Lightly floating on water, cool with the moisture from below, absorbing the warmth of the sun from above the leaf grows across the surface of the pond. The Victoria amazonica, who’s common name is Giant water lily or Amazon water lily, has leaves that can get up to 6′ wide.1
It was a hot and sunny day at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois, USA when photographer Olaf showed up in the early afternoon. He was walking through the park that is adjacent to the greenhouses by the conservatory when he spied his subject, the Victoria amazonica.
The Victoria amazonica is one of Olaf’s favorite specimens so it is easy to see why this subject caught his eye. Taking the picture while standing, all it took was this one shot to get what he wanted.
Camera: Sony DSC-H9
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 23.4 mm
ISO Speed: 100
After asking Olaf what he liked about the green in the picture he said “The leaf is an awesome shade of green and it has a great texture.” Victoria amazonica is known for it’s sharp spines on the underside of the leaves that give it such a great texture. 1
It’s Olaf’s love for plans started with his Grandmother “Granny” who worked three gardens in their village. She grew everything from Parsley, Cherries, Dill, Gooseberries, Dahlias and Gladiolas just to name a few.2 Since that time with Granny, Olaf has been growing plants and that passion has grown into foliage photography. Olaf is now known for his plant photography. In fact, he has the permanent alias of flowerfreak on flickr.
Olaf told me what he liked about this photo, “The vigor of these plants. This is a SEEDLING(!) and it already has 3′-leaves!” He went on to tell me when I asked about the day, “It was a really hot day and I had some good conversations with some of the resident gardeners.” Talking about plants and taking pictures is “a blast” to Olaf.
The passion comes through in his photographs. Olaf is at ease with his camera and enjoys photography several times a week. He has become a better photographer through trial and error and is driven by his excitement of photography.
Olof’s Photostream on flickr
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- Retrieved from the NC State University Website: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/water-garden/floatingplants/victoria_amazonica.html [↩] [↩]
- Retrieved from Olaf’s flickr Profile Website: http://www.flickr.com/people/flowerfreak/ [↩]
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