Water Lilies and other Botanical Highlights at the Kajuji Temple
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desktop background image of a lotus flower at the Kajui Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto Japan  --  Lotus Flower  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image datanearby photos
Lotus Flower
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In yesterday's post about my first summer visit to the Kajuji Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto, I mentioned that it was much more “Alive” than in the bleak of winter. It's got a lot of animal life, but this post highlights some of the botanical life.

As far as I can tell, the lifespan of the lotus brings its flower through a few visually-distinct stages, but it's difficult to be sure exactly what's going on...

desktop background image of a lotus flower at the Kajui Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto Japan  --  Early Stage  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Early Stage
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Middle Stage  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Middle Stage
Late Stage  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 450 — map & image datanearby photos
Late Stage
Various Stages  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Various Stages
In The Thick of It the Kajuji Temple lets you get right in there  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image datanearby photos
In The Thick of It
the Kajuji Temple lets you get right in there
desktop background image of a water lily at the Kajui Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto Japan  --  Sharp  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image datanearby photos
Sharp
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Reflections of the funky tree mentioned in the first post  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/160 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Reflections
of the funky tree mentioned in the first post
desktop background image of a simple green maple leaf at the Kajui Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto Japan  --  The Maple are not fiery in summer, but they will be  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image datanearby photos
The Maple
are not fiery in summer, but they will be
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The Razor-Wire Plant is the one thing that seems less alive than it did in winter , at least as far as the “corky wing” things go  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
The Razor-Wire Plant
is the one thing that seems less alive than it did in winter,
at least as far as the “corky wing” things go
Big Mid-Stage Lotus Flower  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Big Mid-Stage Lotus Flower
Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
desktop background image of a lotus flower at the Kajui Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto Japan  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image datanearby photos
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Lilies and Lotuses The white water lilies were unfortunately only at a distance  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Lilies and Lotuses
The white water lilies were unfortunately only at a distance
Sort of Quaint  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Sort of Quaint
Me Taking the Photo Above photo by Nicolas Joannin  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Nicolas Joannin, https://plus.google.com/u/0/116578079434506112628
E-P2 + LUMIX G VARIO 45-200/F4-5.6 at an effective 90mm — 1/3200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Me Taking the Photo Above
photo by Nicolas Joannin
Freshly Opened  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Freshly Opened

The pink bud opening in the photo above is the same one seen at the top of this post, and in the next image, which looks in through the top to focus on the makes-your-skin-crawl seed pod...

Inside  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image datanearby photos
Inside
What It Becomes Looking at these make me feel decidedly uneasy  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/11, ISO 5000 — map & image datanearby photos
What It Becomes
Looking at these make me feel decidedly uneasy
Much Nicer from the side  --  Kajuuji Temple (勧修寺)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Much Nicer
from the side

All 4 comments so far, oldest first...

Glad you are getting decent weather – in most of the UK it’s turning into the year without a summer, so far anyway. Someone has to point out that your water lilies and lotuses are getting mixed up: the ones with leaves and flowers held above the water, with the “creepy” seed pods (I suppose their beauty is in their design), and with leaf-stalks attached to the centre of the leaf are lotuses; the white flowers sitting on the water are water lilies – not related at all. And Grandma Friedl is quite right, of course, the water lilies look to be in need of thinning out a bit! I don’t know if the same applies to lotuses, but I expect so.

You mean that I have them exactly backwards? I thought I knew what a lotus was (e.g. this), and so figured that the ones I could see up close weren’t that, so must be the water lilies. I’ve gone back and updated the text of the article to swap the various references, so hopefully now it reflects reality, thanks. —Jeffrey

— comment by Peter in Wales on August 2nd, 2012 at 7:44pm JST (12 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

These pink flowers actually are Nelumbo nucifera, often mistaken for Nymphaea (water lillies). I konw them so well because time ago some prince with nothing better to spend his money on, imported them to Florence, Italy where the still live and thrive in several ponds two centuries later. Wikepedia has a good writeup about Nelumbos.

— comment by Brigitte Wohack on August 2nd, 2012 at 8:14pm JST (12 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Awesome shots. Also, regarding your “uneasy” comment, Google “Trypophobia.”

For example, http://www.popsci.com/science/gallery/2011-07/trypophobia

— comment by Zachary on August 2nd, 2012 at 10:17pm JST (12 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

“What it Becomes” would have made a great “What am I?” post. Just sayin’.

— comment by Pablo on August 3rd, 2012 at 5:34am JST (12 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink
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