So this is the image I really wanted to capture when I came back to the Harris Street Cemetery on Sunday at sunrise.  I had photographed the cemetery and its three beautiful cherry trees at peak bloom the day before but the light was coming from the opposite direction.  That made this angle tough to capture as the interior cherry blossoms were in the shadows and the light was just all wrong.

I woke at 6am having checked the forecast and noting clear blue skies were expected.  That gave me an extra hour of sleep as there was no point in shooting the actual sun rise without any clouds in the sky to provide for interesting reflected light.  I headed straight to Harris Street Cemetery and captured this image as soon as I set up.

I had decided that I would use my widest lens and put the camera as low to the ground as it could go. By doing so and shooting this in portrait orientation, I could get the greatest amount of the tree and its cherry blossoms in the frame.  I was also using the quirk of the wide angle lens (distorting objects in the periphery) to my advantage as placing the bench near the bottom of the frame made it appear larger.

After getting this image, I decided to wait (and wait) for the sun to climb in the sky and illuminate the tree trunk and cherry blossoms.  It ended up taking an hour for the sun to reach high enough to light up the tree and, when I arrived home, I realized that this image taken at first light was the stronger of the two.

This is my favorite image from my time spent at Harris Street Cemetery.  I think I might have a new favorite tree in town ; )