Even though I've never specialized in the genre of botanicals, and it's never been my style to carry around a spray bottle, I know enough about shooting flowers to know that they always look better after a rain shower or nice morning dew. Well. as so often happens on the road I had a serendipitous moment. I was having lunch with my favorite travel partner (my camera) one rainy afternoon inside the beautiful grounds of the Pura Taman Saraswati Temple in Ubud, Bali. In between the patio I was dining on and the front entrance to the temple was a lotus pond spanned by a bridge made from the same brick and sandstone as the temple. I knew it would be the perfect vantage point for some great shots of the lotus blossoms. Having a few years worth of experience with tropical showers in Southeast Asia, I figured the deluge wouldn’t last long. I was right and before I had even finished my iced coffee the sun was back out once again turning the forests of Ubud into a giant steam room. Nature having done most of the work for me, it was simply a matter of finding the most perfect blossom, setting up my tripod, getting the right readings and... snap!
For centuries, the lotus has been the spiritual flower of Buddhist and Hindu cultures all across southern Asia. Buddha himself is often depicted sitting in a meditative pose on a lotus flower and when Thai people greet each other or "wai" they press their hands together, slightly cupped in the shape of a lotus bud in front of their heart. It not only has religious significance but not unlike sakura blossoms in Japan, it also has a philosophical one. The great Eastern philosophers have often used the lotus as a metaphor for it's ability to grow something so beautiful out of such muddy, stagnant water. Indeed, I find myself looking at this photograph I made to remind me that sometimes the we have within ourselves comes out during the most challenging of times.
