Mallards, Monet, and Soft Sun

This is a lovely time of year in the Fingerlakes region. The soft sun in the early morning illuminates the best of nature.  I went out this morning, following an evening rain. The water lilies were just opening up, the rain water was puddled on the leaves, and the ducks were navigating the vegetation in search of food.

With patience, I was able to photograph the Mallard pair as they exited the pond and headed for the gardens.  Handsome male!  The pair were not successful in raising a family due to other wildlife, but have remained residents of the pond for now.

The photos here include Echinacea, Water Lilies, resident Mallards, unknown flower, Foxglove, and Hibiscus.  I hope you enjoy today's share.

Water Lilies and Lotus Leaves

It is always very exciting to see the emergence of the Lotus Leaves scattered around the pond. The first leaves to emerge are the flat ones that are similar to those of water lilies.  The real indication that there will soon be a lotus flower is the upright leaf.

Right now, there are many pink and yellow water lilies decorating the pond, with several small vertical lotus leaves emerging near them.  Hope you enjoy these images.

June 1 Garden Flowers

After weeks of rain and a soggy backyard, the perennials are coming into bloom. Early!  Today, I took pictures of the pink and white peonies, the orange poppies, giant allium, and the blue and purple iris.  The pond is encircled by yellow iris that have spread by their own methods of distribution from the original plant.  On the surface of the pond are many first leaves of the lotus flowers, which look very similar to water lily leaves, but are too numerous to be the latter.

Hope you enjoy these images.

Rainy Weekend

I love photographing flowers with the soft sunlight or the evening backlighting.  A rainy day, however, provides a different opportunity for snapping images.  The water lilies here were caught with the recent rain, as were the lily pads. There is something very clean and refreshing about the images.

Water Lily Montage

This afternoon, the water lilies were looking very lovely in the soft sunlight.  I took several pictures of them with varying exposures and obtained a couple that I like.  With the help of Photoshop, I manipulated the images to produce this montage.  Tell me what you think of it.

Cattail tales

The cattails in the pond are starting to take over again. Since I can't have them dug out again without damaging the oncoming lotus flowers, I went out in my kayak to cut them down. Two hours later, they are gone for another season. While out there, I took some pictures of water lilies. They look much better from the kayak, but that is not always convenient for photography.

Water Lilies

The water lilies are now in bloom in the pond behind my home.  They have multiplied from just a few initial plants and are beautiful to see.  Interestingly enough, they close about 4 PM in Ithaca, so are very daylight dependent.  Right now, there are both pink and yellow flowers to enjoy.  Once the lotus bloom, the water lilies become overwhelmed by the leaves of the lotus plant.