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“One must know the so-called ‘lesson of a downpour.’ A man, caught in a sudden rain en route, dashes along the road not to get wet or drenched. Once one takes it for granted that in rain he naturally gets wet, he can be in a tranquil frame of mind even when soaked to the skin. This lesson applies to everything. ” – Yamamoto Tsunetomo Above is a photo from the past… Read More
“By March, the worst of the winter would be over. The snow would thaw, the rivers begin to run and the world would wake into itself again. ― Neil Gaiman Bubbles, trapped in ice, glow beneath the icy waters of the spring thaw, like a wraith, lit by some inner glow. Mid-February this year brings an early and rapid thaw. Cold water flows with life over frozen creeks, softening the shapes trapped below, beckoning… Read More
“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.” ― Elizabeth Lesser I was considering numerous titles for this images. There is a lot happening here. I was considering “Transitions”,… Read More
“Ice contains no future, just the past, sealed away. As if they’re alive, everything in the world is sealed up inside, clear and distinct. Ice can preserve all kinds of things that way- cleanly, clearly. That’s the essence of ice, the role it plays.” ― Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman A temporary reprieve from the cold of winter, hinting at a more prolonged thaw and the promise of spring ahead. Ice… Read More
“The magical way the wintertime warms you up is through its frozen beauties!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan Yesterday, was a spectacular day! Here we are in mid February and the temperatures hit 12° C. The light was glorious and the outdoors beckoned me. So, with camera bag in hand, I set out to enjoy the day and see what it would reveal to me. Since the temperatures last week were around -30°… Read More
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ― Henry David Thoreau Simple beauty, oft passed by. This little cascade is right next to the highway outside of Gravenhurst, a small town in Ontario, Canada. I noticed it on my way to the cranberry marshes in Bala and decided to stop there on my… 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
“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
“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
On a particularly nice day in mid-January, I went for a much needed hike along the Seaton Trail, south of Whitevale, Ontario, with my son. The day was an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and make some photos. The creek was partially frozen over and full of wonderful detail in hues of blue and green. Above is a view of the typical scenery showing ice coverage and flow. The plants are all… Read More
Nature is constantly amazing me. The image above is a simple shot of a frozen Duffins Creek. It looks like some marvelous abstract art piece that you would see in an expensive downtown gallery. But, this one’s free and created through the natural freezing process. If you take the time to really look, you can see how the layers may have built up, how the water ebbed and flowed between the rocks… Read More
I could not think of a better title for this photo. To me, it speaks conflict in so many forms. This day in late December was the transition from an extended mild fall to a bitter, biting winter. The crepuscular rays (yes, that’s what they are actually called), offer a sense of peace in contrast to the tumult of the icy waters below. Crepuscular rays are colloquially known as a Jacob’s Ladder,… Read More
On a cold, dull November afternoon in 2014, I stopped for a few minutes at Burliegh Falls, a set of fairly intense rapids just off Highway#28 in the Kawartha Lakes region of Central Ontario, between Lower Buckhorn Lake, above and Stoney Lake, below. It’s a very scenic location, easily accessible from the road, and therefore, very busy in the summer and early autumn. The rapids, adjacent shoreline, and calm pools below, are a destination… Read More
A switch today from my mono posts of late and a look back to a winter past, in abstract. The above is a view through the edge of the forest at Fraser lake Camp, near Bancroft. There was a bit of fog in the air and frost on the branches. The whole scene had a dreamy feel to it. Since the vertical elements were present, I decided to try a vertical pan to… Read More
In November 2014, I was walking along a ridge on the Fraser Lake Camp property, near Bancroft, Ontario and became fascinated with this line of leafless trees on the top of an adjacent ridge. They stood silloetted against the slate-gray November skies, as a narrow beam of bright sunlight lit up the yellow hay stubble just in front of them. The result was a layering of cold blues in stark contrast to the… Read More
