Rating Popular Utah Locations | Utah State Capital Cherry Blossoms | Whitney Beth Photography
It’s time for another round of “Rating Popular Utah Locations!” Today we’re talking the cherry blossoms at the Utah State Capital. If you have a location you want me to rate next, let me know in the comments!
LOCATION:
– These Cherry blossoms are located at the Utah State Capital and pretty easy to find. The traffic, however may set you back 15/20 minutes depending on the time of day you go there.
– With it being in the heart of downtown, be sure to plan for the usual business commute, tourists, and of course the other people who want to admire the cherry blossom bloom
– There’s lots of free parking, but with how busy it gets during bloom season, you may have to walk a block or so to actually get to the trees.
– If you’re gunning for Cherry blossoms, this is the place (lol) for that. The cherry trees flank either side of a gravel path that encircle the capital – giving you a tunnel of blooms. I have yet to find another cherry tree location that gives this same look.
LOCATION SCORE 8/10:
Despite how easy it is to find it, the traffic and having to deal with downtown docks a few points. Clients are usually late – even with adding buffer time. They either don’t account for how many people will be in that area, or they can’t find a close enough parking with littles and have to walk. So for the sheer amount of traffic and cars, The Utah State Capital Cherry Blossoms get an 8/10
PEOPLE & POPULARITY
– oh boy, ready for a doozy of a category? like I mentioned above, I really haven’t found another cherry blossom location that has this vast amount of mature cherry trees. Which in turn, makes it a very popular location.
– In the evening it seems as if every tree is flanked with a different photoshoot.
– On top of that, we have people walking dogs, walking with families, having picnics in the grass, overall just trying to enjoy the space without having to have a photographer edit them out of 673 images.
– Needless to say, the amount of people that are outside, enjoying the first tastes of spring after being cooped up all winter are going to majorly hurt this ranking.
– My only saving grace for my sanity is doing portraits (ie no families) at sunset and reserving all my family session slots for morning shoots on a weekday (if I can help it.) We rarely have the place to ourselves, but there’s enough space that we can put some distance between other blossom enjoyers and have a much more (photoshop free) enjoyable time.
PEOPLE & POPULARITY SCORE: 7/10
It is such a pretty spot, but the sheer amount of visitors scare off many of my photographer friends. Editing people out of the background is literally my nightmare and if an evening session is all you can make, I will try and persuade clients to pick a different flower and provide them with other locations. 7/10
WHITNEY VIBE
The most subjective and least official of all the categories, aka does it vibe with my brand
– Blossoming trees and flowers everywhere during peak bloom
– Relatively close to my house (driving wise)
– However, it does have a “manicured” look to it with the gravel path and mowed lawn
– More urban than I typically go for
– Not a lot of variety with spots to shoot
WHITNEY VIBE SCORE: 4/10
yikes. I feel a little guilty saying it, but the only thing appealing to me about shooting at the capital is the blossoms, but even then, I’d rather shoot at different blossoms. Don’t shoot the messenger! It’s true you get the pink and creamy tunnel and it’s not too terrible of a drive from my house, but I am drawn to more wild locations. Like the mountains or a moderately kept orchard. I don’t love the look of freshly mowed grass and park benches. Not to mention the sheer number of people who visit and the total lack of flexibility in finding different spots and angles every time I go there. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy my photos that I take there, I always love how they turn out, and my clients love them too, which is the most important part! (heck, I’ve even had my own maternity photos taken there!) but at the end of the day, i’d just rather shoot elsewhere
FINAL SCORE: 6.3/10
Honestly a lot higher than I was thinking it’d be (whoops! haha) but still a beautiful location that is very clear why it is so popular. Do you agree with my rankings? Tell me below!
