Having lived in the Northern Virginia area for all of my life, you’d think I would have been to the annual Washington D.C Cherry Blossom Festival by now. However, this was the first year that I went, and I must say, it is well worth it!

As a photographer, it was temping to go to the festival and only take the typical gorgeous photos of the cherry blossoms. I’ve seen so many of them, and while I did take some color shots of the blossoms, I wanted to do something distinctive.

I found the huge crowds of people fascinating and enjoyed photographing them just as much as the natural beauty surrounding us. In order to focus completely on the people and the shapes, and not just the colors and the beauty, I edited the images to black and white. To me this brings to life the people without the distractions all around them, even the delightful distractions of the cherry blossoms.

The image at the top of this post is by far my favorite. I love wide angle shots, and seeing all the people looking like ants crawling over the steps of the Jefferson Memorial was just what I wanted to capture. The fact that the little guy was running up the stairs at that moment made the shot perfect.

Enjoy the images below, and let me know in the comments what you think about black and white vs. color images. What feeling does the black and white give you about the events of the festival?