Awestruck by the Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) @ Gardens by the Bay!

Hey everyone!

We are soooooooooo excited to bring you this week’s entry, because for the first time, we got to see cherry blossoms in Singapore! Yes, these Japanese sakura were brought in from Japan, and immediately hyped up many Singaporeans to head to Gardens by the Bay, where the man-made garden held these beautiful flowers! We knew this was an opportunity to brush up on our macro/close-up photography, so we had our trusty Fujfilm X-T10 and the Mamiya Modified Instant Back for us to use!

Getting to the Flower Dome

Gardens by the Bay has been the location for many of our shoots, including the Christmas Wonderland, Mid-Autumn Festival lighting and the Future of Us Exhibition. Ironically, we had yet to focus on the flora and fauna that was planted and blooming there! It was a naturally hot day, and we were perspiring even before we reached the Flower Dome.

DSCF4704 — A site map that featured all the major locations within Gardens by the Bay!

DSCF4707 — Quite a unique art centrepiece!

DSCF4726 — It also happened to be a day out for children, with many exhibitions, stalls and carnival rides for the young at heart!

DSCF4733 — We spotted some bees working hard, collecting pollen/nectar from this freshly-bloomed flower!

DSCF4737 — It was REALLY crowded (given it was a weekend), so we did the smart thing and booked our tickets to enter the Flower Dome!

Inside the Flower Dome: Snap Away!

Although it was also just as crowded in the Flower Dome, we took our time with the flowers, admiring them and trying to capture them the best way possible; check out our shots below!

DSCF4761 — We were fortunate to have entered the Flower Dome during the ‘golden hour’. The Flower Dome, being a conservatory, had light rays trickling down on the various flora and fauna!

DSCF4769 — The *sakura* in full bloom! But look at that queue…

DSCF4775 — A callback to Winnie the Pooh’s original design, with Piglet!

DSCF4787 — We were delighted at the beauty of this rose, which we noted many visitors were taking photos of as well!

DSCF4790 — The usual selfie, with the *sakura* behind us.

DSCF4794 — Damian thought this was the best ‘symmetrical’-looking flower all day!

DSCF4795 — Of course there weren’t just flowers; check out these Cayman Island trees (which we thought looked like pineapples!)

The Main Highlight: Sakura!

This was the most opportune time for us to unleash our macro/close-up photography skills! The depth of field was amazing, and this really tested our ability to capture the subjects in isolation:

DSCF4816 — We really aren’t kidding about the crowd; you might do well to go during the weekdays!

DSCF4817 — A traditional Japanese house-setting to invoke the Japanese mood!

Overall, we are so pleased with our photos! Our beloved cameras did so well to capture the momentary flowers in full bloom, and we will definitely be back for more! It does cost to enter the Flower Dome, so get up to speed on their website!

Our astute readers would also note that we have not put up any instant film photos; do not fret, because we intend to share them with our readers on our Instagram page and also in our next few entries!

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra