At the BBG

I started writing this post at the beginning of June, and it's taken so long for me to finish it...

I first found out about the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, or Sakura Matsuri, held at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Brooklyn, New York a few years ago. It's a weekend-long event that celebrates both spring through the viewing of the blossoming cherry trees, and Japanese culture with performances, demonstrations, and displays. I tried to go one day last year, but because of a forecast of rain, I canceled my plans. The days leading up to that date I kept hoping that the weather would change, but the forecast never gave any good news. Lo and behold, when I woke up the day I had wanted to go, the sun was shining and there was no sign of rain! It was just too bad that I wasn't able to benefit from the good weather because I slept in late. So this year I was more determined to go, but the threat of rain loomed again. When my friend and I got out of the subway station in Brooklyn, it was raining lightly, and I was a little worried about how well we could enjoy the cherry blossoms and the festivities. Fortune was in our favor, however, because after an hour or so the showers stopped, and eventually the sun came out! The weather was beautiful for the rest of the day. When my friend and I initially made plans, we were going to go on the second day, but we later switched to the first because it was more convenient for her. It was a good thing we changed our plans because I think we would have dealt with damp weather all day if we had gone on Sunday.

Cherry Walk

It was the first time I was able to appreciate blossoming cherry trees in abundance. The only other time I had seen that many cherry blossoms was when I went to a wedding in Washington, D.C. one spring several years ago, and then I was only able to catch a glimpse turning the corner on the way to the church. My friend and I had a fun time taking photos of each other among the cherry trees; it seems like we spent half the time posing next to flowers. Something we noticed while doing so was that people were climbing the trees to pose for pictures, and my friend wanted to do it too. After she did, I decided to climb up and pose as well, and after a couple of shots I noticed a man with a professional camera mounted with a super long lens was also taking photos of me! I was taken aback and wasn't sure what to do. Normally when I see someone taking photos or video, like in tourist places, I try not to be in the shot. My friend does the same thing. I realize that type of thing is not a big deal because who pays attention to who's in the background, but I still do it anyway. I probably should have tried to cover my face in that instance, but I let my friend take one more photo of me. Even as I got out of the tree, the stranger photographer took photos of me! When we entered the park there was a sign which stated that by entering you were giving permission for your image to be photographed or filmed, but a lot of people have SLR cameras. How can you tell who's a professional on a job and who's just doing it for personal enjoyment? I unwittingly captured the photographer's image in the background of a few photographs that I took of my friend, and on a later date my friend happened to see him walking in her neighborhood but sans camera. For all I know one of the photos he took of me was published somewhere. The whole situation bothered me. Also, maybe some people don't mind having a "telescope" pointed at their face, but I do! Of course, I had to be lacking sleep and felt like I didn't look so great that day, either. :P

Apparently that was not the last time my image was intentionally captured on camera by a stranger. I was surprised when not too long ago I stumbled upon a photo someone had taken of me at some other event I attended! Why'd that person take a picture of me? It wasn't the most flattering angle, but I saved a copy, anyway. :P At least in that case the photo was taken in such a way that only people who know me and knew I was there would recognize it as me, and maybe not even then. When I went to Japan Day in Central Park this year, a professional photographer happened to take a photo of my 11-year-old cousin while she was participating at one of the activity areas. I wasn't there at that moment, but her mother told me later and didn't seem bothered by it. I wonder if that was ever published somewhere.

Getting back to the original topic, besides the cherry blossoms, we saw a few of the special performances and exhibits, including a traditional Japanese dance and a bonsai display. We also viewed the rest grounds to see the various flora. The tulips that were in bloom were especially beautiful. Below is a sampling of some of the photos I took that day.

Bonsai in the Bonsai: Living Sculpture display:

Tulips:

Torii at the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden:

Kanzan Cherry Trees and Blossoms:

The same photos in larger size and more can be seen on my Flickr. I'm really glad I was able to go and that my friend was able to come with me. Since visiting the botanic garden, I've gotten more interested in visiting parks and gardens. It seems like a lot of the photos I've taken in the past few months have been of flowers and plants, so more is to come. :)