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Did I mention I love the light in the fall? During one of my hikes this fall, I was covered with a glowing canopy of golden beech leaves, brightly lit by the sun. All the light around me was this beautiful, warm yellow/orange and the entire forest just glowed. Amid all this warmth, it was difficult to isolate a single image that showed the source of this wonderful light. This image is… Read More
This photo is pretty much a summary of how autumn has played out for me. We have had an extended season, with mild weather, sunny skies, and leaves that seemed to cling to the trees for weeks, despite frosty nights, rain, and wind. Unlike a typical fall, where I’m looking out the window, anxious to get out and make photos before the conditions fade, this year yielded day after glorious day of… Read More
The final installment of my raindrops in fall series, for this year. This photo was made a few seconds before my “Unexpected Beauty” image. The difference is really the background. This one is a bit darker and lacking the blue background of the forest. It does show more of the raindrops, which is what initially drew my attention. I did not want to open close the aperture too much because I wanted… Read More
I’ll admit to it. I’m often looking for images to use as wallpapers for my desktop. I guess I have a bit of desktop ADD. I don’t like looking at the same images over and over and am always looking for something new and close to me. There are many times where I see a suitable subject and photograph it, with the sole intention of creating a desktop wallpaper for myself. This… Read More
One of the wonders of photography, that I have noted before, is the fact that I can walk past a scene dozens of times and nothing ‘grabs’ me. In this case, there is a nice stand of poplars along one of my favourite hiking trails. I’ve photographed it many times and the results were “average”. I knew it had potential for a great photo, but conditions and lighting were never quite right… Read More
It’s fall. Time for me to get out into the woods and just enjoy being there. It’s been a late fall here and the temperature is still mild, considering the time of year. We’ve been visited by a few flurries and light frosts till last night. The colours are spectacular and trees slow to shed their leaves. Essentially, ideal fall conditions for photography and just enjoying nature, in all its glory. I… Read More
I find myself going back to my photo abstractions frequently. They bring me great pleasure, in that I never know quite how they will turn out. Don’t get me wrong, these are very deliberate photos, and I have a vision in my mind of the outcome. But, the random elements; light, speed, colours, and focus, all add their own unexpected twist to the final composition. Case in point with the image above, I… Read More
Another image from last evening’s “Reservoir Walk”. I could do a whole book on this beautiful place, just minutes from my doorstep, and often overlooked, even by me. Just north of my home is a reservoir designed to control flooding in case of heavy rains. This reservoir is part of an entire conservation system install in the 50’s when hurricane Hazel caused tremendous damage in the area. The result is a wonderful… Read More
September, the month where some days convince you that summer will last for weeks, yet others are stern reminders that change is inevitable. This holds true this year. After weeks of above average, sweltering days, the temperature plummets and we layer on hats and sweatshirts, wondering if this summer has passed us by. The saving grace, for me is the gradual change of colours. The once verdant trees begin to shift to… Read More
A revisit to what started as a beautiful mid August day at Sauble Beach this past August. We had heard forecasts of rain all day, but the day started out sunny and windy. Since it was too windy for a good game of volleyball, we all headed to town for a bit to shop. Shortly thereafter, the clouds, which had been hanging far out on the lake started to roll in and… Read More
This remains one of my favourite photos. Partially because it was just a chance, unplanned, opportunity and secondly due to the sense of serenity it instills in me. The unplanned aspect of this photo was that I was travelling to the Yosemite Valley proper, with the intention of photographing some of Yosemite’s grand waterfalls. On the trip in, I happened to glance over my shoulder into one of the many steep ravines… Read More
Another visit to High Falls, the outlet of Baptiste Lake and the beginning of the York River. I keep trying to imagine the waterfall as it would have been before the dam was built above it. That would have been a sight to behold. As I noted in an earlier post, the dam was built to protect the town of Bancroft, some 5 miles down river, from being flooded in the spring… Read More
