Sunday, August 10, 2008

Skagit valley tulip festival

The tulip festival in spring (late march/early april) is one of the most popular events in the greater Seattle area. Thousands of people drive up to Skagit county from Seattle to see the endless fields of colorful tulips. The Tulip festival however has become a victim of its own popularity - traffic is a pain and finding parking is even harder.


Tulips on a stormy day
Equipment: Canon 20D, Canon 24-70mm
Image details: 33mm, f/8.0, 1/60sec, ISO 100

The hordes of people walking around make it challenging for landscape photography. The thing that works for me is to get there a little bit after sunrise and shoot till around 10.00 AM. Opportunities here are almost endless - close ups, field shots, barn shots. If you have a clear day then you can make some beautiful compositions with the tulip fields in the foreground and the Cascade mountains in the background. Bring your macro, telephoto and wide angle lenses...all of them will be useful here.

www.tulipfestival.org is your guide to the tulip festival. It has all the information you need. Use the map located at http://www.tulipfestival.org/fieldmap.php to plan your trip. Usually Roozengarde and Tulip town have the biggest tulip fields. The fields and the colors of the tulips are different every year. I would recommend that you drive around a little bit to scout and see what you like. You can also visit the visitor center in downtown Mount Vernon off Kincaid street to get more details.

The tulip fields are pretty muddy especially if you go there are after a recent rain. I would recommend that you wear your hiking boots.

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