Every April, there is a blossoming in the waterfront park in Morgantown, West Virginia. 45 Yoshino cherry blossom trees come into bloom in the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront park thanks to a very generous donation of the trees in 2001 by Milan Roh in memory of his wife, Geraldine Jerry Murphy Roh. I believe Mr. Roh is still alive and in his early nineties and the whole town can be thankful that he added to the beauty of the city in this area. Each April I try to make my way there at what I hope is Peak blossom to capture some of that beauty in my photographs.
This year was a little tricky as I had a trip to Dubai planned for the end of March and so I hoped the weather would be kind to me. I finally decided late on the 27th March to make a quick visit in the early evening, but of course I had forgotten that the sun actually goes behind the hills well before the official sunset time and when I first arrived everything looked pretty dull and inviting. I chatted with another photographer for a while as we watched the sky and we finally decided that it was a “no-hoper” and she drove off as I went to check out the new seats in the amphitheater and I was surprised to see the start of an interesting sky:
I must admit the amphitheater looked great as well and the speciality lens I had with me (a fisheye lens) did a great job of capturing the full scene that evening. So with that one in the bag, I strolled back to the girder bridge over Deckers Creek and was rewarded with both great blossoms and an interesting sunset sky at the same time. I think the first image above is my favorite, but there were quite a number that really looked interesting with the contrasts between the darkening land and the brighter sky:
I tried some fisheye shots here as well – I think this one taken very close to the trunk of one of the Yoshino trees gives a great view of the path, the bridge and the trees overhanging the scene:
The weather forecast for the next day was not great and I was leaving for Dubai the day after that, but as it happened, the afternoon brightened considerably, and I was able to visit again for some “day-time” views of the blossoms. To prove it, here is the official time!
The blue skies added a lot of color to the scene and here is the amphitheater surrounded by the blossoms:
I enjoy capturing the contrast between the old rusting structure of the bridge with the softness of the flowers as in the next two images:
This next one is a little more artistic with the focus on a few blossoms with the bridge in the background:
And to close, the fisheye lens has a 180-degree view and so looking upwards among the trees gives a lovely all-encompassing view of the blue sky and the mass of cherry blossoms that all resulted from the generous gift over 20 years ago now!
If you are interested in my other images taken around Morgantown and West Virginia as a print for your wall at home or in the office (or just as a gift), you can see my portfolio here on Pictorem, with free shipping and a 30 day money back guarantee.
Alessandra
17 Apr 2023There is a small town near mine called Winters that has a trestle train bridge and cherry trees and your photos reminded me of it. This is a beautiful selection and makes me want to visit Morgantown.
Steve Heap
17 Apr 2023Interesting! These do look good at this time of year. This part of Morgantown is quite nice – the high street is suffering from shops closing and being replaced by dollar stores, unfortunately
Louis Dallara
17 Apr 2023Steve; very nice captures of mother nature, beautiful show,
Steve Heap
18 Apr 2023Thanks Louis!
Jim Cook
18 Apr 2023Beautiful photos! Especially love the very 1st one of the elongated bridge and cherry tree at entrance to it. The old clock is also a favorite as is the fish eye photo. Great work as always.
Steve Heap
18 Apr 2023Thanks Jim – yes, that first one is my favorite although the fisheye ones came out pretty well!