“I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained.” Confucian scholar Zhou Duny

I have mentioned before, I am drawn to photograph water lotus and water lilies flowers and leaves. In preparing some lotus images for a client I decided to do a little research on the water lotus and discovered some interesting facts:

The plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China. It is often mistaken for a water lily. The lotus is a completely different plant unrelated to the water lily.

In has many uses for food. In Asian cultures the roots, leaves, and flowers are used in many recipes as garnishes, teas, medicines and soups, just to name a few.

From ancient times the lotus flower has been a divine symbol in many Asian traditions.

Water lotus and water lilies have long been a favorite subject of mine. I find myself producing abstracts as well as more literal interpretations of them. Recently I spent a couple of days photographing water lotus and water lilies and a few other subjects. I have posted a number of these  new images to my site or you can view a sampling of them view HERE