“November is usually such a disagreeable month…as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully…just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We’ve had lovely days and delicious twilights.”
― L.M. Montgomery
It reminded me of a scene from The Hobbit, as Bilbo enters Smaug’s lair and sees gold strewn everywhere, pouring across the floor and flowing between the columns. Though this is not gold, rather, an abundance of oak and beech leaves covering the rugged forest floor near Bancroft Ontario, flowing like a golden river between the rocks and trees.
Four mild November days and bright sunshine made the forest a wonderland of colour and light, especially accented by the golden leaves which were everywhere, on the tops of ridges, on ledges, and in deep valleys, everything was alight in the same golden glow. It really was surreal.
The image above is just one of many I made while hiking through tone of the deep valleys that is so typical of this region. Many ridges are a challenge to climb, so some careful planning is required before the attempt is made. This particular valley is quite shallow but many feature sheer drops and I’ve found my way through them with several years of exploring. It’s always a pleasure to get back here.
iPhone 5s back camera @ 4.2mm
1/120 sec; f/2.2; ISO 64
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.”
― Roman Payne
If today’s forecast is any indication, it would appear that our wonderful, mild Ontario November is at an end and winter is anxiously knocking on our door.
That makes my memories of my ‘retreat’ at the beginning of this week all the more special. Cool nights and warm days brought a combination of colourful sunrises and a few foggy ones. Both are beautiful in their own way.
The image above was made this past Wednesday as the fog drifted lazily over the lake and draped the landscape with a layered veil, creating shadows in varying tones of gray. The landscape was quiet and serene as I stood on the shores of Fraser Lake, a gentle breeze moving tendrils of mist along the shoreline.
I felt the black and white image of this scene best conveyed the mood and puts me back to that time and place. A wonderful reminder of gentle November days to savour as the cold of winter takes hold.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 175 mm
1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
High Res Image is on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“Daybreak,’ he said, looking out at it. ‘I always thought it was funny that dawn should be called daybreak. This is when the day is made – it’s the beginning. I’ts the best part: you’ve got all the potential of the day to come, and you haven’t wasted yet. When it gets dark, that should be daybreak. When the day is broken. When it turns into night time, that’s when it all start’s to go wrong.”
― Erin Kelly
The recent November dawns and dusks have been spectacular, whether on the lake or off. With cool nights and warm days, fog, in all its forms was readily available.
On this particular morning the fog had lifted into a low, churning, cloud deck that left vestiges of itself lingering in the valley below. In the distant right, the sun makes its appearance, ready to burn off the moisture, leading into a beautiful sunny day with only traces of the cloud to remind us of how the day began.
Irish Valley is an area of northeastern Ontario just east of Bancroft in the North Hastings Highlands region. The Little Mississippi River meanders below pasture lands in the foreground. A little piece of paradise that I will miss over the winter.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0, ISO 800
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“Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern.”
― Oscar Wilde
This is the same view I posted yesterday but fourteen hours later. I have now returned home from a four day escape to the wilds of northeastern Ontario. I spent the time walking the trails, sitting on moss covered boulders, enjoying sunrises and sunsets, and simply drinking in my surroundings.
It’s been a spectacular November, with temperatures in the mid teens (fifties for my American friends). Each day was bright and sunny with shifting breezes. Each day ended with a lovely sunset and this particular day dawned a mix of lazy pinks and blues amid a high cloud deck, which soon dissipated.
Needless to say, I will be posting more photos of my ‘retreat’ and some thoughts about teh thing I experienced during this time.
iPhone 5s back camera @ 4.2mm
1/60 sec; f/2.2; ISO 32
High Resolution image available on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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A beautiful sunset on Fraser Lake last night.
As you may have noticed by the brevity of my posts, I’m on a short break in Northeast Ontario, enjoying time in the outdoors and enjoying spectacular November weather.
I found this lovely beaver pond at the end of a trail. Spending a few days in the wild.
Northern Ontario forest light
“But it is a pipe.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “It’s a drawing of a pipe. Get it? All representations of a thing are inherently abstract. It’s very clever.”
