Waterlilies in Nashville

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Featured in the Washington Post!

John Kelly interviewed me about photographing water lilies for his column in today’s edition of the Washington Post. Read his article in the link below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/on-hot-summer-days-the-lotus-blossoms-of-kenilworth-beckon/2015/07/08/abc180ce-259b-11e5-aae2-6c4f59b050aa_story.html

Mirror, mirror

Now for something really different…when my friend Michael and I were photographing at Kenilworth yesterday morning, the sun finally peeked through right before we were leaving and I saw the waterlily pond looking more like a mirror than water. I positioned myself so that the reflection of the sun was directly beneath this waterlily, which made it look like it was outlined in glowing light and floating on glass. I kind of like it!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Frog on lily pad

My friend Michael Powell and I took a drive out to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens this morning to drop off some signage material for the event this Saturday and also to do a little shooting. He said he wanted to find a frog on a lily pad and I found this one for him. We both did some shots until the frog was startled and sank into the abyss. I had my Tamron 180 lens on my Nikon D800 but since there are now wire fences around the water lily ponds, I couldn’t lean in a far as I was inclined to do—hence the more environmental look to this shot (rather than my usual closeups). I kind of like the shadow of the tree functioning as a leading line down to the frog. See my bonus critter? It’s a little guppy/fish at the bottom, right.

Check out Michael’s most excellent nature photography blog here: https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/

Waterlily stamps featured in Washington Post gardening column today!

(Reposting due to glitch in link!)

Author Adrian Higgins writes about his pond and references the waterlily stamps in today’s gardening column in the Washington Post! Click on the link below to read the entire column.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/is-having-a-fish-pond-worth-the-effort-yes/2015/04/07/3726c5b8-d8b5-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html

Another shameless plug for my waterlily stamps!

Here’s a cool statistic that I just learned from the USPS PR man—normally they print stamps in quantities of 40-50 million.

They’re printing my waterlily stamps in a quantity of HALF A BILLION—500 million stamps, which usually only happens with their holiday stamps. He said flowers tend to sell particularly well so they’re hoping this is the case with these.

So, on that note, go out and buy a book of 20 on March 20 (when the stamps make their official debut across the US)! You’ll make the USPS (and me) very happy indeed. (And no, I don’t get a cut of sales, in case you’re wondering!)

Drumroll, please—more USPS stamps coming!

The USPS just posted a sneak preview today of my waterlily stamps on their Facebook page! The stamps will be available in booklet form at post offices country-wide sometime in 2015. Read more about the waterlily stamps here: http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/water-lilies

Eye candy, batch #4

Sigh…culling through my archives, in preparation for my March/April 2012 exhibit, is making me want to photograph blooms and bugs right now.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eye candy, batch #3

Pulled from the archives of my personal refrigerator magnet poetry, and created with a garden-specific set of magnetic poetry (yes, there is such a product!), I give to you my handcrafted poem attempt #2.

in my garden
through spring and summer
flower bulb root sprout vine tendril emerge
brown earth explodes with life
struggles in the harsh noon light
blooming yellow red blue fresh
quietly full and wild and fertile
bug & bee work hard & long
and a thick green eden thrives
a blanket of peace rustles
beneath sunshine and shade above
I weed cut grow protect
then breathe relax reflect listen live
murmuring come here sacred rain
water more this labor of love
this canvas my art
soft sweet sanctuary

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eye candy, batch #2

Pulled from the archives of my personal refrigerator magnet poetry, I give to you my handcrafted attempt #1:

January snow blanket melts
cold February moon gone
March winds a memory
a luscious light envelopes
tiny crocus petals whisper spring
most delicate green grass emerges
rain sweetens the earth
bird song filters down
from the impossibly blue blue sky
warm breezes weave through
a gorgeous tapestry of color

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

From the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens archives…

Since I didn’t get the photographic bounty I usually do at Kenilworth, I thought I’d repost images I’ve created in past years. Enjoy!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

Bright and early this morning (too early), Michael and I headed out to photograph the sunflower fields at the McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, MD, then headed over to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens to photograph the Lotus blossoms. We first learned about the sunflower fields from my friend Nanda, who went to see it after reading about it in the Washington Post here. We’ve gone the past two years and have gotten there either before the blooms appeared or too late in the day when they’re spent and facing downward. This year, thanks to advice via e-mail from fellow blogger and local photographer Patty Hankins, we finally got to photograph the flowers at their peak! (Patty shot some really beautiful images; you’ll see them on her blog). I’ll be posting the sunflower photos later.

After an hour and a half of photographing sunflowers, we headed to Kenilworth in Washington, D.C. And once again, we arrived during the Annual Waterlily Festival and the Lotus Asian Cultural Festival (I thought it was next weekend). Since it was later in the morning than we had expected to get there, it wasn’t the optimum time for photographing Lotus blossoms because of the harsh sunlight. Despite that, photographing the myriad dragonflies ended up making it well worth the trip anyway!

To see the Lotus blossom images I shot at Kenilworth in 2006 and 2007, click here and here.

Here’s an article from the Washington Post about this “oasis in the city.” If you’ve got the room (and the pond!) to grow these beautiful flowers, read these growing tips from Doug Green. And take a look at Patty Hankins’ Lotus blossom photos and glean some great photography tips on her blog here.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.