Easter Erythronium
Today’s post features the White Fawn Lily, Erythronium oregonum, sometimes also called the Easter Lily or Trout Lily. It is one of the early spring flowers, native to this region and a favourite of mine ever since growing up with them on my parent’s property. These are in a patch on the north boundary of Beacon Hill Park beneath a small grove of Garry Oak, a common habitat in which to find them.
While I was taking pictures two other photographers showed up for a while. For some reason I felt more conspicuous taking these pictures than if I had been alone. Maybe that is why I have never joined a photo club or gone out with groups of people to take pictures.
.
For me, when the Erythronium are out, spring has truly and fully arrived. Thus, I am sharing a gallery of Fawn Lilly pictures taken a few days ago as an expression of joy that spring has settled on us.
Click on any photo to view it in gallery mode, and once in the gallery, click on the arrows on either side to navigate, or press escape to exit back to this page.
.
-
- 34
-
- 33
-
- 32
-
- 31
-
- 30
-
- 28
-
- 28
-
- 27
-
- 26
-
- 25
-
- 24
-
- 23
-
- 22
-
- 21
-
- 20
-
- 19
-
- 18
-
- 17
-
- 16
-
- 15
-
- 14
-
- 13
-
- 11
-
- 10
-
- 9
-
- 8
-
- 7
-
- 6
-
- 5
-
- 4
-
- 3
-
- 2
-
- 1
.
For a map of this location see this link (be prepared to wait for a while as the pictures linked to the map take some time to upload).
Canon 5d Mark II. Images taken variously with Canon 50/1.4, Takumar 100/4 Macro and Nikkor-N Auto 24/2.8 lenses. ISO100. Exposures all over the map.
.
.
burnt embers 
This set is evokes a feeling of serenity and hope. It’s so calming. – L
LikeLike
Thank you. I find it calming to contemplate fields of wildflowers, should do it more often.
LikeLike
These are absolutely gorgeous, ehpem! I love a lot of the closeups – especially where you have one flower in sharp focus and a repeating shape of a second flower behind it. But my absolute favorite is the second of the two large photos. Stunning! And to think of how many times I walked through Beacon Hill Park in my youth, completely oblivious to these beautiful plants!
LikeLike
Thanks so much Laurie. I am not sure which are the large pictures – do you mean the portrait orientation, or do you mean the wider angle shots that show a lot of floral landscape? I love these flowers, they are such a beautiful shape and colour and occur in such glorious matts in some places, like this one.
LikeLike
It’s image 0949-001 that I mean. What I meant by larger pics was the two at the top of the post that displayed full size, as opposed to the ones in the gallery further down the post.
LikeLike
Oh, now I understand!. Yes, I like that one a lot as well (which is why I did not bury it in the gallery) – it sort of shows the distinctive “fawn” markings on the leaves from which the plant gets its name (well, that is my guess about the name).
LikeLike
How utterly wonderful! I am SO ready for spring this year, it’s not remotely funny. Your post and shots here today really bring home the feeling that is popping up around us everywhere now. I love all the flower shots, the close-up macro images really show off all the character of the area and these flowers, but that picture #33 in the gallery there has the most exquisite shadows in it I’ve seen in quite awhile. Wonderful work, my friend, absolutely top drawer.
LikeLike
Hi Toad – when these lilys are out, spring is out in this part of the world. No denying it now, even if we get a freak dump of snow or another cold windstorm, that is just a part of spring too. Thanks for your great comments, glad that they reach out to you in spring-like way. I really like the shadows of the exposed roots in the path in #33, and the lines of tree trunks too. I am glad that you noticed these as well. The order of those images is more about going from close to far, than about what I liked best, though I like #1 a lot and it decided me to start with close shots. Otherwise I probably would have led with #33.
LikeLike
Hi ehpem, this series of photographs is a beautiful exploration of the Easter lily and reminds me it’s time to go out and check on contemporary vegetation. Perusing these photos was a true pleasure.