― John Green
I’ve had a few people comment on the forest abstracts that I create and how I do it. That is something that I have learned through experimentation and though I share my camera settings, the precise method is difficult to describe. I’m afraid if I over thought it, the images may not look the same. It’s really a ‘feel’ thing, the ‘art’ part for me. None of this workis done in Lightroom or Photoshop. It would simply not be satisfying for me.
One thing I did want to share is a before and after view of the same scene. First, I look for bright colours and a strong dark to light contrast, which was the case of this forest edge scene with the dark tree trunks and bright leaves (yellow maple and red oak). If you look carefully at the two images, you will see that the abstract captures most of the details and actually enhances the colours by blurring them together, leaving less dark shadows.
I tend to stick to a 1/4 sec shutter speed, since that has worked best for me. Next ,I do a vertical pan when activating the shutter. I often make multiple images and adjust aperture for exposure. The rest is really just previewing the images and deciding if what I have captured is what I envisioned. There have been instances when I have come across a composition I like and made 20 attempts to get it right with not a single suitable image. Thank goodness for digital cameras.
It’s a technique I learned from another photographer and customized to my own style. It’s also very satisfying, since I am creating something that did not exist before, in its modified form, yet still has natural origins.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/32.0, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“The best part of the journey is the surprise and wonder along the way.”
― Ken Poirot
As I’ve done a few times in the past, I turned this image into a painting, through the wonder of Topaz software.
There are times when I envision an image with the camera and it does not quite meet my expectations. The above image is one of those. The sunlight was beautiful, casting long autumn shadows on the golden forest floor. The oaks had dropped most of their leaves and only the high canopy remained, filtering the sunlight to a soft orange. The leaves you see still clinging to the trees on the right are all beech. Yet, the rythm and warmth that I wanted to convey through the photo was lacking. By softening it, through brush strokes, that ‘feeling’ comes through better.
This path, at Uxbridge’s North Walker Woods parallels the forest’s southern edge. To the left are private properties consisting of homes and farms, all backing onto this little slice of paradise. To the right are rolling, oak covered hills. What struck me as I walked this perimeter trail was how the trail beckoned me further along, always wondering what might lie beyond the next dip. At the very end of this trail is the small pine forest where I made the image for “Be Still…” and the start of the trail is where I made “The Trailhead”, posted earlier this week.
Many more photos were created during this brief hike, of all of them, only this one did not satisfy me as a photograph. So, it’s nice to have options.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 85mm
1/180 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
― John Muir
As they say, every journey begins with a single step. This is the first step, and view, when entering the beautiful oak forest at Walkers Woods, a single tract within a vast conservation area, just south of Uxbridge, Ontario.
It will also be my first step to a new series of art photos that I’ll be publishing over the next few weeks, documenting the mid-November forest, most captured, on a single day, since time and light seem to be rare commodities of late. Fortunately, I live only a few minutes drive from these forests, which makes them a convenient weekend destination, with most of my time spent hiking and making photos. Evenings, though an option in the long days of summer do not offer any opportunities in the fall, since it’s already getting dark around four thirty.
I titled my prior series the “God-Light Series” and it featured a lot of golds and yellows. Well, the sun is lower in the sky and the light not quite as intense. As I considered the light and my attraction to this form of art I decided to call this latest series “Wooden Movements”.
Most of these images feature the bright copper colours of the oak forests just east of my home. While the maples and birches have dropped their leaves, oak and beech seem to be holding on till the end. Beech in particular seems to retain its leaves until well into winter. In the image above, the forest floor is covered with a thick layer of oak leaves, shimmering in the sun, while beech can be seen above, still clinging to the branches.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 75 mm
1/4 sec, f/14.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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This week’s submission to Norm 2.0‘s Thursday Doors.
Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favourite door photos from around the world.
And yet another door for beautiful Germain Street in Saint John, New Brunswick. This fairly simple door, with the ornate scrollwork above it, sits at the very beginning of Germain Street and concluded my photo walk that day.
