Have you noticed that I really like purple water lilies? I was so struck by their beauty the first time that I saw one last year that a purple water lily appears at the top of my blog most of the time.
Earlier this week, as I was visiting Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, I came across an area in which two types of purple, tropical water lilies were growing. My photography mentor, Cindy Dyer, always recommends photographing the little signs that identify flowers and other plants and these water lilies were called “Panama Pacific” and “Blue Beauty.”
As I was photographing one of the waterlilies—I think it was a Panama Pacific—a bee dove headfirst into the center of the flower. Even before the bee arrived, I had noticed that the center of the water lily seemed to be glowing and that was what I was trying to capture by underexposing the shot. If you click on the photo, you can see a higher resolution view of the image, which shows an almost three-dimensional view of the flower’s center.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
That’s a beautiful water lily!
Spectacular photo of a beautiful water lily and a pollinator – good photo showcasing your photography skills.
Thanks for your complimentary words. I enjoy taking photos of a wide variety of nature subjects and am working on improving my skills. In this case, it was nice to be there at the right moment when the bee arrived.
That’s a great colour for a water lily.
Judging from photos that I have seen, almost everything is brighter in color in the tropics. The purple water lily is not native to the area in which I live and certainly not to the area in which you live. In fact, I’ve often wondered if flowers even grown in Saskatchewan–I don’t recall them appearing very often in your blog, unless you count dandelions as flowers.
I’m not sure that I count dandelions as anything but bear food and a nuisance on the lawn! The biggest reason you haven’t seen flowers on my blog is that I’m generally not a big fan of flowers. However, I do like the prairie lily which is the official flower of our province. Here’s what it look like http://www.flowers-magzine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Western-Red-Lily.jpghttp://www.flowers-magzine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Western-Red-Lily.jpg
We see a bright blue color with orange center, I wonder what the bee sees. That is a lovely photo!
Not only a beautiful shot of the lily and the bee, but also a lovely composition, with the bokeh details of the leaves at lower right. Another nice piece of work!