Ed Lehming Photography

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You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. – Pablo Picasso Light offers surprises and daily I see where many artists get their images from; daily scenes that reveal themselves when viewed for an unique perspective. In this case, the bottom of a beer glass, viewing a television screen on my wall. The blue light of the television floats against the sand coloured walls, distorted by the… Read More

“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” – Walt Whitman Like stars in a dark sky, these maple keys glowed against a shadowy forest. Lit by a late afternoon sun that seemed to spark some inner light, more than just the sunlight itself, these dried Manitoba Maple keys mesmerized me. I stood for a while, just enjoying this scene and considering ways to photograph it in a way… Read More

“It’s attention to detail that makes the difference between average and stunning” – Francis Atterbury From my hotel room in downtown Montreal, this view greeted me every day. The dome of  Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral) fascinated me. The lines and detail are beautiful and I could spend hours scanning over the dome finding small details in the larger view, including the differences in the ‘dormer’ window roofs from peaked to… Read More

“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson The barn is long gone, but the memory of this view remains etched upon my memories. It stood for many years on the farm where my wife grew up…. Read More

“Every moment and every event of a man’s life on earth plants something in his soul”  – Thomas Merton It’s the simple pleasure of walking by a group of dried flower stalks and seeing something wondrous in them. Among the winter kill, these plants, though dead as well, refuse to lay down. Instead, they stand along the shores, nearly six feet tall, enduring the elements like some wild sentinels. Though cold winds blow, snow… Read More

“I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy” – Anais Nin It is a joy to experience, at the deeper level, some of the scenes I come across in my journey through life. Places my feet have travelled many times, at once become magical with the addition… Read More

“When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do not know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator.” – Robert Adams As the above quote articulates so nicely, I never know where a photograph may be waiting. All too often an image reveals itself and I don’t… Read More

The photo title says it all. An image of a pine tree reflected in an ice puddle on the trail. Here we are, early February and much of the scant snowfall we’ve had has melted off, running into creeks or pooling in icy puddles. The light this day was wonderful and lit the pines up with a soft glow. It was this ‘glow’ that attracted me to look closely at the puddle and… Read More

“Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purpose through him.” ~Carl Gustav Jung I am inspired by the art and writings of other creatives. That’s one of my reasons for blogging, connection to a larger community, people who see,… Read More

The title is a bit misleading, as the water is not frozen. I took the word frequencies from the delicate ripples in the water and the effect they had on the reflection. The image is actually inverted and I was debating leaving it that way. However, the composition I was envisioning is better communicated this way. You can see a little hint of the shoreline, still coated in ice and snow. The… Read More

A challenging composition. Part of the ‘trick’ to capturing the motion of water is to create a time exposure based on the speed of the water and the light available. I tend to do most of these earlier in the day, or late afternoon, when the sun is soft and indirect. Last week I found myself, mid-day, looking at these wonderful scenes of water rushing past icy shores and trying to figure… Read More

The words “Seeing the extraordinary in everyday places.” has become a mantra for me. It resonates through my entire being. I’ve said before that I can’t seem to turn it off and would not want to.   As I walk the streets or hike the forest trails, I am able to see beauty almost everywhere. So, why would I want to turn that off. It becomes my connection with my Creator, a… Read More

Moving water and the light playing of the waves. A few years ago, I started experimenting with different shutter speeds, trying to capture the movement well, without loosing details. The shutter speed needs to match the speed of the water or the image is too soft. Doing so in the winter is a particular challenge, since long exposures can blow out all the whites. That said, I like the soft winter light. The… Read More

With the weather turning warmer in Ontario, I thought today would be a nice day to take a walk along Duffins Creek, near Whitevale, Ontario. It’s spring, the snow is gone, and the Coltsfoot is blooming, so it’s also time for the annual rainbow trout run up Duffins Creek to the Whitevale Dam. The dam was built several years ago to prevent the rainbow trout, which are an introduced species, from eating the native brown trout… Read More

A nice view of Monterey Harbour. The tide was low, revealing rocks clearly. The lupine and rocks helped frame the shot nicely, and the sky was a wonderful mix of clouds and turquoise.