pictured: U.S. Botanical Garden
Joyann Tyson, 16, is a really great friend of mine that I've come to know more of recently. In this special Earth Day editorial, I'll be recapping a day we spent together in D.C. Hitting the U.S. Botanical Garden and a few museums, I got to spend quality time with one of my best friends. Needless to say, she was really glowing that day.
I met her early in the morning at the train station. Immediately exchanged laughs. Joyann and I are lowkey long-lost best friends, and the decision to spend this day together was actually short notice. After a short ride on the orange line we finally got to Smithsonian. It was a nice day and we had actually got there before the museums opened, so we decided to walk around and just enjoy the sights. Once we entered around 10am though, we had a blast. Neither of us had been to the museums in a while, and we didn't really want to leave. Everything from dinosaurs, sea creatures, and tarantulas greeted us there. What we were really looking forward to, however, was the U.S. Botanical Garden. We had both heard that it was a fantastic place to be, and neither of us had really been able to ever experience it. As soon as we got there, we felt refreshed and relaxed. From then on out it was all smiles. I'm glad I got to go with her, the scenery fit her well and it was as if she belonged their. I've never seen plants bring out the best in someone like that.
pictured: Joyann
pictured: Joyann
The entire place was so expansive, with several different corridors and a vast assortment of plant species. Trees, flowers, cacti, grasses, anything you could imagine could be found there. The air and temperature inside the glass garden was incredible, and it made us both feel at peace. I had to sit down and take time to actually breathe everything in, it was so spectacular. Two floors of greenery everywhere. Joyann was enjoying herself twice as much as me though. Her happiness made me happy, and I saw my opportunity to shoot.
The lighting was perfect. The scenes were perfect. Her skin and hair were perfect. Everything just fit well. I got some great shots and I couldn't wait to get home to edit them. Around 3pm we realized we had to get home to handle other things we had planned. Her with track practice, me with work. Leaving was actually a very hard thing to do. We ended up debating over it for about 20 extra minutes, causing us to be late. Soon enough though, we reluctantly headed back to the station. It was if fate was telling us not to go, because not only did our cards not swipe to get through the gate, but we could still smell the flowers in the garden and we both even found stray petals in our bags. Still, we had to leave. The obligations of our 16-year-old lives were too large to discard and ignore. A day with Joyann was like a day in paradise.
Happy Earth Day!