Archives
“If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes” – unknown The quote above has applied so many times and seems to be universal in regions with complex weather patterns. My area, in south-central Ontario, is no exception. Despite the best planning and preparation, April can throw some surprises at you. For those who follow my posts regularly, you will have seen a progression of warming days and an abundance of fresh… Read More
“These are the final days of fire and ice, the fiery foliage of the beeches begins to fade and drop and the ice and snow will soon be only a memory.” – Ed Lehming The forest these days is filled with contrast and transition. The trails, covered with snow and ice mere days ago are strips of ice and slush. The only snow remains in sheltered valleys and north-facing hillsides. The beech… Read More
“Spring is on our doorstep; the season’s snow melting under ever increasing sunlight. The forest stirs from it’s winter sleep.” – Ed Lehming It’s nearly the middle of March, the change in the air is tangible, the days are getting longer and gradually milder, and there is new birdsong in the air. This image was made yesterday morning as I hiked a local forest. It was quite an experience; the forest still… Read More
“The narrow path lead me into new parts of the familiar forest. The tight, overhanging branches closed in above me creating an bright and comforting canopy of white above me.” – Ed Lehming My recent series of re-imagined images may soon be winding down. I’ve found great joy in this process but I’m finding that as the colour of the forest shift to a different tone, that the images don’t lend themselves… Read More
“The whiteness of winter has more to reveal about how we see the world. If we take the time, and look carefully, the white exhibits treasures that we don’t even notice on casual observation.” – Ed Lehming Perhaps one of the most difficult things to photograph successfully is a bright winter scene. As we look upon the world, it seems filled with pure and unending whiteness, broke up by shadow in the… Read More
“What lies around the next turn, we cannot tell for certain, but having taken the journey before, we can anticipate.” – Ed Lehming For today’s post, a very familiar site; one that I have photographed many times, seeing some potential in the composition; interesting lines, but never quite satisfying. I decided to transform this image from early December as well, to see what it would yield, and I’m very pleased with the… Read More
“Mid Morning in February, and the winter sun beams brightly between the pines; the world stands in silence.” – Ed Lehming This season, I have experienced something altogether new; mornings in the winter forest, and it is spectacular! You see, in the past, I would wait till afternoon to venture out onto the trails, giving the sun some time to warm the air. I really did not feel I was missing anything;… Read More
“I enter the forest trail, branches bend and bow, forming a cathedral-like arch above my head. In the silence of the new fallen snow, I find myself in reverence to the beauty of nature. A walk in the woods becomes a spiritual experience once more.” – Ed Lehming This is how that wonderful day in early December started out. Only a few steps from the trailhead, this scene of wonder greated me…. Read More
“There are times to rest and times to keep going, it’s good to have a choice.” – Ed Lehming I’m still working through photos I made over two weeks ago on that magical December second morning. The overwhelming beauty of that day is still with me, though I’ve travelled these trails several times since that. The way the freshly fallen snow transformed the world that day was indescribable. The trail, within Uxbridge,… Read More
“Thick soft snow blankets the landscape with its brightness. Distant shadows flee as the forest is filled with light.” – Ed Lehming The images I’m sharing were all made on the same amazing day over a week ago. Each one a wonderful memory of the incredible beauty we find our world filled with, even in what feels like dark times. I’m so grateful for these days of brightness and hope. As we… Read More
“I enter December with hope and delight. The dull days of late November are past and the bright snowfall of December cheers my soul.” – Ed Lehming The journey down December trails continues as I keep taking pleasure in reviewing my photos from my December 2nd hiie through a local conservation area. As is evidenced in the photo, I was not alone and several others had enjoyed the trails before my arrival… Read More
“In a single day, the world is transformed, gray foggy days are now filled with the brightness of new fallen snow. December has touched my world and I rejoice in it.” – Ed Lehming It’s difficult to describe a scene like this and even more difficult to chose a single image from a day that filled me with such delight, especially since the days preceding it were dull and rain-filled. Those few… Read More
“Enter March with caution, it may seem calm and quite but the month can surprise the unprepared with surprising fury, all is not as it seems in the moment. – Ed Lehming It’s been quite a change since my last outing at the end of February. The snow remains, but warm and sunny days followed and the snow now lies deep and wet, and packed, making the trails easier to walk, without… Read More
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” ― Anne Bradstreet This day, February 29, a leap day, was yet another opportunity for me to get outdoors and spend some time enjoying the fresh fallen snow. It was a rather crisp day, with a temperature of -13 C, calm, and bright. I figured that the… Read More
“Winter’s parting left us traces of its touch; a bit of snow, a hint of frost, and cool breezes, as if someone had left a door open.” – Ed Lehming I wanted to revisit my beloved beech trees one last time before they wither into spring. Here, a closer look at the beautiful structure of the leaves, dusted in snow, from this past weekend’s unexpected dumping. The brightness of the pure white… Read More
