Archives
“Spring reveals new things and new life. Sometimes, it has unexpected and early surprises, each received with joy, and curiosity.” – Ed Lehming This has been a very odd spring. It seems to be progressing at a quicker pace than usual, so I find myself looking back at my photos and notes from the past few years to validate what I am experiencing this year. It really is an advanced spring and… Read More
“Sometimes you just had to crawl through the dark before you could see the light.” ― E.L. Montes Butterflies can be a challenge to photograph. They are quite shy and their irregular flight makes them tough to track. But, it’s that irregular movement that makes me notice them. This wood nymph first appeared in my peripheral vision and floated around me for some time before finally landing, far away from me and in… Read More
“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful.” ― Amy Bloom I’ve been saving a quote for some time, waiting for the right image. Well, the image presented itself a few days ago. As I’ve said in a few posts, butterflies seem to be scarce this year, Monarchs even more so. I think this whole season I’ve only seen a handful. This one was simply too wonderful to resist, despite… Read More
“Miracles… seem to me to rest not so much upon… healing power coming suddenly near us from afar but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that, for a moment, our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there around us always.” ― Willa Cather For those living in the path of today’s solar eclipse, I’m sure it will be tough to compete with the spectacle in the sky. If… Read More
“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” ― Lemony Snicket For the past several days, I’ve watched one or two monarch butterflies on my purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpura) and I have not had my camera handy. By the time I gathered my camera and got outside, it seems the butterflies… Read More
“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” ― Anaïs Nin An unknown butterfly on an unknown flower. It really bothers me not to be able to identify the subject matter of my photos, but I can’t figure out what either is. The purple flowers grow in a small cluster in a single location. I’m wondering if it’s an escapee from somebody’s garden…. Read More
“Dream high, beyond the sky; no matter wings so small, keep vision bright; just dare to learn, for you are born to fly.” ― Vikrmn I don’t get tired of these plentiful, colourful butterflies. When trying to figure out the exact species, which I was unable to do, I discovered that there are over 250 species in North America alone and close to 3500 worldwide, each slightly different from the other. This one… Read More
“He imagines a necessary joy in things that must fly to eat.” ― Wendell Berry A final look at this fleabane plant and accompanying wildlife. The Crescent butterfly, now satisfied, flies off to its next destination, while a small bee arrives to repeat the cycle. I like the movement in this image. It nicely illustrates the activity that goes on, even around a single plant, all day long. Each visitor, in its… Read More
“Silence It has a sound, a fullness. It’s heavy with sigh of tree, and space between breaths. It’s ripe with pause between birdsong and crash of surf. It’s golden they say. But no one tells us it’s addictive.” ― Angela Long I’m revisiting a Crescent which posed on a clump of Fleabane. My previous post had the butterfly drinking nectar from the flower, with an accompanying bee. In this image, the butterfly… Read More
“You lift your head, you’re on your way, but really just to be walking, to be out of doors. That’s it, that’s all, and you’re there. Outdoors is our element: the exact sensation of living there.” ― Frédéric Gros By far the most common of local meadow butterflies are skippers. Once you spot one, you suddenly see dozens. The name skipper is so appropriate too, as they move quickly from flower to… Read More
“There are 365 days in a year and you will meet all the colours of life throughout the year: The blue, the black, the pink… Only blue is not a life, only pink is not a life, only black is not a life! Life is all the colours!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan The outdoors is filled with unexpected gifts. As I set out to photograph the Lady Slipper Orchids last Saturday, that… Read More
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ― Joseph Addison Yesterday morning, my son and I went for a hike to see how a patch of Showy Lady Slipper orchids were coming along. More on that in a future post. On the way into the forest, the wildflower lined path was abuzz… Read More
“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” ― Masaru Emoto This week seems to be a day of firsts. Earlier, I posted an image of the first Bloodroot blossom of the year. This image, of a Red Admiral… Read More
The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” ― Paulo Coelho I’m clearly missing the colours and warmth of summer as I sit here watching winter slowly grip the land. This photo was made in mid-September while I was out looking for wildflowers to photograph. But, being ever the photo-opportunist I decided… Read More
“Distance sometimes lets you know who is worth keeping, and who is worth letting go.” ― Lana Del Rey This is a bit of a shift for me today. I went back in my photo archive, looking for some colour and came across this image I made in the spring. The title came to me as soon as I saw the image, recalling how I composed it, deliberately leaving the dark area between the… Read More
“It is strange how new and unexpected conditions bring out unguessed ability to meet them.” ― Edgar Rice Burroughs I did not set out to photograph flowers or butterflies this day. I was hoping to catch the Atlantic Salmon run at the Whitevale dam. I’ve gone there in the spring many times and have had good success with photographing the rainbow trout migration. However, I have yet to witness the salmon run… Read More
“It is very important that we have the capacity to love many different things or people at the same time. Our love should radiate like the sun, warming everything it touches.” ― Peggy Toney Horton The sun is less intense, nights are cool, and mornings full of mist and promise. The fields are filled with late summer wildflowers: goldenrod, purple asters, fleabane, and the shells of mid-summer blossoms, now gone to seed…. Read More
“Everything in me feels fluttering and free, like I could take off from the ground at any second. Music, I think, he makes me feel like music.” ― Lauren Oliver I’m finding these wonderful small butterflies everywhere lately. In this case, what I believe to be a mating pair, based on the slight size differences and colouration. It was interesting to watch numerous butterflies floating around in search of a suitable mate…. Read More
“Only when we pay attention and notice small moments, do we make the connections that lead to a change in our perspective.” ― Andrea Goeglein It’s pretty amazing what you see over a 5km forest hike, especially in a forest as diverse as Secord Forest. Which, fortunately for me, is only a few kilometers from my home, which makes it a super convenient place to go, without a lot of preparation. Back… Read More
“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.” ― Robert A. Heinlein Butterflies are summer to me and I just love the Robert Heinlein quote above. As the air warms, I see more and more of them darting around on the air. They seem to come in all sizes and colours and tend to be a bit elusive when it comes time to photograph them. They sit wonderfully still, till it’s time to release the… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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