Reminder May Outing: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Hoping to get shots for the Haycation show we have coming later this year. It is the largest Sheep and wool show in the U.S. and should be very interesting The show and parking are free but the ask for a donation of $5 to help the association. 

Carpooling would be helpful so we will be in the usual park and ride until 9AM. The date will be Sat. May 2,2015 

For more info and to signup for this outing visit: http://www.cmpg.org/NavigationMenu/CMPG-Events/Group-Outings

April Outing Gallery

To view images from our April outing to the Cherryblossom Festival Click here

Reminder: Cherryblossom Outing

Just a reminder that our Outing Coordinator John Malony will be leading an outing to D.C. to

photograph the Cherryblossoms this Saturday April 11th.  We will meet at 5:45am at the Meadowbrook park and ride at the south end of Long Gate Pkwy.. It is the first exit on rte. 100 from rte 29.

For more information visit: http://www.cmpg.org/NavigationMenu/CMPG-Events/Group-Outings

April Photo Outing: Cherryblossom Festival

Cherryblossom Festival

When:Saturday April 11th

Where:Meet at the Route 100 Park and Ride

Time: 5:45am depart at 6:00am

Info: http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org

Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates spring in Washington, DC, the gift of the cherry blossom trees, and the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. The Festival produces and coordinates daily events featuring diverse and creative programming promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty, and community spirit. 

We will meet at the meadowbrook park and ride at the south end of Longgate Pkwy.. It is the first exit on rte. 100 from rte 29 (See Google Map). I know that a lot of people don't like to get up early but if we are going to find parking we will be leaving at 6AM. 

For more info:
http://www.cmpg.org/NavigationMenu/CMPG-Events/Group-Outings

View images from our last CMPG group outing-Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Our last outing was to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. To view the many wonderful images click here. Many thanks to Kirsten Messmer for putting together such a great outing!

Next CMPG Outing-Cherry Blossom's in DC

Details:

Each year, thousands of Japanese cherry trees bloom around the tidal basin and DC. The sight and beauty of those is quite unique. The peak bloom is predicted to be from April 8th to 12th this year. This is an early morning event as it gets busy very quickly around the Tidal Basin and parking becomes nonexistent later in the day. An arrival before sunrise is best. Sunrise will be right around 6.35am.

Dates for outings:

Thursday 10th of April (as posted earlier by John Maloney)

Saturday 12th of April

Meeting Location:

Meet at the Route 100 Park & Ride at 5am for both days and plan to leave no later than 5.15am (on Thursday John will leave by 5.15 - don't get left behind). Since I live close to DC, I will meet the group downtown at the tidal basin . Early in the morning, there is parking in the lots of the park service and along Ohio Drive (as indicated on the map). I will meet with the group on the inlet bridge at 6am (as indicated by the red arrow on the map). I will start walking along the tidal basin away from the Jefferson Memorial about 1/3 up the path. This will be a good position to have the sun rise behind the Jefferson Memorial.  From there, once the sun is up, we can explore some of the monuments, take Macro images of the blooms etc. 

One tip, bring a flashlight, flash or head lamp and try some light painting before sunrise by artificially illuminating the blooms against the dark sky. Don't forget your tripod for the early morning shots.

Second part of outing: Saturday 12th of April meet at 12 noon at the National Arboretum main parking lot (visit http://www.usna.usda.gov/Information/directions.html for directions). 

The National Arboretum has several blooming Japanese cherry trees and countless other flora that are ideal for photography. This is for the not so early risers and those still up for some more shooting. At this later time there will likely be no parking around the tidal basin, plus there will be lots and lots of people which make it less pleasurable to photograph the cherry blossoms. So, the Arboretum will be a good alternative to still see those beautiful trees.

For those that are there in the early morning, you can either stay at the tidal basin or follow me up to the Arboretum.

For more info contact: CMPG Outing Coordinator Kirsten Messmer