Archives
“Look around, isn’t the world simply amazing? Even from the window of a car, the passing world beckons us to partake.” – Ed Lehming I experience this all the time, even when driving, or in this case, as a back seat passenger, there is so much beauty all around us, we just need the eyes, and mindset to see it. I, for one, can’t turn this off. Everywhere I look is an… Read More
“Often, it’s not the grand vistas that catch my attention, rather, it’s the small curiosities, the things not common in my everyday, that make me pause and enjoy something joyfully different.” – Ed Lehming Something that I have noticed about myself, as I’m out enjoying the outdoors is that my eye very quickly picks up on the out of the ordinary. I know many experience this as well. I think we are… Read More
“As the day fades to memory, the final moments are often the most glorious. Light and dark intermingle and colours deepen before fading to blue and muted orange, and finally, darkness. Leaving only the memory of a glorious summer day.” – Ed Lehming This will be my final image in this series. Fittingly, it is an image of the final moments of sunlight playing in the tall pines. It has been a… Read More
“We see so much, along the way. So much of our experience is casual observation. When we take the time to really see things, spend time with them, that is where true beauty is found. But, that requires us to pause in our journey and appreciate those moments that would just fade to faint memory” – Ed Lehming This image is a continuation of my recent series, all photographed within a few… Read More
“It’s spring, the forest bugs have begun their cycle: eat, poop, breed.” – Ed Lehming As I’ve noted quite a few times, their are so many details that we miss on casual observation, especially if what we are observing is unexpected to start with. I was out making photos of local wildflowers a few weeks back and happened to notice an unusual shimmer of metallic blue next to the Bloodroots I was… Read More
“Familiar paths beckon us forward. Though familiar, there is always something new or changed, if we take the time to notice.” – Ed Lehming I find myself on the same trails many times. Often I wonder what more they can offer me as I set out. Every time, there is something new. It may be that I have come at a different time of day and the light has changed. It may… Read More
“The soft spring breezes played with the tiny flowers of the plant causing then to dance and twinkle in the light.” – Ed Lehming As I’ve said a few times in the past, one of the great things about being a photographer is having an eye for the fine details. I’ve found myself becoming an astute observer, noticing things that I would have passed by a few years ago. These smallish plants… Read More
“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” ― Steve Maraboli Some strange things happen when plants are stressed. One of those is a switch to dormancy and loss of the chlorophyl that gives the leaves their green colour. The result, is fall colours and shedding of leaves. In one particular patch of forest, some… Read More
“To the people who love you, you are beautiful already. This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings but because they so clearly see your soul. Your shortcomings then dim by comparison. The people who care about you are willing to let you be imperfect and beautiful, too. “ ― Victoria Moran If I don’t point it out, do you see it? I tend to be a bit harsh on myself when… Read More
“Joy is not in things; it is in us.” ― Richard Wagner A bit of fun this morning. I decided to ‘play’ with an image I made yesterday, by running it through a filter. The results are quite pleasing and I thought I’d share it today. My photography has already become quite untraditional, through my use of motion. This is quite deliberate, as I am trying to document the world I experience in a… Read More
“Miracles… seem to me to rest not so much upon… healing power coming suddenly near us from afar but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that, for a moment, our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there around us always.” ― Willa Cather For those living in the path of today’s solar eclipse, I’m sure it will be tough to compete with the spectacle in the sky. If… Read More
The more often we see the things around us – even the beautiful and wonderful things – the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds – even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less. – Joseph B. Wirthlin The quote above really resonates with… Read More
“Happiness is not a thing – it is a feeling; a way of joyful living and being. It comes from inner fulfilment and appreciating the world you live in.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru I could not think of a more suitable title for this studio image of a purple coneflower from my garden. As I look at the flow of the petals and the incredible order of the disk florets, glowing in the light…. Read More
“He imagines a necessary joy in things that must fly to eat.” ― Wendell Berry A final look at this fleabane plant and accompanying wildlife. The Crescent butterfly, now satisfied, flies off to its next destination, while a small bee arrives to repeat the cycle. I like the movement in this image. It nicely illustrates the activity that goes on, even around a single plant, all day long. Each visitor, in its… Read More
“With the utmost love and attention the man who walks must study and observe every smallest living thing, be it a child, a dog, a fly, a butterfly, a sparrow, a worm, a flower, a man, a house, a tree, a hedge, a snail, a mouse, a cloud, a hill, a leaf, or no more than a poor discarded scrap of paper on which, perhaps, a dear good child at school has… Read More