“March teased and taunted with hints of spring, but ended with a reminder that nature is in command, not the calendar, as warm rains turned to sleet and snow” – Ed Lehming It has been a very odd March, a very odd March indeed. The month started out as many Marches do in this area: with lengthening days interspersed with snow storms and sunshine as the weather patterns swing towards milder days,… Read More
“Among the detritus of winter lay the signs of resignation and defeat” – Ed Lehming Oh, I am so done with this winter. March is hanging on, raw and ragged, teasing with hints of warmth and melting the snow into dirty gray piles of grime. As the snows recede, the history of the winter gradually reveals itself. Usually, this is in the form of garbage, trapped in the layers of snow. This… Read More
“Nature was pure, and still is.” ― Anthony T. Hincks On day five of our ten-day Iceland trip, we drove through what felt like a rather long stretch of nothing much, as we departed the plains and low hills of Mývatn and headed towards Akureyri, Iceland’s’ second largest city. On our map we noted the location of Goðafoss and decided this was to be an extended stop on our journey. As I found… Read More
“I took my love, I took it down Climbed a mountain and I turned around And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills ‘Til the landslide brought me down” – Fleetwood Mac As those who follow my blog regularly will know, I try to avoid people in my photos. My primary focus is to share places and things and try to convey some of the ‘feeling’ of those places and… Read More
“Unlike the majority of people, he did not hate or fear the wilderness; as harsh as the empty lands were, they possessed a grace and a beauty that no artifice could compete with and that he found restorative.” ― Christopher Paolini It’s really hard to describe this place. The photo was made about an hour after the one I posted yesterday. That’s how fast conditions change in Iceland. For about thirty minutes, we… Read More
“I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.” ― Brian Andreas Believe it or not, this is a colour photo. The light is heavily filtered by the snow filled clouds that created a significant driving challenge as I was travelling through the highland which separate North and East Iceland. The mountains are part of a long actively volcanic ridge that runs from… Read More
“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people’s legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.” ― Sarah Addison Allen Here’s yet another image, made during a recent snow squall, a squall which abruptly shoved us closer to winter. The large flakes quickly stuck to branches weighing them down and obscuring all traces of autumn with their bright purity. I got out around noon to try to capture… Read More
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets.” ― Cynthia Rylant I wanted to post another photo of the beautiful wintery scenes created by last Friday’s snow squalls. Though a bit early for my liking, heavy snows turned the world into a wonderland in mere minutes. The… Read More
“In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.” ― Cynthia Rylant Today I decide to make a short departure from my Iceland Journal, though that will continue for some time, as I continue to process the images and memories. While I revel in those times, not so long ago, nature reminded… Read More
“Möðrudalsfjallgarðar” – East Iceland “When hell freezes over the Earth shall be covered in snow.” ― Anthony T. Hincks The theme of this day is snow, never-ending snow, floating snow, drifting snow, skin biting snow. You see, today we headed into the north of Iceland. As we awoke in the town of Egilsstaðir, light snow had already fallen overnight and dusted the world in white. The forecast showed the snow would be ending by… Read More
Winter hung in there, like an invalid refusing to die. Day after grey day the ice stayed hard; the world remained unfriendly and cold.” ― Neil Gaiman Contrary to the quote that I chose for this image, with the lengthening days and a few days of sunshine, winter is beginning to loosen its icy grip on the forest. The patches of ice and snow are retreating and the dull browns and yellows of… Read More
“For so long I have lived on the edge of an invisible world. Sometimes I feel like the scattered debris left over after the personality has fallen out of the sky.” ― Steve Rasnic Tem This is my final 2017 photo, made during a VERY cold hike on the second last day of December. Temperatures were around -25C and the air was calm and crisp. Crisp is an understatement, it was brutally cold,… Read More
“It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood! One would say milk-colored maidens are dancing on the petals of orchids. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays of light are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a… Read More
“Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder–no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.” ― Candace Bushnell As my hike last weekend proceeded, the day warmed up just enough for the exposed patches of snow to melt, leaving only traces in the shadows, but enough to remind me that more is going to… Read More
“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ― Leonard Cohen Truly, a crack in the clouds, and that’s how the light gets in. Despite the snow-covered ground and a cold snap to the air, a warm and wondrous light shines through the treetops, setting the beech leaves along the trail alight with gold. It’s scenes like this that keep me coming back to the woods. Well, it’s more… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
Recent Comments