Fragrant Water Lily’s on McCarthy Creek

I’m finally getting around to posting a few more images from my trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario in June… We camped at Booth Lake for two nights and on the day in between we paddled into McCarthy Creek. It’s really more of a long and winding marsh than a creek as there really is no current to speak of. And other than a narrow channel of open water in the middle, the entire creek is covered with tall grasses and marshy weeds as far as the eye can see. And there are millions of Water Lily’s.

I really mean it when I say millions of Water Lily’s. They are everywhere! Their delicate white flowers gradually open in the light of the day and then close down again in the late afternoon. This is nice on a canoe trip because you can sleep in, have a leisurely camp style breakfast, and still be on the water with plenty of time to enjoy the scenery!

Having said that, the Lily’s are only open during the middle of the day, and they grow in wide open areas, brightly lit areas. This can make them extremely hard to photograph. The petals of the flowers are brilliantly white and any direct sunlight makes it very difficult to keep any detail in a photo. In the final image they appear as white blobs with no form or contrast. One way to combat that is to shoot them on cloudy days. Clouds make the light much softer with less contrast and allows the camera to capture the extensive detail in the bright white flowers. So the clouds and the rain that we paddled through wasn’t all bad; it helped a lot by giving me a real chance to make some nice images!

Closeup Images of Common Orange Daylilies

Closeup image of a Common Orange Daylily Flower

After a long day of rain at the cottage the weather finally broke in the late afternoon. We all rushed outside to get some fresh air and to take advantage of the break from the soggy drizzle that was becoming all too common. I went straight to the flowerbed to make use of the high overcast clouds that provided some beautiful soft light for making closeup and macro images.

Although these Daylilies are growing in the flowerbed, they weren’t planted there. This species was introduced to North America from Asia in the 19th century and now grows wild all over Eastern North America. It is considered to be an invasive species and it is very hard to control or remove once introduced to an area.

Regardless whether they are wild or cultivated, they are extremely beautiful and I could spend hours or even days making images of them!

Closeup image of a Common Orange Daylily Flower

Closeup image of a Common Orange Daylily Flower