Yes, it’s this time of the year again. Tulips have taken over the city and dozen of tour buses are parked in front of the Parliament and at Dow’s Lake. People are desperate for colours after our long white winters!
Being my usual counterculture self, I actually went to take pictures on a cloudy day, ten days before the festival began. I noticed the flowers bloomed very early this year, plus flower pictures are better taken on cloudy days (clouds act like a natural light filter and colours don’t look as saturated). It got very cold over the weekend: strong wind, sub-zero temperatures and even “thundersnow” on Saturday night. I wonder what’s left of the poor tulips now…
Every year, it’s a challenge to find new angles. I hate taking the same boring shots. But I must say I’m quite pleased with this year’s pictures. Okay, I stop congratulating myself and let you judge by yourself!
Zhu,
They are so colorful that I couldn’t resist. 🙂
Pictures have come out really well, so it’s okay if you brag mouth about it. 🙂
.-= Nisha´s last blog ..Random travel related rants – III =-.
Your pictures are so pretty! I’ve never been to Ottawa during the Tulip festival, I guess I’ll have to do that sometime in the future 🙂
.-= Cynthia´s last blog ..Les japonais à Paris =-.
Gorgeous colors and great angles of the tulips! I have to congratulate for your beautiful work! Your photos have made Ottawa so attractive! 🙂
.-= micki´s last blog ..Miaoli Yuanli, hometown of Lin Cao (Lin Grass) =-.
I agree the colors are really nice! My mother always did that, take pictures of flowers on a cloudy day. Tulip pictures always remind my of mom because she always photographed the tulip festival like crazy! You are a little ahead of us but I saw some of the early bloomers starting to open when I was on my way to work today. Won’t be long now! Good job, I think you have good reason to pat yourself on the back!
.-= DianeCA´s last blog ..Nobel Peace Center in Oslo Norway =-.
Oh wow those are awesome colors! I wonder where the tulip bulbs came from?
.-= Linguist-in-Waiting´s last blog ..Data Management =-.
Beautiful!
I went to the Netherlands many years ago, but missed the tulips season. Really wish to see these flowers.
.-= khengsiong´s last blog ..Green Tea =-.
Stunning. I try and get out to take flower shots in the spring – good practice for my photo skills – but I never find tulips. 🙂 What sort of camera are you using?
.-= Ghosty Kips´s last blog ..The Craftsman House =-.
Lovely!!! I took my pics on a cloudy day too, here in Victoria. I like the first and last pics the most! 🙂
you are lucky to have bus loads of tulips visiting your city.
did you know there was a tulip bulb bubble once? it was in the 1600s. tulips were introduced into holland from turkey, and they were very expensive. then the flowers developed a virus which resulted in the tulips having “flames” of color on their petals. the ones with the flames were so rare and sought-after that their value skyrocked. a single bulb sold for more than an entire estate. yes, people sold their homes for a single bulb, thinking they would be able to further sell the bulb at a profit. of course, the price eventually tumbled and people lost fortunes.
so wave at the tulips as they drive by. for a while, they were the richest flowers on earth.
.-= Seraphine´s last blog ..All is Fair in Love and War =-.
Oh Wow!!!! Unbelievable!!! They are gorgeously beautiful and stunning colours 😀
Thanks Zhu 😀
Simply dazzling!
My rubbish cannot capture rich colour like yours, especially magenta (penultimate, right).
You did a great job.
.-= London Caller´s last blog ..Cipher / 无名小卒 / Orang yang tidak penting / 取るに足らない人 =-.
oh wow! so lucky. I have always wanted to go to a tulip festival. this looks absolutely beautiful. such great variety and color. very nicely captured 🙂
.-= Charles Dastodd´s last blog ..Costa Rican Wildlife =-.
I definitely needed to see all these beautiful colors today after yet another gray, rainy day! Nice pictures.
.-= Soleil´s last blog ..My Mom =-.
@Nisha – Thank you! Yes, these flowers are super colorful… feels good to see that after months of snow!
@Cynthia – It’s something to see but as a Canadian, you know how much it depends on weather. This year, they bloome early…. last year, they barely bloomed at all!
@micki – Thank you so much!
@DianeCA – Thank you! Glad to see your mother knew the trick as well to take good flower pictures. She must have taken great shots.
@Linguist-in-Waiting – You mean, where geographically? I think they are sent from Netherlands every year.
@khengsiong – Must be great over there too!
@Ghosty Kips – I have a Nikon D60, these pictures were taken with a 55-200 mm lense (hence the blurred background effect).
@expatraveler – Thank you!
@Seraphine – I had no idea! That’s an interesting story actually. I can imagine people trading flower bulbs like crazy… it seems funny now but I guess it was a novelty after all.
@shionge – Thank you!
@London Caller – Like I said, the colors look best on a cloudy day picture-wise. try it next time!
@Charles Dastodd – Thank you! This is an annual festival in Ottawa, so you know where to come if you want to see tulips 😉
@Soleil – Tell me about it! The weather got really shitty the last few days, especially over the WE. Even I had to look at my own pictures to cheer me up!
Very pretty event! The tulips on dispay is really beautiful.
Alexander
Alex’s World! – http://www.kakinan.com/alex
hi,
amazing photos…
Oh I like so much those flowers !!
Très jolies photos, j’aime !
Viens-voir un peu de mon Paris : -)
.-= Gitte´s last blog ..Bus line =-.
Merci beaucoup pour ta visite sur mon blog 🙂
++
.-= Gitte´s last blog ..Bus line =-.
Well, it’s not completely true.
I’ve tried the followings:-
1. shooting magenta flowers when the weather is fair with Cloudy setting;
2. ditto but on a gloomy day.
Both turned out with a slightly over-exposed effect.
And it’s only that particular colour, magenta.
Maybe Nikon is not so good at capturing that colour?
.-= London Caller´s last blog ..One Thousand and One Nights / 一千零一夜 / Seribu Satu Malam / 千夜一夜 =-.
@Alexander – Thank you! Yes, this year’s tulips were lovely, thanks to the mild weather.
@Gitte – Merci ! J’arrive…!
@London Caller – That’s weird, and my camera is a Nikon too. Maybe you should try some post-processing, such as with Lightroom or Photoshop. See the colors histograms.
what gorgeous flowers and photos. Wanted to say thank you for popping by, life is so busy for me at the moment, I barely get a chance to breath!!
Gill
.-= Gill´s last blog ..I was banned from the garden on Sunday…. =-.
Beautiful beautiful pictures of one of my fav flowers!
.-= Celine´s last blog ..Mussoorie’s Halls of Dust =-.
Merci j’avais zappé de venir voir tes photos ..toujours aussi belles. BRAVO Zhu
.-= Crikette´s last blog ..La marque à trois balles ! =-.
Awesome pictures.
Regards
Jorge Rdz