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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,… Read More
“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…. Read More
“Everything turns in circles and spirals with the cosmic heart until infinity. Everything has a vibration that spirals inward or outward — and everything turns together in the same direction at the same time. This vibration keeps going: it becomes born and expands or closes and destructs — only to repeat the cycle again in opposite current. Like a lotus, it opens or closes, dies and is born again. Such is also… Read More
“Sunflowers, Not Facing the Sun” (A Poem) I stand tall As gracious as one could be Blooming to my best As slender as it touches my being Everyone else is facing the sun Bending towards its unfathomable galore They and I are both undoubtedly Grown on the benevolence of life’s essence The brighter side mercilessly feeding desires unbound By daunting the “courage to know” with each spin Though, I am not able… Read More
“Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” ― Samuel Butler I’m not really sure what kind of berry this is. They look a bit like cranberries, but I suspect that is not the case. They came as a colour ‘filler’ in a bouquet of flowers I purchased for our Thanksgiving table. Of course, I had to pull it apart and make photos… Read More
“And that afternoon, as the sun slanted low through the changing autumn leaves, I remembered to savor the moment, soak in the beauty, breathe deeply and feel the immensity of God.” ― Cindee Snider Re The next component to nature’s fall palette around here is orange. Interestingly, when I got closer to this branch for a bright orange maple tree, I found a surprising amount of green and yellow, with patches of… Read More
“Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light, which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn.” ― Leo Tolstoy I’ve titled myself a ‘photo opportunist’ a few times. Really, it’s all about being prepared for any eventuality. This means knowing my gear, settings, and my surroundings. A lot has to do with experience, most bad… Read More
“Whatever your passion is, keep doing it. Don’t waste time chasing after success or comparing yourself to others. Every flower blooms at a different pace. Excel at doing what your passion is and only focus on perfecting it. Eventually people will see what you are great at doing, and if you are truly great, success will come chasing after you.” ― Suzy Kassem Those who follow my blog will recognise some of… Read More
“I don’t think there’s anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that’s because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it…. Read More
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” ― Isaac Asimov Something about fall that has always fascinated me is how slow decay, cooler temperatures, and a shorter period of daylight, can change a plant so dramatically. Recently I came across this dogwood in a local forest. Almost all the leaves show signs of decay, being thoroughly spotted and in some case, even perforated by decay. Then there are… Read More
“Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.”… Read More
“Did you want to save me now or does later fit better into your schedule?” ― Sarah E. Morin Despite being a bit beat up, this small bouquet of red freesia is still quite lovely. It’s a bit of a ‘rescue’, pulled from a discarded bouquet ,but still wonderful on its own. The leaves have taken a bit of abuse, yet the blossoms are still in good condition. There is something about… Read More
“I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves.” ― L.M. Montgomery Though a few have seen better days, these roses still offered me an opportunity to continue experimenting with lighting on these studio shots. I thought the white might pose a challenge but they turned out beautifully, still retaining the soft pink/cream colour perfectly. I’m finding it’s a matter of… Read More
“An elegant behavior, an elegant look, an elegant word, an elegant posture, an elegant idea, they are all moonlight, mysterious and magical, calming and peaceful!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan Orchids have a strange fascination for me. They seem almost alien at times, with their bizarre combinations of colours and textures. Yet they are also so mysterious and elegant. The natural world continually outdoes itself in the variations it presents. These three posed… Read More
“Grace is what picks me up and lifts my wings high above and I fly! Grace always conquers! Be graceful in everything; in anger, in sadness, in joy, in kindness, and in unkindness, retain grace with you!” ― C. JoyBell C. For the past few days, as I looked out the window from my desk, I saw this hummingbird feeding on our canna lilies. He never came at the same time of… Read More
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ― Henry James Goodbye to a most glorious summer and hello to what is predicted to be a long, mild autumn in Ontario. What better image for the summer/fall transition than sunflowers? I see them as a ‘transition’ flower. They bloom mid-summer and continue to grow into the fall. They are frost resistant, though I… Read More
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 break from my University of Toronto doors, though the photo was part of that same day’s photo shoot. After leaving the University grounds and on my way to the Art Gallery of Ontario, my wife and I stopped… Read More
“Life is amazing, and it’s awful, and it’s ordinary, mundane and routine, but like the sun behind the clouds, amazing is always there regardless of what is momentarily obscuring it.” ― Maximus Freeman Once more, I’m not sure of the specific species of this plant, known generally as Sedum, which we affectionately call “Lives Forever”. The name was handed down by various family members and I can understand the rationale for it…. Read More
“Let the colours of your ideas be red so that all can easily notice them! And what is red? Red is a scream, red is power, red is assertion!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan A bit of a journey into the world of macro photography today. I’m still getting the hang of it but enjoying the results. This red begonia blossom is part of a floral display along the main street in my town. I… Read More
“I am the lover’s gift; I am the wedding wreath; I am the memory of a moment of happiness; I am the last gift of the living to the dead; I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.” ― Kahlil Gibran In this case, a gift of love. This time of year, as the days shorten and the nights cool, I am reminded of my first date with my… Read More
“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe I’m continuing to enjoy these studio images. Isolating the flower against the black just keeps the attention on the flower. Even when composing the shot, I see shapes and textures I had not noticed before. I’ve also done a few more macro shots, which I will share at some point…. 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
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 return to the University of Toronto and its doors. Today, I have chosen a peculiar doorway to Trinity College. Though it’s difficult to show the scale on the photo, the doorway is quite short, only about five feet tall. I’m not… Read More
“You notice, by the way, that we never have a meeting with an alien. It’s always an encounter.” ― Jack McDevitt Also known as a Scorpion Wasp due to their appearance, or more correctly, American Pelecinid Wasp. These alien looking creatures look like they may have come from a child’s nightmare, but the long tail, which resembles a scorpion’s stinger as actually used by the wasp to deposit its egg on grubs underground…. Read More
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul.” – Horatio Spafford It’s difficult to put into words the multiple feelings I experience when paddling. My canoe is one of my ‘sacred places’. Like being behind a camera, I am in the moment, and experience only this. Through this photo, I’m… Read More
“Do not allow any negativity or ugliness in your surroundings, or anybody at all, destroy your confidence or affect your growth as a blooming flower. It is very normal for one ugly weed to not want to stand alone.” ― Suzy Kassem The bane of all dog owners and hikers. These ‘stick to everything’ seeds of the common burdock are really quite an ingenious way to transport seeds long distances. For those… Read More
“There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who do not. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.”… Read More
“When someone comes around at that dreary moment, when all hope was lost, and thorns emerged. And that fellow, walks on that thorn just to cross to your side, to bear the pains for your sake, to bleed, to self-destroy himself, just to protect you. He places you above his priorities, and doesn’t give a damn whatsoever taunt he receives, his foremost desire is to make sure you are save, feel loved… Read More
“The light of love, the purity of grace, The mind, the Music breathing from her face, The heart whose softness harmonised the whole — And, oh! that eye was in itself a Soul!” ― George Gordon Byron At this time of the season, when plants begin to wilt from the exertions of the summer, the cosmos still perseveres, brightening my gardens with their snow white purity and diaphanous petals. I see the… Read More
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. This week, a return to the University of Toronto and it numerous spectacular doors. Today, I have chosen the main doorway to Knox College, another building on the U of T grounds, proudly facing the central campus grounds as they have… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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