Once more, the door is a bit ‘weathered’ but the owners have taken some measures to make it beautiful. It looks like an original door, which is wonderful. I see so many antique doors being replaced with aluminum and vinyl and the character is lost.
The photo was made near the end of the day and you can see the sun reflecting off the building across the street. Once more, I’m posting the Google Streetview link, so you can see the doors in relation to their surroundings. The contrast between old and modern will surprise you.
iPhone 5s back camera @ 4.2mm
1/470 sec; f/2.2; ISO 32
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“Who will bear witness to these small islands and oases of wildness as land is divided and sold to become strip malls, housing developments,and parking lots? What happens to the natural history here? We must bear witness.”
― Joni L. James
The sky yesterday was unbelievable. I had a brief errand to run which put me on the road towards Uxbridge, Ontario. From my window, this scene unfolded and I had to stop to capture it, to bear witness to this ‘oasis’, literally, on the outskirts of local development. All too soon these places will be mere memories.
Cold winds blew thin clouds in from the north and many trees had dropped their leaves already, but what remained was gorgeous! The sun bathed the rolling farm fields in a warm light that contradicted the cold wind and set the distant treeline ablaze with yellow light. I’m so happy I had my camera with me and was able to do the image justice. I can almost see the clouds drifting across the scene.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“In transitions, we must learn to be still. Being still is, in part, about learning to be comfortable with ambiguity.”
― Janet Rebhan
These are the words that echo through my head, as I consider this recent image and the events over the past several months and yesterday evening. I find myself standing here once more, drinking in the beauty and the quiet, as the world goes on about me. But here, in this place, in this moment, I am still. I am still and the quiet of the forest surrounds me, nourishes me, makes me aware of its life. In this small part of my world, I am at peace.
The contrast between the dark tree trunks and the bright sun soaked forest floor, as well the bright green ferns, still lush among the fallen leaves, makes me consider all the extremes we are faced with and how they can coexist in this small, quiet place and make the whole scene beautiful.
Be Still…, also echoes the verses of a favourite hymn, and reminds me that I am part of an incredible creation and that there is peace in faith as well.
This is my refuge, my quiet place, and affords me the ability to be still, even though I can’t be there right now. I’m hoping this little glimpse affords you that stillness as well.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 75 mm
1/4 sec, f/14.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“As the sun lives on when it sets in the warmth it has given to others, you too will live on in the hearts of those whose lives you have touched.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo
I could think of no better title for this image of a mature milkweed pod, backlit by a late afternoon autumn sun.
The image was not one I set out to make but was one of those ‘opportunities’ that often comes up in most photographer’s days. There is a grove of poplars which I photographed last year, at their peak of colour, that I was hoping to revisit for another try. The light was not great and I have yet to review all my shots. However, as I stood there photographing the poplars, I could not help but be drawn to the multitude of brightly shimmering milkweed pods as they moved about in the gentle breeze. Each one seemed to lit up from inside. Also, for this time of year, it was a warm day, thus the combination of the warm and fuzzies.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 170 mm
1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“Do you know how there are moments when the world moves so slowly you can feel your bones shifting, your mind tumbling? When you think that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will remember every last detail of that one minute forever?”
― Jodi Picoult
As I mentioned on a previous post, I had the opportunity this past weekend to get back on the trails, spend some time with my son, and make more photos.
In several aspects, we experienced ‘Golden Moments”. The soft autumn sunlight made both the canopy and forest floor glow with golden light, trees cast long, yet barely noticeable shadows on the ground, and we had a great time discussing photography, light, and composition.
My son is in his third year of university for film making and has a great sense for all of the above and is quite a talented photographer as well, yet he sees thing slightly differently from me, which has been a great learning experience for both of us, as we walk and discuss what and how we are seeing the scenes around of us.
Often he will see something that did not catch my eye and vice versa. The joy in this is that we are both able to communicate well what that ‘something’ is. Then the other will see it as well. I found this has expanded my art as a photographer significantly.
