Lotus flowers and exotic water lilies

We visited Kenilworth Aquatic gardens on August 2nd early in the morning, before the heat of the day.  The lotus flowers were up to 5-6 feet high, mostly  white and pink.  There were lots of bugs around including bees, dragonflies and crawly insects.  Behind the Visitor's Center, there was also a small exhibit of exotic water lilies in lovely colors.

     Lotus

      Water lily

      The pond

     Water lily pads

     Hiding

     Painting the lotus

     Lotus leaf hat

     Beautiful Samoyed and pet friend

Night blooming water lilies

Here are some more lovely tropical water lilies.  We waited till dusk to see these night blooming lilies.  Just beautiful!

           Tropical Nymphaea Antares

             Tropical Nymphaea Antares

Victoria or Queen victoria lily from the Amazon?

Water Lilies

Here's a few of the photos I took of a water lily display over the weekend.  The weather on Saturday was lovely and there was an overcast sky, perfect for flower photos.  

On sunny days, the shadows can be much more harsh, although I still like the photos because of the colors.

If you want to compare, you can look at some of my water lily photos on Flickr at 

www.flickr.com/photos/75311362@N08 in the flower album.  Here's an example.

Exotic Water Lilies

I recently photographed some gorgeous water lilies. It was a little too early in the day, but I liked them anyway, even with strong shadows.
I have photographed water lilies 3 or 4 times in recent years. I find that I usually need a long lens to get good "closeup" photos of these lovely flowers, rather than a macro lens. I used a 70-300 zoom for these images. The flowers never seem to be near the edge of the pond!
If you know the names of these beautiful lilies, please comment. 😊