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Golden hour Hanegi Park plum blossoms 2021
In the spring of 2021, I went to Hanegi Park to see its plum blossoms. They were excellent. Not all had bloomed, but enough had to make me happy. Some of the ones I saw were perfect. If I’m not mistaken, it was the first time I went in the late afternoon. With the sun’s golden glow surrounding us at sunset, it was heaven on earth (or very close to it!).
The only thing lacking was Mount Fuji. I think the last time I saw it from Hanegi Park was in 2018. Not seeing it is no big problem. But, if it appears, that is something special. This time there was far too much cloud on the horizon for anyone to see it. Of course, the sunlight was starting to fade anyway.
And people numbers in the park were down. No doubt, this was due to the virus. Most stayed at home, which was probably a good thing.
With no crowd, it was easy to photograph the flowers. If there is one good thing to say about a pandemic, it is that. The majority of people don’t want to go anywhere they might get infected.
And the photography? I used high High-Speed Sync (HSS) flash. Instead of using it to create a black background, I shot flowers backlit by the golden glow of the sun. There was enough light to make it all beautiful.
I might expand on the timing of these shots. Some of these shots were clearly shot during daylight. About half were taken in fading light with a beautiful glow around them. If you don’t know, it is the result of “golden hour.” It starts and finishes thirty minutes on either side of sunset. It is an excellent time of day to shoot. Next time you’re out, you should try it.
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