After all, if I can’t understand how others may see my work, then I believe I’m not fully communicating my vision.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 78 mm
1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.”
― Tom Hiddleston
Ah, the weekend again and a nice time to get out and enjoy what autumn has to offer. As I went for a hike with my son we both noted that fall is a sensory banquet, filled with sights, sounds, smells and texture. We left taste to another time, though pumpkin pie did enter the conversation as a possibility.
I’ve hiked this train more times than I can remember, yet every time, it offers something new. At this point in the trail there is a small but wonderful grove of birch trees. Larger birches are spare in this area and usually not in well established groves. This one is right on the trail and grows on a gentle hillside, allowing ample sunlight to warm the roots. The rest of the forest in this section is largely maple and beech. It’s the beech leaves littering the forest floor that give it that beautiful coppery glow.
Something I have not tried here was a vertical pan, which I have been enjoying a lot lately. I made three images and chose this one as my favourite. There is a nice contrast between the greens and oranges against the bright blue sky, broken up by the white lines of the birches. To see another of this grove, please check my other image made here last year. Last year’s image offered a bit more leaf cover and more undergrowth.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 75 mm
1/4 sec, f/32.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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A very brief post from the trails today, but keeping up to my commitment to a post a day for 2016.
A little glimpse into my world today. Enjoying mild weather and beautiful trails.
Interestingly, this is my 500th post, so I will need to add to it in celebration. More to follow.
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
― William Blake
At first, this image was in my ‘discard’ pile. The bend and tilt of the trees bothered me and I could not get it ‘straight’. I realized that the wobble , though distracting to me, was OK and that there were wonderful textures and movement in this image once I reconsidered the image as a whole.
This image was made on the same day as the rest of what I am now referring to as my “God-light” series. As you can see, the sunlight is abundant and the forest floor is strewn with golden leaves. Yet, small patches of green still linger. A beautiful day to absorb this scene.
This got me considering how many other things and people we may relegate to our ‘discard’ pile when first impressions discomfort us. In future, I intend to remind myself of this image and consider the many reasons how these trees got their bend in the first place.
I love the quote: “Art, brings comfort to the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable”.
I find it becoming a bit of a mantra for me of late.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/5sec, f/14.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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This week’s submission to Norm 2.0‘s Thursday Doors.
Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favourite door photos from around the world.
Yet another door for beautiful Germain Street in Saint John, New Brunswick. I loved these ornate, yet somewhat weather worn doors. If you look at the Street View, you’ll see the neighbour has painted theirs. A vast improvement, in my opinion, though I do like the look of natural wood.
“If I am brave enough to stand against those who have been groomed by fear, I will recognize that where I get knocked down is all about where life begins, and has nothing to do with where it ends.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough
Although not as bright and sunshiney as my previous images, this one still echoes the spirit of the forest and provides me with thoughts on life and my world. As filtered sunlights drifts down from above, filtered green and yellow, and falls in patches on the leaf strewn ground, shadows reach out, and certain trees show their own particular colours, some bright gold, while others reflect the sky in muted blues, and others loom darkly. In the background, bright sunlight reflects from bright yellow leaves. The trees ‘stand’ tall in the forest reaching towards the sunshine, encircling the brown leaves.
A ‘stand ‘ is also an expression for a group of trees, particularly aspens, who share common root system. While not the case here, with the mix of pine, maple, and oak. I still like the name because it instills multiple images in my mind.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/20.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“We are often unaware of the gradual decline and the erosion in our lives but not unaware of the gnawing feeling it brings.”
― Eric Samuel Timm
As I stood on the shore, I could not help but notice the features of this rock outcropping. Wave after wave flowed over it and the light revealed deep scrapes and abrasions. Small rocks washed and danced over the surface and around the edges. The surf repeated this pattern, over and over. At some point, driven by the extreme tides of the Bay of Fundy, larger boulders must have passed over the surface, creating the deep gouges and chips. Long before I was born and long after I’m gone, this pattern continues, adding to the abrasive material that’s responsible. Eventually, the rock will be worn down by some it’s own material.
