Fotoeins Fotografie

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Posts tagged ‘Mount Vernon’

Roozengaarde, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Skagit Valley, Tulip Festival, tulips, Mount Vernon, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: 1 tulip of many, Skagit County

This post is the second of five March Fotoeins Fridays from the Samish Bay area in northwest Washington State (USA). Samish Bay is a small body of water in northern Puget Sound, itself a part of the larger Salish Sea.

One tulip stands on its own surrounded by a sea of a different colour. Under overcast skies and the occasional light rainshower, it is diffuse grey light which casts soft shadows, and bright reds and purples aren’t completely “blown out” in frame. Last year’s visit (2017) to Roozengaarde during the annual Tulip Festival is memorable by the depth and variety of colours, by the potential for large crowds, and by the delicious food at various places throughout Skagit Valley.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place annually throughout the month of April. The main sources for tulips are about 30 to 40 minutes drive south from Bellingham.

Thanks to Roozengarde (tulips.com), I made the photo above on 19 April 2017 with the Canon 6D, 70-300 glass, and settings: 1/200-sec, f/8, ISO200, and 115mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins.com at http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9Lb.

Flowers aflame, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

I was skeptical of a visit to tulip gardens.

“They’re just flowers after all.”

When I lived in Heidelberg, Germany, my friends wanted to travel to the Netherlands before pregnancy kicked into full swing. They wanted to visit Keukenhof and Amsterdam. I was excited about Amsterdam; I was unsure about Keukenhof.

But one step inside the tulip gardens in Keukenhof was enough to turn my head and my opinion about tulip fields spun completely around.

That was 2002, and this is 2017. I’m highway-bound along I-5 into western Washington State to see tulips.

During the annual tulip festival in April, the Skagit river valley is populated by fields of daffodils and tulips, in eye-popping yellow, red, orange, purple, and white. The overcast skies with diffuse grey light provides ideal light conditions with no strong shadows. The explosion of colour should surely melt hearts and convince minds, if the change to my once obstinate stance is any indication.

( Click here for images and more )

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