Re-creating Escher's 'Three Worlds'

Inspired by Escher's Three Worlds

I have been interested in Escher's art since I was at school and own several reference works about him. Although like many I love the 'impossible' images I also like some of the more subtle, often earlier, pictures that are more naturalistic. One of these is the one entitled 'Three Worlds' which is from December 1955. In his book The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher (Bruno Ernst 1976 Ballantine Books) Ernst calls this Lithograph the high point of Escher's Landscape period, "a lithograph of calm, autumnal beauty"; and he goes on to say that "the unsuspecting viewer can scarcely realise what a triumph it was for Escher to succeed in representing here three different worlds in one place, and so realistically too". 

The three different worlds are the trees reflected on the water, the surface of the water itself, supporting the leaves, and the fish swimming in the depths of the pond. Escher had already depicted trees reflected in water in 'Rippled surface' 1950; that was more stylised, more obviously an artistic simplification of reality than 'Three Worlds' which is much more naturalistic (one might almost say photographic). The two are shown side by side for contrast:

The three worlds image has stuck with me. A few years ago I was at Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire for a lunch and the reflections of trees in the water caught my eye. I took some photographs with the deliberate intention of copying Escher's picture: 

I have lilies in place of leaves and no visible fish, but hey, two out of three aint bad- as I believe some-one sang once.