My Flower Photography: Why A Balinese Can't Live Without Flower

Hello, everyone. I'd like to share my flower photography. I have taken these photos in the last three years.

In our Balinese culture, a flower is important because we use it almost every single day for religious activity. When Balinese go to the temple they usually bring offerings made of flowers, coconut leaves and some other ingredients.

If you have been to Bali, you probably have seen the kind of offerings I mean. It can be said that offering is a kind of gift to God or ancestor. And it's been a local tradition for centuries.

Since people make offerings almost every single day, lots of flowers are needed every day. This is the reason that many households in Bali grow their flowers in their house yards. They can also buy flowers in the local market or buy the ready-made offerings at local markets.

Can you imagine there is a great demand for flowers for the offering? For this reason, you would also see flowers are grown in farm along with rice plants. On harvest time, the flowers are picked and loaded to pick up trucks and transported to the town. Then those flowers would be sold to different local markets.

I have a friend who told me when he was a kid, his family grew a magnolia champak flower tree in their house yard. He used to pick up champak flowers to sell in the market near his house. And the money he got, he used to buy books, pencils or anything he needed for his school. Isn't that something?

Finally, could you imagine how many flower plants in Bali island? Well, a lot. Here are some photos I took during the last 3 years. Thanks

Note: all photos are mine and taken with Canon Powershot GX7 Mark II.