How often does life wear us down to the point where we are the very agents of our continued erosion?
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 95 mm
1/8 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“One passionate heart can brighten the world. From person to person the chain reaction burns through us — setting heart to heart ablaze, and lighting the way for us all!”
― Bryant McGill
I set out yesterday morning, on a bright clear day, gentle sunlight lighting up the changing leaves. That lasted for about an hour and dark, slate-gray clouds rolled in, effectively ending my planned day of photographing falls leaves.
So, a change of plans, including a trip to a local market and a micro-brewery I had meant to visit. All was not lost and it became a great day out with my wife, being tourists in our own area. Not to be completely disappointed, we drove some back roads looking for some particularly colourful tree to catch our attention. We had varying success with that, as the sky was just ‘dull’ and colours muted.
Then, as we rounded a bend in the road on our way home, this scene offered itself. A temporary break in the clouds lit up this grove of maple and birch trees, making them almost glow in contrast to the dark clouds and pine forest behind them. It was a virtual island of light.
Unfortunately, I could not get a clear shot from the road and climbed up an embankment, hoping for a better view, unobstructed by trees and fences. That was not to be and I just could not get a satisfactory angle to show what I was seeing. But trespassing was not an option for me.
As I came off the embankment, a truck slowed, stopped, and reversed back to where I was standing. Great, a confrontation? The driver asked me what I was doing on the embankment and I told him I was trying to make a photo of the trees in the sun. He told me he was the property owner, and much to my surprise he said, “If you want to get a bit closer, feel free to jump the fence, but mind the horses, they may come at you, so be careful.”
I thanked him for being so understanding, quickly climbed the fence and made three images before the sun was obscured once more. This one photo made the whole day worthwhile and restored my faith in people being understanding of photographers trying to conduct their art. I may have to go back with a print of this image and thank him for being so kind. Like the sun on the trees, that act of kindness brightened my day.
Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G I AF-S VR Zoom @ 90 mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
― Plato
This is the fifth and final image from my “God-light” series.
On that most wonderful day, where the sun and leaves provided me with a brilliant show of light and colour, I emerged from a darker part of the forest into what was to be the final bright patch of light. Around the bend the path drops, into a cedar grove, where the leaves are not as bright, the sun is filtered and only a few bright yellow cedar boughs litter the mostly green pathway. That’s the nature and diversity of the forest, always revealing something new around the next bend or beyond the next hill.
If the forecasts are correct, there will be a few more mild days but I’m afraid all that remains will pale in comparison to the experience I had a few brief days ago, stored in my memories and documented in five photos. That said, I was surprised by this show of light and hope to be blessed by another, slightly different experience.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/5 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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A quick image of this year’s pumpkin. Wishing you all a safe and delightful Halloween!
©Ed Lehming Photography 2016
“Now the wren has gone to roost and the sky is turnin’ gold
And like the sky my soul is also turnin’
Turnin’ from the past, at last, and all I’ve left behind”
― Ray Lamontagne
Image four in my “God-light” series.
It still amazes me at how quickly a day can change. As I’ve said in previous posts, I was out for a brief walk, not expecting much to present itself as far as photos. I often have an intent of what I want to photograph and how, yet every now and then, more often of late, nature has surprises in store for me. This was the case on that short hike a few days ago. Over the span of a few minutes and a few hundred meters the late morning sunlight bathed the forest in an extraordinary light. The effect is further enhanced by the abundance of freshly fallen maple and birch leaves, which give the light a warm golden glow, yet vestiges of green still show themselves in the background. It’s a glorious time of year.
In this image the path bends gently to the left past brightly glowing maples and the surprisingly intense sunshine lights up patches of tree trunks and laps at the ground in tongues of flame while the clear blue sky shows itself among the high branches.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/5 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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“Travelling the road will tell you more about the road than Google will tell you about the road.”
