Cherry trees in the mist
- 📍 Location: Le Vésinet, Yvelines, France
- 📅 Date: 2023
There was ground mist over the meadow at first light and the sun came up directly behind the cherry tree, so the blossom went luminous from behind rather than lit from the front. That backlight is the whole picture: it turns the pink into something closer to light than to colour.
A flooded strip at the foot of the meadow gave me a mirror, and I framed so the reflection takes the lower half in full. The waterline sits exactly across the middle, which is a rule one is told to avoid; here breaking it would have meant choosing between the tree and its double, and the image needs both.
I closed the aperture to hold the sun as a small star in the branches instead of a blown white hole. The mist does the rest — it softens the far trees into grey silhouettes and separates the cherry from everything behind it without a single adjustment afterwards.
The blossom here lasts about a week. I went out every morning of it, and this was the only day the mist and the angle of the sun agreed with each other. Most of what I do is turning up repeatedly and waiting to be lucky.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
