Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘pink water lily’

First Water Lilies of Spring

Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , on May 28, 2023| 4 Comments »

Water lilies are one of my favorite flowers and I was delighted this past Wednesday to see that several of them are already in bloom at a small man-made pond at Green Spring Gardens, including a couple of pink ones. Later in the season there will also be lotuses at this pond, but it appears to be too early for them right now. It is also a bit early for most of the dragonflies—I love to take photos of dragonflies perching on lotuses and water lilies.

Since there are so few water lilies blooming, I could not get the wider shots that remind me of the paintings of Claude Monet, one of my favorite artists, so I focused instead on capturing individual portraits of several of the flowers. It has always seemed to be that water lilies glow with an inner light and I was happy to capture a hint of that light in several of these photos.

water lily

water lily

water lily

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Insect interaction

Posted in Bees, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, Water Lilies, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2022| 9 Comments »

I am always fascinated by interactions between species. It is impossible to know exactly what is going on in the minds of the participants, but sometimes the behavior is one of curiosity, co-existence, or confrontation.

As I was preparing to photograph a pretty pink water lily at Green Spring Gardens last Friday, a honey bee flew into the frame. The bee dove right into the center of the flower, so I waited for it to emerge and continued to watch through the viewfinder of my camera.

I was just getting ready to finally take a shot when suddenly a small hover fly flew into the frame. I timed it right and managed to captured this image when the hover fly was right above the honey bee.

The hover fly seemed to be on a reconnaissance mission and the honey bee seemed to be telling him to buzz off. Somehow the posture of the bee reminded me of that of a policeman at the scene of a crime as he repeatedly tells onlookers, “Move along, there is nothing to see here.” Was this a confrontation? I don’t think that it rose to that level, but it was clear to me (and probably to the hover fly) that the bee did not want to share his golden treasure with anyone else.

water lily

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Pink water lilies in July

Posted in Art, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Summer, Water Lilies, tagged , , , , , , on July 20, 2020| 27 Comments »

There were only a few water lilies in bloom when I visited Green Spring Gardens last week, one of my favorite local gardens, but I was thrilled to see that a few of them were pink ones. I love all water lilies, but there seems to be something extra special and exotic about the pink ones.

I was using my trusty 180mm macro lens, which meant that if I wanted a closer view, as in the first image, I had to physically move closer to the flowers, which, of course were floating in the water. It was interesting to try to vary the angle of view of the same flower by, shooting from a low angle for the first image and shooting the same flower from a higher angle (and farther back) for the second shot.

I also played around with including and excluding the lily pads. The water lily in the final shot, for example, is almost in the center of the frame, which is generally frowned on when composing a shot, but I liked the arrangement of lily pads so much that I kept it there.

I am very much a child of my generation, so I can’t help but think of the video game Pac-Man when I look at the second image. Did anyone else have that same response?

water lily

water lily

water lily

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Dragonfly and water lilies

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2018| 10 Comments »

There were only a few water lilies in bloom at the small pond at a local garden that I visited this past weekend. Surprisingly, they were all pink in color and not the white ones that I am more used to seeing—perhaps it is late in the season for the white ones. Not surprisingly, there were quite a few dragonflies buzzing about and I decided that I wanted to get a shot of one of them perched on one of the water lilies.

So I waited and hoped and waited some more. My patience was eventually rewarded when a tiny male Eastern Amberwing dragonfly (Perithemis tenera) landed on a partially open water lily bud and perched momentarily.

I really like the image that I managed to capture because of the way it conveys a sense of the mood of the moment, a calm, almost zen-like feeling of tranquility. The colors are subdued and the composition is minimalist—there is a real beauty in simplicity.

Dragonfly and water lily

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Pink water lilies

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on July 7, 2015| 2 Comments »

Yesterday morning I made a quick trip to Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington D.C. with fellow photographer Cindy Dyer to check out the water lilies and lotuses. Many of the pathways in the park are flooded or muddy, thanks to a significant amount of recent rain. Wet feet, however, were a small price to pay to see so many beautiful flowers, including the two spectacular pink water lilies that I am featuring today.

Stay tuned for more water lily and lotus images later this week.

pink water lily

pink water lily

 

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Pink water lily

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on July 10, 2013| 3 Comments »

I love all water lilies, but somehow the pink ones had a special attraction for me this past weekend, when I visited Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, a wonderful treasure in the District of Columbia administered by the National Park Service. The surrounding lily pads and the duckweed in the foreground really help to showcase the delicate beauty of this flower.

pink_lily_crop_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: