More commonly seen in low-lying wetlands, a ‘sudu manel’, or white water lily, blooms in a rock pool just below the summit of Pidurangala, nearly 300m above the plains of north-central Sri Lanka. ‘Nymphaea nouchali’ also produces flowers in varying shades of blue, purple, and pink, and is the national flower of Sri Lanka. It is also significant in Buddhism, and is mentioned in ancient Sanskrit, Pali, and Sinhalese literary works. It is believed that when the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, died, water lilies blossomed everywhere he had walked. The pool in the picture lies within sight of one of the largest brick Buddha statues in the world, the Pidurangala Buddha. Shot on assignment for Serendib, the inflight magazine of Sri Lankan Airlines. My photo-story on Sigiriya and Pidurangala ran in the April 2018 issue.
Graffiti etched into their soft bark, a thicket of giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus giganteus) in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, close to the old Sri Lankan hill capital of Kandy. Shot on assignment for the New York Times‘ piece, “An Island Nation that is Best Savored Slowly” by Lucas Peterson, which ran on 30th January 2019, in the Frugal Traveler column.
Gigantic trees dot the slopes of Ritigala Mountain, ancient beings, twisted into fantastic shapes that might well have given birth to the legend that Ritigala is protected by Yakkas, the superhuman guardian spirits of Lankan myth. January 2018.
The trees of Colombo are gigantic and ancient, many over a century old, planted next to quieter narrower avenues that have become the bustling thoroughfares of today. A fair number have fallen to storms, urban development, and the broadening of the city streets, but the trees in the grounds of the Colombo national Museum — most likely predating the building’s inauguration of 1877 — stand as they were intended, each one a haven of shade from the tropical sun, giving visitors to the museum a place to catch a moment of reflection after their tour of history. Shot on assignment for Serendib magazine, as part of my photo story on the museum, “Katu Ge“, which ran in the October 2017 issue.
A fern frond greets the morning sun at the Hakgala Botanical Gardens, in Sri Lanka. Shot on assignment for Serendib, the inflight magazine of Sri Lankan Airlines, as part of my story, ‘The Nuwara Eliya Season in Spring‘, which runs in the April 2017 issue.
Son of the Morning Light 