― Amit Kalantri
My third installation from my autumn walk in the woods. Once more, the image was made in a very brief time frame when the sun shone brightly between the trees, lighting up the forest floor with an unbelievable ‘glow’. C.S Lewis referred to it as a “God-light” and I can’t think of a better term for it. There is a life and energy in this light that is so utterly profound. You want to stand there and just absorb it. The light strikes the trees, yet leaves barely a shadow, as it reflects softly within the forest.
It was one of those days you wish could go on forever because it is so awe inspiring. I was happy to have witnessed it and even happier to be able to keep some of it as more than just a memory. Something to share and, hopefully, brighten someone elses day, when they need a bit of light to get them through.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/9.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com
“I loved sitting on the pile of freshly cut logs, running my hands over the different shapes and smelling their woody fragrance. To this day I think that there is nothing as interesting to look at as a heap of newly cut logs, the delicate colouring of their veined insides telling their life story, while they wait to bring warmth and comfort.”
― Alice Taylor
A very simple title for a simple composition that caught my attention during a brief hike this week. There is something about the white birch bark and the orange leaves and cedar that make this “pop” for me. It was one of those images that I liked straight from the viewfinder and the composition was relatively simple, yet appealing.
Given the abundance of fungus on these logs, I don’t believe they would be appropriate for firewood, they simply make a nice photo.
Sadly, I’m also envisioning this image with a light dusting of snow, which we had last night. Fall is moving all too quickly to the inevitable winter, which does have its own beauty.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 200 mm
1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com
“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.”
― C.S. Lewis
The light in the forest last week was beautiful and brief. I was able to make a series of these forest ‘abstractions’ while on a short lunchtime walk. All were made within a few hundred meters of each other and then, the light was gone and the forest settled into an autumn gloom.
So, drink in this warmth, this “Godlight’, and dance like the trees of the forest in a gentle breeze. Reach your arms to the sky and turn your head to bathe in the warmth of the autumn sun, for inevitably, this gift will fade, and snow and cold will slow our step.
The golden glow was caused by bright yellow maple leaves which covered the forest floor, between the delicate new growth, on a gently sloping hillside. In the distance, some vestiges of green still shine through.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com
This week’s submission to Norm 2.0‘s Thursday Doors.
Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favourite door photos from around the world.
Today a travel photo. I was in Saint John, New brunswick on business last week and though I brough my camera gear, I found little time to be a tourist. Rather, I made most of my images with my Iphone as I took a quick stroll through Saint John’s wonderful victorian streets.
The doors here are plentiful and beautiful. Germain Street is especially lovely, though there is a great variance in the condition of the homes and their doors. Some building have been meticulously updated and maintained, hearkening to San Francisco, while others are surprisingly run down and unkempt. The door above is somewhere between and seems to have been neglected of late. I’m attaching a Google Streetview for you if you feel like taking a quick tour.
Why we love with close hearts
Why we love with souls apart
Let the love flow from hearts to souls,
Let the world glow”
― Megha Khare
For the past few years I have found great pleasure in creating these photo abstractions, all done in camera, no Photoshop blur effects.
Several years ago, I was introduced to this technique by a photographer friend who did these for a brief period. She was kind enough to give me some pointers and I took that technique and personalized it. Since I make these images free-standing, each image is slightly different and unique. I usually make three or four and decide on which I like best. I always have a vision in mind but they are always a surprise. The light plays in such unique ways that it is hard to fully predict the outcome, though I have gotten better , I think, in my initial composition.
The image above was made as I was on the inner edge of a pine forest. The sun was shining brightly on the maples and birches just outside, creating this gorgeous glow, which reflected onto the forest floor. Many of the details are missed in the viewfinder, like the green grasses in the foreground and the solitary green leaf, glowing in front of the pines.
The forest, though seemingly dark, is alight with this reflected glow which seems to come from the ground itself, despite the cooling temperatures as we approach the inevitable winter time. You’d almost think it could melt the snow. I’m hoping for a few more days of this warm fall light.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 80 mm
1/4 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
High resolution image can be viewed on 500px
For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com
Ed Lehming Photography 
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