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“Life isn’t just about darkness or light, rather it’s about finding light within the darkness.” ― Landon Parham Another shot of the water tanks. I could not help myself. They are everywhere in New York City and I have a strange fascination with them. This image shows the wooden variety and a steel tank on the same rooftop. My other observation about new York City is the abundance of soft reflected light. I… Read More
“The peculiar office structure appears to exercise a strange fascination over some minds, for not only do hundreds of people stand for five and ten minutes at a time looking up at it, but many of those who have detached themselves from the groups are obliged to return in a minute or two to examine the structure from another point of view” – New York Times, 1902 I completely understand what the… Read More
“He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valuable for being modern.” ― John Piper One of the first things that I noticed while walking around New York was the wooden water tanks that topped most… Read More
“Even in its darkest passages, the heart is unconquerable. It is important that the body survives, but it is more meaningful that the human spirit prevails.” ― Dave Pelzer Situated on the north-west corner of the World Trade Centre Plaza, I’m sure this building has some stories to tell, as it sustained some damage during the 9-11 attacks and has a clear view of the Plaza itself. I did not think of the… Read More
“Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.” – Audre Lorde The ‘Oculus’ is the odd, skeleton looking building left of centre. It is part of the connection between the New Jersey PATH transit system and the New York subway systems that intersect at the World Trade… Read More
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.” – Tennessee Williams I noticed these awesome light bulbs while waiting for our play, Chicago, outside the Ambassador theatre on West 49th Street in New York. The coffee shop is Caffe Benne, part of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. MAP What really attracted me to them was the variations in bulb type and colour temperature…. Read More
“When you see a fish you don’t think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water. Well, I’ve tried to express just that. If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirits.” ― Constantin Brancusi I could not believe the colours on the… Read More
“Sense how Even the smooth stones ache With stories of their own In the shuddering light of day.” ― Scott Hastie Emerging from their icy bondage, two stones, or is it three, rest upon their captor, as ice water flows over them. What’s the story of these stones? They sit alone, apart from others. Where did they come from? The pure ice they rest in fills a narrow but deep, steep walled,… Read More
“She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbor: “Winter is dead.” ― A.A. Milne My favourite, for now, patch of Elecampane. Lit by the warm afternoon sun along the Seaton Trail. There is something appealing in the orange remnants of the blossom in contrast to the gray, dried steps. The vestiges of the former blossoms glow brightly in the sun while the dry steps remind… Read More
“Let us simmer over our incalculable cauldron, our enthralling confusion, our hotchpotch of impulses, our perpetual miracle – for the soul throws up wonders every second. Movement and change are the essence of our being; rigidity is death; conformity is death; let us say what comes into our heads, repeat ourselves, contradict ourselves, fling out the wildest nonsense, and follow the most fantastic fancies without caring what the world does or thinks… Read More
“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
“No reason for a feverish rush For we will all arrive in the same place At the right time. Justice will be served. There will be no better or worse, No big and small, no rewards, no punishment, No guilt, no judges, no hierarchies; Only silent equality.” ― Dejan Stojanovic The image above could be a churning ocean or a stormy beach, but it’s a small section of creek below the falls… 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
“We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another’s vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away.” ― Alan Moore Winter wears on, some days are bright and clear and others dark and dreary. Yet, through it all, nature lives on and builds crystal sculptures on frames of wood, grass, and stone. At the right time of day, the sun… Read More
“…I hear the sounds of melting snow outside my window every night and with the first faint scent of spring, I remember life exists…” ― John Geddes It’s mid-February and our first significant snow has fallen and begun to melt within a few short days. Beneath the thinning blanket of ice and snow, water writhes, flows, and drips, only to be frozen briefly by the chill of night and released once more by… Read More
“Constellations shine with light that was emitted aeons ago, and I wait for something to come to me, words that a poet might use to illuminate life’s mysteries. But there is nothing.” ― Nicholas Sparks My first foray into astrophotography. Wow! There’s a heady handle! I’ve seen so many spectacular images of the Milky Way and constellations that I was determined to try my hand at this. So, with tripod in hand,… 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
“Look at all the things around you, the immediate world around you. If you are alive, it will mean something to you, and if you care enough about photography, and if you know how to use it, you will want to photograph that meaningness.” – Paul Strand I am reminded daily that I live in a living world. That world envelops me, nourishes me, sustains me. My eye picks up on subtle colours,… Read More
You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. – Pablo Picasso Light offers surprises and daily I see where many artists get their images from; daily scenes that reveal themselves when viewed for an unique perspective. In this case, the bottom of a beer glass, viewing a television screen on my wall. The blue light of the television floats against the sand coloured walls, distorted by the… 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
“It’s attention to detail that makes the difference between average and stunning” – Francis Atterbury From my hotel room in downtown Montreal, this view greeted me every day. The dome of Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral) fascinated me. The lines and detail are beautiful and I could spend hours scanning over the dome finding small details in the larger view, including the differences in the ‘dormer’ window roofs from peaked to… 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
“I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy” – Anais Nin It is a joy to experience, at the deeper level, some of the scenes I come across in my journey through life. Places my feet have travelled many times, at once become magical with the addition… Read More
“When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do not know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator.” – Robert Adams As the above quote articulates so nicely, I never know where a photograph may be waiting. All too often an image reveals itself and I don’t… Read More
The photo title says it all. An image of a pine tree reflected in an ice puddle on the trail. Here we are, early February and much of the scant snowfall we’ve had has melted off, running into creeks or pooling in icy puddles. The light this day was wonderful and lit the pines up with a soft glow. It was this ‘glow’ that attracted me to look closely at the puddle and… 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
Ed Lehming Photography 
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