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with family and friends at Ontario’s Sauble Beach, on Lake Huron. It began as a wonderful hot summer day splashing in the surf and playing hours of volleyball. The forecast was for thunderstorms late in the day. We watched across the water as the sky gradually darkened. The storm approached over the lake like a black wall, slowly creeping our… Read More
I can’t turn it off. I see patterns and photos everywhere. Last weekend I was volunteering at A Place for the Arts in Bancroft, looked out the back window and saw these beautiful patterns in the sand in the back parking area. There had just been a big storm with torrential downpours the day before (which seems to be the norm for Bancroft lately). The deluge of rain created a wide band… Read More
You really never know what you will come across in your day. This past weekend I drove to High Falls, the source of Bancroft’s York River and the terminus of Baptiste Lake. The dam there was built to prevent flooding of the town of Bancroft in the spring and features a beautiful, complex waterfall below the dam. There is a bit of a pool of water immediately above those falls. That particular… Read More
Ah, spring! I went for an early morning walk this morning and was greeted by yet another gift of spring – a beautiful crab-apple tree loaded with delicate pink-white blossoms. The sun was just up and provided a wonderful soft light. I tried to keep as much of the flower-head in focus while keeping the background soft. I spent quite a bit of time with this particular subject and will be posting… Read More
You know it’s going to be an awesome summer when full-grown dragonflies are out and about in May to eat those pesky mosquitoes and blackflies. This year’s super warm May (so far) certainly has changed or accelerated some of the usual patterns around here, As I walk around, I see fresh leaves emerging from trees and shrub, birds in their nests, and a wonderful growth of wildflowers. I’ve seen a few dragonflies… Read More
You never know what you might come across when you enter a natural setting. Today I took a lunchtime stroll to one of my regular haunts, the Stouffville Reservoir. Near the start of the trail there is a swampy area, where a small brook runs across the trail. This time of year it is particularly mucky and tricky to navigate. Generally, the water flows through at barely a meander and you might… Read More
A very simple photo of the scene from my trailer deck last evening. I had just returned from the lake shore, making photos of the beautiful reflections on a mirror-like lake when my wife pointed out the moon between the trees. The sun was lighting the distant shoreline and the clouds a soft orange and the sky was a deep blue, with the moon suspended between the branches of trees which have… Read More
Yes, I know, two posts in one day. 🙂 I had the opportunity today, now that it is starting to at least look more like spring, to go for a hike around our local reservoir. It’s a beautiful little sanctuary, with diverse plants and wildlife. The hiking trail offers me a nice place to unwind, and photograph, even during a busy day, because it is so close. I was not expecting to… Read More
During my drive back from Bancroft this past Thursday, I commented to my wife that it looked like and felt like February, rather than April. Spring has been slow to arrive in southern Ontario this year and my thoughts wandered back to November, when I stopped at Burleigh Falls to make a few long exposure photos of the falls there. At this particular time of year I basically have the place to… Read More
This is the second shot of this little fellow. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was walking along the York River, planning on taking some long exposure shots of the rapids when this mink appeared among the rocks. He tried real hard to avoid me seeing him and I found myself dodging and weaving between the rocks to get a clear shot of him. At one point he even went into… 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
Now this little fellow was one of this shots you get that you had no idea was going to happen. Last summer I went for a drive to High Falls, near Bancroft, Ontario to get some waterfall shots. On my way out I noticed a nice little pull-off where I could shoot some long exposures of the river and rapids below the falls. As I was setting up, I noticed a flash of movement… Read More
Egan Chute is the first of three chutes (Egan, Middle, and Farm) on the York River near Bancoft, Ontario. Egan is the easiest to access and perhaps the most beautiful. At this point of the York River, the river flow bends around a corner and flows with incredible power and beauty across a series of ‘steps’ creating a wonderful fan effect. The wet summer this year has kept the water flowing well,… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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