“Have you noticed how nobody ever looks up? Nobody looks at chimneys, or trees against the sky, or the tops of buildings. Everybody just looks down at the pavement or their shoes. The whole world could pass them by and most people wouldn’t notice.” ― Julie Andrews Edwards While not quite the ‘punchy’ neon of yesterday’s dahlia, this more subdued blossom is still a stunner. The thing I enjoy most about these… Read More
“A little piece of everywhere I go becomes a big part of everything I do.” ― Richie Norton Spring, has to be my favorite time of year. Not just because of the warming weather, but because every day has new discoveries, sometimes many. Having spent most of my life outdoors, I’m finding myself continually amazed at just how much of my world I casually ignored. Becoming a deliberate photographer has transformed my… Read More
“I KNOW A LITTLE PUSSY” I know a little pussy Her coat is silver gray She lives down in the meadow Not very far away. Though she is a pussy She’ll never be a cat. She is a pussy willow. Now what do you think of that” – Author Unknown Finally, a taste of spring, though still store bought, it focuses my attention on something other than snow and ice, which I… Read More
“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe These tulips are providing me with lots of interesting angles. As I’ve said so many times before, until you really take the time to ‘look’ at something, so much is missed. We’ve had tulips in our gardens since I… Read More
“When you take the time to look carefully, deliberately, to really ‘observe’, the fine details missed by our busy, ever filtering consciousness, expand our vision and engrave that memory more permanently.” – Ed Lehming It’s the details, those little things our brains tend to file away as inconsequential within the broader experience, that fascinate and perplex me. Our eyes see it all, but very little is retained, unlike the camera, which keeps a permanent… Read More
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ― Clare Boothe Luce Today, the roses in the bouquet opened up a bit more, including this beauty, which was tightly closed yesterday, now partially open and looking marvelous and nearly flawless. I’ve spoken before about the wonderment that I experience when making these macro images and I ask myself why I have missed these wonderful details all these years. The fine structures of a simple rose… Read More
“Thus the man who is responsive to artistic stimuli reacts to the reality of dreams as does the philosopher to the reality of existence; he observes closely, and he enjoys his observation: for it is out of these images that he interprets life, out of these processes that he trains himself for life.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche On these cool, blustery winter days, it’s a nice to be able to head to the studio… 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 The image I chose for today was made a few days ago, as I hiked through a local conservation area. I came across a… Read More
“Quiet people always know more than they seem. Although very normal, their inner world is by default fronted mysterious and therefore assumed weird. Never underestimate the social awareness and sense of reality in a quiet person; they are some of the most observant, absorbent persons of all.” ― Criss Jami I sit here tonight after a brief trip back to Bancroft to swap out photos I’m showing at an artists’ co-operative in… 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. Back to the University of Toronto and the wide assortment of doors and interesting architectural styles. An observation, as I considered this image: it is incredible, the details, some quite obvious, that we miss. For example, this door has two very… Read More
“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.” ― Susan Sontag Likely Heath Asters, but I did not send a lot of time trying to differentiate between the multitude of white asters. This is another image made outdoors with my portable setup. In… Read More
“…lace is formed from the absence of substance; it is imagined in the spaces between the threads. Lace is a thing like hope. It lived, it survived, and it was desired for what it was not. If faith, as the nuns said, was the substance of things hoped for, then lace was the outline – the suggestion – of things not seen.” ― Iris Anthony How appropriate is the name of this… Read More
“I have always been caught by the pull of the unremarkable, by the easily missed, infinitely nourishing beauty of the mundane.” ― Tana French A theme that keeps coming back to me is how much detail and beauty there is in mundane things. Generally, when Queen Anne’s Lace finishes blooming, I hardly notice them, until winter when the basket-like heads get coated in little snow ‘hats’. It was not till I was… Read More
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ― John Lubbock After perhaps the hottest day of the summer, and the date of my oldest daughter’s engagement party, the air shifted. Forecasts had predicted severe thunderstorms and torrential downpours, which… Read More
“God draws near to the brokenhearted. He leans toward those who are suffering. He knows what it feels like to be wounded and abandoned.” ― John D. Richardson A scene from along the roadside in rural Ontario. When I see stuff like this , I wonder what the story is. How did this old car get to its final resting spot under the canopy of the ancient maple. Did it just die… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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