Return to the Dogwood flower season in Sacramento (California, USA)

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As I wrote on a post last year, every April, photographers walk the streets of Sacramento, trespassing on people’s lawns and driveways, to capture the beautiful Dogwood flowers that grow in the residents’ gardens. The neighborhood around the McKinley Park is one of the best, and the Capitol Mall also has white and pink dogwood flowers.

On March 31st, Easter day, my friend Beth and I headed to town very early in the morning to photograph the Dogwood flowers there. It’s become a tradition to go together to do this. On my last post about photographing dogwoods, I mentioned that I felt that I was too short for this type of photography. This year, I tried a different strategy: rather than taking my macro lens and feeling like I’m not tall enough, I took my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6.

The FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH (f/5.6, 1/1125s, ISO 800 @480 mm) was taken with that lens, handheld. As you probably already know, ISO is no longer a limiting factor in photography. I cleaned the noise from the photo in Topaz DeNoiseAI.

What prompted me to show the FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH, repeated below for convenience, is the curve, and the gentle light over the roof of the house. I understand that this photo is not for everyone, but it does appeal to my sensibilities.

If you feel like having a dogwood portrait on your wall, consider my “Dogwood Flowers, 2022” in my GeoGalleries folder “Flower“. It is available on paper and metal on various sizes.

Question for my readers: in your area, are there recurring photography themes the local photographers join each year and post on social media? Besides the dogwoods here, there are the lotus, the Lupines and California poppy on hills, mustard fields and sunflowers.

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8 responses to “Return to the Dogwood flower season in Sacramento (California, USA)”

  1. Steve Schwartzman Avatar

    Easy to see how the long curve of the dark flower stalk would have appealed to you. Did you lighten the area around the flower at the stalk’s tip (or darken the rest of the picture) as a way to call attention to the flower, or was the lighting like that naturally?

    I’ve also been de-noising a fair amount with Topaz software.

    To answer your question: in Texas the big thing each spring is for people to document the bluebonnets. As you pointed out regarding the dogwoods in your area, plenty of people here make “holes” in the bluebonnet colonies where they’ve sat to be photographed.

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    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      I did darken portions of the picture. I could not light the tip because its over the roof of a house! Too far to reach with extra light. It’s sad that people will sit on the bluebonnets to be photographed. I’m quite sure there’s always an opening in the bluebonnets patch to sit, like a rock. If there isn’t, it’s still no reason to trample over wildflowers.

      Like

  2. howg2211 Avatar
    howg2211

    I enjoy the image….like an environmental portrait!

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    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      Thank you.

      Like

  3. shoreacres Avatar

    I never would have associated dogwoods with California, but that’s mostly my lack of knowledge or imagination. I do love this photo, especially the curved branch. On my screen, the white petals have the faintest blush of blue, which combines so well with the pink accents on the petals’ edge.

    Bluebonnets are the great attraction here, either individually or in combination with Indian paintbrush. Some places, like Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, provide “photo fields” where people can photograph freely and learn about why plunking their kids in the middle of wildflower fields isn’t the best practice!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      Steve had mentioned the bluebonnets in Texas. Some times out lupens super bloom and they cover large areas. Not common but it happens. Dogwoods are common in the Sierra Nevada and they are planted in town.

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  4. tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles Avatar

    That is a beautiful and serene image!
    I am smiling imagining packs of wild photographers roaming neighborhood try to capture the perfect dogwood image – “Mom, there’s a herd of photographers in the front yard again!” 😉

    Like

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      😂

      Liked by 1 person

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