroll County, and driving up on Rte 97 north when I came upon the Union Mills Homestead and Grist Mill.
I’ve documented my use of the Minolta 50mm f1/7 as a landscape lens on my 35mm AF Minolta Dynax 800si elsewhere on this blog since I’ve had great fun with the Minolta 50mm lens in Colorado and other locations. Now that the Minolta is an effective 75mm, its still great for landscape and building photography, especially for capturing architectural detail – it’s a challenge if there isn’t much room, though.
I would recommend a 28mm or 35mm lens on the Sony Alpha for close-up architectural work. For old farmhouses and general scenery where you can step back far enough, the 50mm (75mm) is a fine choice, especially in low light conditions.
These photographs were taken at Union Mills Homestead, just off MD Rte 97 in Carroll County. Union Mills dates back to the 1790’s and has many stories to tell… being on the way to Gettysburg, it saw its share of Union and Confederate activity. You can read all about Union Mills Homestead here. I got to the site late in the afternoon – it was clearing up after a storm, and the post rain sunlight coming through the clearing clouds was bright and clean. Everything had a just-washed clean look.
Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Across the Road from Union Mills
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Across the Road from Union Mills
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Union Mills Homestead
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Photographed with the Sony Alpha 700 and Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens, ISO 200, Skylight filter under a sunny/cloudy/post-rain situation
olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.