LikeLike
Hi Joseph – thanks so much! You probably have ready access to all manner of flowers – shooting stars, trilliums, chocolate lilies (another of my favourites), and so on. Getting to be that season. Shooting starts should be out, or out very soon. I need to head out to one of the North Saanich hill-top parks soon. Have not done that for years.
LikeLike
flowers have been my favourite photography subject for many years. I have gotten away from that somewhat. There are places along the Cowichan River that accommodate every flower you’ve mentioned. I haven’t seen the shooting stars this year but that may change as I start looking for them.
LikeLike
Funny – the one thing I took photos of to satisfy my creative urges in my kodachrome days was wild flowers – decades ago. I just noticed shooting stars, so they have come up/out in the past few days in south Victoria area. If it dries up a bit, I might go take pictures of them in the next few days.
LikeLike
Stunning photographs! As always, I adore your macro shots; something about your composition and intensity of the close gaze strike my heart. The yellow in image 1 is sublime. Image 13 and 14 are amazingly Beautiful. I love the carpet of lilies. 14 is composed wonderfully.
I totally understand how you feel about other photographers being around – I’m always afraid of “stealing/copying” their shots. I feel similarly when I write or draw in public. Being watched makes me slightly uncomfortable (though I have no qualms sharing the finished product).
Happy Easter.
LikeLike
Happy Easter Ryan. Thanks for all your comments. I had not looked at #14 as closely as you have (I know, I composed it…) – I don’t think I cropped that one either (most of these are not crops, except some of the macros). I like that #1 as well – the yellow is a daffodil in the background. I also really like #3 for the way the light is around the edges (like on #1 white against yellow has an interesting edge). They really should pull up the daffodils in these beds otherwise over time they might choke out the native plants, and are out of place. None of the other people were fully lying down to get low angle shots like me, maybe they did not want to seem like they were stealing my ideas, or maybe they wanted to stay dry and clean. 🙂
LikeLike
ha! There is something to be said for dry and clean. The yellow does make for interesting shots, but you’re right; those daffodils may be dangerous to native plants. I liked 3 as well. You have such a great eye.
LikeLike
Thanks Ryan 🙂 You are so kind.
LikeLike
What a beautiful graceful flower. That’s an impressive gallery of images. I’m not one for going on organized shoots with fellow photographers but camera clubs are really good learning opportunities. You learn a great deal from the sort of constructive critique that happens within a good club environment – and you’ve not nothing to fear from that I am sure!
LikeLike
Hi Andy. It is indeed a graceful flower. There is a pink species around here as well, but they are rare and hard to find.
There is a very good camera club in this area. I just have never quite got around to joining. They have a lot of competitions and so on. And some very good photographers from the looks of it. But, I am stretched for time as it is these days and am not sure where I would fit that in.
LikeLike
Wow what a glorious place to be! Well done Ehpem!!
LikeLike
Thanks David. Its a pretty neat flower. I wish I had seen the big meadows of these that once existed. But, the macro lens helps me forget the loss of habitat, for a while anyway.
LikeLike
what have you got against North Saanich? none of your pics go north of Keatings. lots of Easter lilies here too you know!
LikeLike
I have been looking at that line on the map too thinking it does not reflect my personal geography too well. I will have to do something about that, soon eh?
LikeLike
This is a very nice series of the lily. I particularly like the close-ups. They look great considering there must have been some harsh lighting that day. Nice work.
LikeLike
Hi Ken – there were quite a few rejects with blown-out petals all over the place, or good exposures for the petals but no vegetation detail at all. The latter can be pretty nice looking, but the former can’t be used. The other thing was the breeze – the flowers were moving and I often had to wait quite a while if going for depth of field. But, it was fun. In my former SLR existence, one of the few things I tried my hand at outside of work documentation were wildflowers. This is the first spring since I got my DSLR so it was great to take the new body and the old macro out to try again. And the 24mm lens really helps with some of the shots too.
LikeLike