This photo is a slight flashback to mid-November, when I went on a long hike through the Durham Forest, south of Uxbridge, Ontario. At the time, we were in the midst of a wonderful, extended fall and many of the maple and beech leaves were still on the trees, but enough had fallen to let ample light into the forest. I had been hiking for a few hours and decided to take… Read More
This photo was made in early November and autumn had settled in comfortably, for an extended stay. The days had already shortened enough to bring out amazing, bright colours, but the air was warm and comfortable. Best of all, the bugs were gone; even the dopey fall wasps. Along a minor path of the south-east corner of the East Duffins Creek Headwaters trail is this beautiful grove of maples, interspersed with beech trees. The maples… Read More
This was a typical shot from this past fall / Early December; bright golds and yellows, almost ‘aglow’, as the soft sunlight reflected from the dried plants. This Elecampane plant stood out to me because the leaves were darker and more gray than the surrounding yellows, and the seed heads varied from gray to a pale orange. The plant also stands out in sharp contrast to its neighbours since it is quite… Read More
I titled this photo as I did for a few reasons. This is the last photo I ever took of my father before he passed away in 1979. He was determined to take a few last casts before he got in the car after a great family vacation on Moore Lake. He asked if I would come with him and take a picture. I complained about the mosquitoes and not wanting to… Read More
This photo seems appropriate for today. The weather here is dull and overcast, once more. It reminded me of this time last November, as I walked through a farm field at Fraser Lake Camp. It was also a gloomy day, and much cooler than this mild December. This was around 10:00am and the clouds, which had been just a flat sheet of gray, transformed themselves into this wonderful wave pattern, for about… Read More
Not the most catchy title in the world, but that, essentially, is what this is. A bunch of maple keys, hanging from a tree at the Secord Trailhead. The tree was laying on its side, but I’m not sure exactly what happened to the tree to put it in its current state. What struck me as odd, was that the keys, or seeds, were still attached to the tree at this time… Read More
I can’t help but reflect on this verse when I seen this scene on Duffins Creek, just south of Whitevale, Ontario. “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” The image of this tree, rooted firmly… Read More
Time for some brightness in this dull December. After numerous drab, but mild days, the sun finally shone though, albeit for only a few hours. As I looked out my office window at the beautiful warm glow, I decided my lunchtime would be spent on a trail. So, I packed my gear and headed off to the woods. It’s such a wonderful benefit having all these woodlands so close by that I can… Read More
I’m finding myself going back to some photos from last year, around this same time. The primary reason for this is we are having a very mild December, the leaves have now come down and we’re in a bit of a mild, yet gray, time. The vibrant colours of November are a recent memory and days are dull and short. Last year, in mid to late November, we had a few light… Read More
It’s the end of autumn and winter is making its presence known across the country. This seemed like an appropriate image for the day. On a hike a few weeks ago, I noticed this single maple leaf clinging to a tree. All the other trees in the area had shed their leaves, but this one kept hanging on. I feel that way too. Hanging on to the last moments of fall, knowing… Read More
One of my favourite abstracts from this past autumn. This photo was made while hiking the Secord Conservation Area trails a few weeks ago. As noted on earlier posts, this year produced beautiful gold tones in the beech trees along the trail and the autumn sunlight filtered down to the forest floor, producing a beautiful soft, warm light. I used my vertical pan technique to produce the abstract blur effect which has… Read More
Sometimes, with the right light, a simple scene along a roadside or a hiking trail can be a thing of tremendous beauty. It’s something I come across all the time. I tell my friends that this is how my eyes work, and I can’t turn it off, nor, would I want to. Take as an example, the photo above. It’s just two oak leaves which have fallen and come to rest on… Read More
Generally, titles for my photos come fairly easily. Not so in this case. I looked at the photo over and over and nothing seemed appropriate. It’s also a fairly tall composition, which I have stayed away from, unless absolutely necessary. After a while of looking at the elements, I thought, “This looks like a carnival, with all the bright colours mixing together.” This is a hillside along one of the Secord Conservation… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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