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“Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone’s horizon sweeps someone else’s. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much.” ― Gregory Maguire At first, I thought this was a Downy Woodpecker, the most common species around here, but when I checked my… Read More
“Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more than prettiness.” ― Mary Oliver This will be my final post for 2016. My year ends much as it began, on the local trails, camera in hand. Today, I hiked about 6 km on snow packed trails, not meeting another hiker. The trek began bright but hazy and mild and ended… Read More
Time spent alone, not lonely; Untrodden trails, my footsteps, singular; Unspoiled, for my eyes alone; Newness, freshness; Never seen before, yet fleeting; Nature surrounds me, and astounds me; I am renewed. – Ed Lehming A surprising splash of colour in a predominantly white landscape. I finally had the opportunity to get back on the trails today. We had a few days of unsettled weather, including some freezing rain, a particularly unwelcome visitor for… Read More
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ― Edith Sitwell This image, made on the same day as yesterday’s post, this view of the beech lined trails of one of the East Duffins Headwaters trail system, near Uxbridge, Ontario, is a testament to the beauty that can still be experienced 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. After a few weeks of door deprivation I have this submission for your consideration. NO 3 is number 3 Bridge Street in Bancroft, Ontario. I love the elegance of this door to an upscale fashion store in the rural community of Bancroft…. Read More
“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche As I was reviewing my photos from the past few weeks, I kept glancing at this one, which at first seemed a bit dark for me. When I opened the thumbnail and looked closer it brought me back to the moment when… Read More
“A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid any more.” ― John Steinbeck A sleepy, gentle start to the day, now two weeks ago. This day started a bit less foggy than others,… Read More
“The joy you feel when you become a small life particle sun and share its brightness and warmth with those around you is indescribably great.” ― Ilchi Lee As the upcoming winter makes its presence known daily, with cold winds, sleet, and icy mornings, a bit of autumn still remains. Beech seems to have some extra ‘stick’ to its leaves. They are almost always the last to fall and bring patches of brightness… Read More
“She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.” ― Roman Payne If today’s forecast is any indication, it would appear that our wonderful, mild Ontario November is at an end and winter is anxiously knocking on our… Read More
“Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern.” ― Oscar Wilde This is the same view I posted yesterday but fourteen hours later. I have now returned home from a four day escape to the wilds of northeastern Ontario. I spent the time walking the trails,… Read More
A beautiful sunset on Fraser Lake last night. As you may have noticed by the brevity of my posts, I’m on a short break in Northeast Ontario, enjoying time in the outdoors and enjoying spectacular November weather.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato This is the fifth and final image from my “God-light” series. On that most wonderful day, where the sun and leaves provided me with a brilliant show of light and colour, I emerged from a darker part of the forest into what was to be… Read More
“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.” ― C.S. Lewis The light in the forest last week was beautiful and brief. I was able to make a series of these forest ‘abstractions’ while on a short lunchtime walk. All were… Read More
“The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say” ― J.R.R. Tolkien A convenient five minute drive from my house is this little country oasis, which also happens to adjacent… 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. I titled this “A Door with a Past” since it represents a bit of the history of Maynooth, Ontario. The town is a historic southern gateway to Canada’s renowned Algonquin Park. The park itself has a history of artistic imagery made… Read More
I think I like wildflowers best,” I explain. “They just grow wherever they want. No one has to plant them. And then their seeds blow in the wind and they find a new place to grow.” – Rebecca Donovan This image was made a few days ago with my portable background. A few have asked what that setup looks like. Here’s a typical shot, using the sow thistle above as an example:… Read More
“It is very important that we have the capacity to love many different things or people at the same time. Our love should radiate like the sun, warming everything it touches.” ― Peggy Toney Horton The sun is less intense, nights are cool, and mornings full of mist and promise. The fields are filled with late summer wildflowers: goldenrod, purple asters, fleabane, and the shells of mid-summer blossoms, now gone to seed…. Read More
“You notice, by the way, that we never have a meeting with an alien. It’s always an encounter.” ― Jack McDevitt Also known as a Scorpion Wasp due to their appearance, or more correctly, American Pelecinid Wasp. These alien looking creatures look like they may have come from a child’s nightmare, but the long tail, which resembles a scorpion’s stinger as actually used by the wasp to deposit its egg on grubs underground…. Read More
“In this delicate and unpredictable life, the future is unwritten. Do not take someone for granted today, for once tomorrow dawns upon the indigo night the only remaining trace will be tracks in the sand…” ― Virginia Alison I’ve recently spend time capturing wildflowers and their domestic cousins in a series of photos with black backgrounds, including many which I’ve made using a portable background which allows me to make these photos… Read More
“He told her the flowers in her painting contained exactly the purple substance of the flowers on the desk in front of her […] Let us open the window and see if your painting can entice the butterflies.” ― Sarah Hall Back out on the trails and enjoying the late summer heat. This oddly named plant, native to North America is named on a derivation of an aboriginal name Jopi, who was… Read More
“Wildflower; pick up your pretty little head, It will get easier, your dreams are not dead.” ― Nikki Rowe I hope I have these named correctly. I’m hoping my wildflower followers will correct me as required. It’s late summer and there is a noticeable shift in the plant life. The delicate pinks and purples are going to seed and yellows and orange are starting to make their showing. I’ll miss the abundance… Read More
The story behind this image was posted back in December 2015. Nikon D300 Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm 1/100 sec, f/5.0 -0.33, ISO 250 For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming or my website http://www.edlehming.com
“Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien I think I’ve photographed this tree about a dozen times. Sometimes, it’s still and brightened by a golden sunset, other times, it’s filled with birds, darting to and fro. But on this occasion, the strong winds of a hot summer day tossed it’s branches from side to side. I took the opportunity to capture this motion through a long exposure… Read More
“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” ― Lemony Snicket This image was made last weekend in a small town in Central Ontario called Fort Stewart. It’s a small community in the high hills of the North Hastings Highlands that if it wasn’t for the ancient stands of… Read More
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” ― Guillaume Apollinaire We came across this little filly in a farm field near Fort Stewart. We had stopped to enjoy the grand view this little town offers and beside our stop was this little gal who wandered over to greet us. It was amazing how much joy seeing her, petting her velvety nose, and feeding her… Read More
“Sometimes, staying alive solely depends on keeping your head in place and your senses alert” ― Susana Fortes Yes, this doe is alert indeed. She was crossing the road as I drove along the road to Fort Stewart this past weekend. I pulled over as she casually walked up the embankment to join her three fawns, who were busy grazing just outside the forest. She sat an watched , always attentive, twitching at… Read More
“There is so much to say about a past. It’s a vein of gold through a mountain, leading to an incontrovertible stone heart of truth. But the future is a horizon – a faintly visible line that will promise much, and always remain too far away to touch.” ― Aliya Whiteley At first, I had no idea what to title this image. It was made at the end of another day of… Read More
“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.” ― John Lubbock It’s strange how some of these fairly common wildflowers grow only in specific… Read More
“These rocks are too heavy, can’t carry them any more, don’t know why I ever picked them up before, going to have to put them down where they don’t belong, ’cause I can’t get them back to where they came from. These rocks belong to no one, except history. Somewhere between the desert and the rolling sea, or maybe up in the mountains blue and tall, I picked them but now I’m… Read More
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