Archives
“After a mid-April snowfall, even the plants seem hesitant to re-open.” – Ed Lehming It’s a bit odd that I keep finding allusions to COVID in my photos. Living in the province of Ontario, Canada, with it’s high case count and obscure lockdown measures to come at COVID, my thoughts often tie back to ‘opening up’. Currently we are under a 6 week ‘stay at home’ order, meaning we are to stay… Read More
“As the world warms, Spring slowly pulls away from Winter’s embrace and reaches out for the promise of Summer’s warming touch.” – Ed Lehming The title for this image, as well as the quote, came to me as soon as I looked at it in my viewfinder. It’s one of those spontaneous images that are created when I am simply looking around me while in the forest. The single spruce bough, with… Read More
“Water, in all its forms, fills the landscape. What was ice at night now flows and pools, seeping into the ground, providing nourishment to to forest. High above, moisture steams in the sunlit canopy. Spring thaw is upon us.” – Ed Lehming The forest seems to be transforming every day, shifting from its winter repose to spring activity. There are times when I simply stand in the forest, quietly, and take it… Read More
“Winter lingers and takes its toll, slowly drying and fading even the most tenacious foliage. My beloved beeches are no exception. Day by day, their colour also succumbs to the elements, but faded and weather worn, they still hold on, awaiting their spring replacements.” – Ed Lehming I’m starting to feel like this beech tree, hanging on, awaiting spring and the promise of relief from the cold of winter and the isolation… Read More
“Every journey has a beginning. What that journey has to bring, is an unknown, but our attitude in starting the journey often has a great impact on the outcome. I chose hope.” – Ed Lehming In keeping with my photographic experiments, I have digitally enhanced this one as well. It brings me great joy to see what some of my everyday scenes transform into. The image I chose today is a few… Read More
“Flowers bring to life even the dullest days” – Ed Lehming The first day of May, in the midst of pandemic lockdowns, and I am blessed with the beauty of a single blossom from a Gerbera that I somehow managed to coax through the winter. It’s been a bit, no, actually very distressing to not be able to get out and photograph local wildflowers like I have in the past few years…. Read More
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke It’s spring, and finally mild enough that it feels like spring, the gardens, which till now, have been waiting patiently for some warmth to stir life into them are now erupting with perennials. This is such a needed reprieve from the past weeks of of staying home and waiting for signs of life. I… Read More
“There is something special about the first trillium of the year. As I walk the trails, I keep a keen eye open for this marvelous harbinger of spring, and when it see it, I know, warm days and beauty follow.” – Ed Lehming Here it is, the first white trillium of the year. The original was a ‘nice’ photo, but I was looking for more, something to personalize it this year. This… Read More
“All things change, it is inevitable, even the things that appear to be constants eventually pass into history. The cycles of time and nature cannot be stopped.” – Ed Lehming I’ve written a few times about the beauty of beech leaves in the dead of winter. As other leaves have long since fallen to the ground, these leaves cling to the branches with incredible tenacity and offer much needed brightness to otherwise… Read More
“Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile.” ― Bernard Beckett As I observed these dried beech leaves a few days ago I saw many allusions to my current state of emotional well-being and my pursuit of calm and hope. There have been days… Read More
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien In these uncertain times, the Tolkien quote resonates with me. There are so many things that are fair, and there are more and more every day. I’m making it my habit… Read More
“As doom and gloom pervade our lives it’s difficult to feel freshness. Yet, nature shows us that just as one thing dies off, another appears. Our path need not be wearisome if we open our eyes in expectation to the new rather than the old.” – Ed Lehming Such was my experience today, as I returned to my beloved trails. It’s nearing the end of April, the world is locked in a… Read More
“Even in the darkness and the tangles of life, light seems to find its way to us.” – Ed Lehming This image was made in January, during a family vacation to Mexico. I was experimenting with my deliberate camera movement (DCM) technique using the jungle foliage as my subject. It’s a bit different than the forests in my area as the jungle is quite tight compared to the wider spaces of hardwood… Read More
“What lies ahead? We seldom know the details, but we anticipate, hoping for the best.” – Ed Lehming As February transitions to March, I am keenly aware of the subtle changes in the forest. The light is a bit warmer and softer than it has been for far too long, there are more birds flitting about in the branches high above. There is more movement and the sounds are different. Even the… Read More
“Through our dark times, if we have eyes open in hope, we can see glimpses of what might be, in what was.” – Ed Lehming The beautiful brightness of beech leaves in winter, and early spring for that matter is always a welcome sight. Even on the dullest snow-filled days, they glow with soft gold, a reminder of the rich colours of autumn. The sun, even in limited amounts, makes them seem… Read More
“Art is to console those who are broken by life.” ― Vincent van Gogh I generally don’t post these ‘enhanced’ images, but enjoyed creating this one so much, I had to share it, hopefully it fulfills it’s intent to console somebody who needs a bit of brightness in their day. The source image was made last week while hiking my brother in law’s woodlot near Bancroft, Ontario. It was a cool November morning… Read More
“When our thoughts are unsettled and our inner world is in a muddle, we may sharpen our wits and try to recognize the invisible edges of our fractured stance. If we seek to figure out, what our life story is all about, we may be able to put the missing pieces in place and identify what is driving us, what we are actually up to and why we are running like mad… Read More
The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.” ― Kahlil Gibran I really struggled to find a quote that complimented this photo. It’s such a contrast. These tulips have been the subject of my photos for a few days now, and I watched them mature and slowly fade, yet, to me, the beauty… Read More
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ― Shel Silverstein There’s a lot going on in the world these days. Most news seems bad and you can wonder where it’s all going. Yet, within the doom and gloom that the mainstream media feeds us, there… Read More
“When one tunes in into nature’s frequency, life becomes change, change becomes hope!” ― Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel This has been a year of change and experimentation for me. It’s all been fairly carefully thought out and exciting. I’ve experimented with new photographic techniques, such as macro photography and new ways of editing, like using some Photoshop plugins to create paintings from my photos. I also experimented with some new varieties of plants in my… Read More
“I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd A host of golden daffodils Beside the lake beneath the trees Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” ― William Wordsworth At long last, I feel I might be able to say that spring and warmer weather are here to stay? I’ve posted about ‘false starts‘ and the change of seasons,… Read More
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway After a few ‘false starts’ it looks like spring has finally… Read More
As spring continues, more colour and new life emerges, following the cycle of death and re-birth. The delicate structures of new leaves exploding from once tight buds are part of that cycle. A few short days ago, these red maple leaves were just bumps on a branch. Now, you can see the future shape in miniature. The soft morning light created a nice back-lit effect that shows all the structures nicely and… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
Recent Comments