This lotus blossom picture, which is also seen on the bottom of this site, was taken by me on the afternoon of June 16, 2009.
It was a windy day. As you can see despite the wind, the picture came out very sharp and detailed. The wind driven ripples in the water make a nice background don't they?
I grew the plant myself from a chunk of root resembling horseradish root. Growing a lotus is easy if you follow the directions. Interestingly it's considered best to start with a piece of root instead of getting a plant.
Also the time of year is important. Vendors typically don't sell root stock after late winter or early spring.
I recommend growing it in a large container away from the main pond. The plant which produced the flower above developed a severe fungal infection soon after blooming. This could not be easily treated without poisoning the fish and frogs inhabiting the pond.
I also built the pond it grew in. It was the largest pond I ever built, fifty feet across at the widest, and about 4 feet deep on average. Building a garden pond is easy.
That above image is a much larger file than the one at the bottom of this site. It's just under one megabyte. You can download the picture and do as you wish with it. Having it professionally printed and framed is a great idea. I did that and it turned out well.
According to some believers, lotus blossoms are thought to symbolize spiritual transformation, as in rising up from the muck and mire of ego-mind domination to the unfolding beauty of spiritual awakening and God-Self recognition.
If you have ever done any digging in swampy soil or perhaps drained and cleaned out an aquarium that has been set up for a long time, you know about muck and mire. It stinks.
The sacred beliefs accorded to the lotus go back at least to ancient India and ancient Egypt. Today the flower is believed sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. It is also the official flower of India and Vietnam.
Using the image of this sacred flower in your spiritual practice would provide you with a powerful symbol. There is a tremendous amount of collective belief associated with it going back many thousands of years.
There is already plenty of good information out there about the beliefs of people who have associated spiritual energy with this magnificent flower. I'll not get into it here.