Koi, The Living Art

Marilyn's Photo of the Day When it comes to Koi in the pond, it seems to take thousands of pictures snapped to get a few that are enduring.  This top picture seems to be one of those to me.  The combination of the Koi in a circle along with the abstract sense created by the distortion of the water.  These Koi were at the Marie Selby Botanical Garden, in Sarasota, FL.

Koi, The Living Art

Koi, The Living Art  The Marie Selby Botanical Garden is located in Sarasota.  The Selby fortune was made in oil, and became part of Texaco.  This garden is located overlooking the water, so has extensive water views and is a wonderful walking garden.  It is well-known for its significant collections of gesnariads, cycads, and orchids.  It is a research facility and has preserved plants in its collections as well. My interest during this trip is to gather as many Koi images as I can. I've been to the garden each day, and am lucky to be able to sit on a bench at the water pond and pool to take pictures.  This is a large collection of Koi and they are large in size - about a foot long each of them.  There is a waterfall that flows into the pool.  The Chinese tradition says that if a Koi can make the final leap up the waterfall, it will be transformed into a Dragon. It is likely that you can see the fascination with Koi.  Their movements in the water make beautiful displays of their tails and fins and are ever-changing.

Water Lily with Friend

Digital photography can be a challenge and a privilege.  I was able to bring two images together for this Water Lily with Friend image.  The water lily is at Longwood Gardens Water Gardens and the Koi lives at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  So these two botanical gardens could be brought together through the techniques of photo manipulation.

Koi, The Living Art

I posted the images of Koi on the Marilyn Cornwell blog, and they seem a match for Open Gardens Niagara, too.  Koi often are residents of botanic gardens where they create magic for children in the garden.  These Koi are residents of the Royal Botanical Garden in Burlington Ontario.  They live in the greenhouse conservatory so are used to people every day.  They swim to people rather than away from them.

Here are more pictures from the Series: Koi, The Living Art, available on Redbubble and Fine Art America