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“Small white stars dot the deep green carpet of the forest floor, a private constellation of purity.” – Ed Lehming Starflower (Lysimachia borealis) was what I set out to photograph earlier this week. To my dismay, the hot dry weather had accelerated their blooms and I only found a few still flowering. But it was not a total loss, the few that remained were still in good condition and I was able… Read More
“Before my eyes was a sea of white stars, bright yellow anthers, and deep green foliage. With the warming air, summer can’t be far off now” – Ed Lehming The image that I selected today was made in my garden this afternoon. The subject: Star of Bethlehem, a beautiful perennial that I acquired a few years ago from my mother-in-law’s garden. When she downsized and moved to a condo I offered to… Read More
“Always something new and interesting. Nature offers so many exciting possibilities” – Ed Lehming It’s time for the next wave of spring blossoms to make an appearance. I’ve been watching the little clump of leaves for the past few days, waiting for the blooms and was surprised to see blossoms already. It seems a few days of warmer weather makes a difference. Squirrel Corn is an interesting plant, related to Dutchman’s Breeches,… Read More
“As Trilliums fill my view, I take a deep breath and say farewell to winter.” – Ed Lehming It’s that time at last. After a seemingly endless, cool spring, the first white trilliums have begun to open. They are still small and a bit sparse but they are a very welcome sight indeed. Trilliums signal milder days ahead. They have been delayed by about a week, as days remained and dull. There… Read More
“For no particular reason, the purity of Bloodroot blossoms brings a smile to my face.” – Ed Lehming I have found myself returning to Bloodroot blossoms for as long as they last, which is not long. Perhaps it’s this very brevity that makes them so appealing to me. They bloom spectacularly for a single day. By the next day they are withered or gone completely, dropping their petals as the shroud that… Read More
“Bright white blossoms greet me from the morning garden, as the sun warms the early June day with it’s own brightness.” – Ed Lehming The gardens are beginning to come alive. I enjoy this time of year, watching plants and flowers begin to thrive as the days warm up. It’s always nice to see that everything has survived yet another winter. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, spring here has been cool,… Read More
“Bright puddles of green foliage adorned the otherwise dull forest floor. Above them float delicate white stars, pure and bright; an elixir to the winter weary soul.” – Ed Lehming I try to make it a point not to revisit the same subject matter too often, but there is something about star flowers the touches something very deep inside me. As I consider the images I’ve made over the past few days,… Read More
“Life and colour emerged from the ground with such abundance, you could fairly hear the leaves rustling with activity.” – Ed Lehming I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love this time of year, when wildflowers erupt from the carpet of dull brown leaves. Within a few days, the dull and seemingly lifeless forest floor is festooned with colour. Among the first, in my area, are the delicate Sharp… Read More
Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm 1/80 sec, f/4.5 ISO 100
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. “ – Henry David Thoreau There is no shortage of insect life on the Queen Anne’s Lace this summer. It seems to be especially popular to various bugs and beetles. Here, a Japanese Beetle tours the outer flowerettes, I’m assuming looking for a meal of nectar…. Read More
“Sometimes people don’t understand the promises they’re making when they make them. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.” ― John Green There are times when I make and image and do a quick review in the camera display, where the title comes to me and sticks. The title of this image, “Promise” was such a moment. As in the word “promise’ itself, there is… Read More
“The miracle is that the brilliance of the miraculous can live in the blandness of the mundane. The greater miracle is that we have enough brilliance in our own blandness to see it.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough I’m finding even common items fascinating lately, as I get ‘close’ to them. The image above is of a common wildflower, or to gardeners, an invasive and prolific weed. I’ve seen entire lawns infested with… Read More
May you understand my love–because it is the only thing I have that is really mine, the only thing that I will be able to take with me into the next life. Please allow it to be courageous and pure; please make it capable of surviving the snares of the world.” ― Paulo Coelho A simple title that describes my first impressions of this single, rain speckled, white peony blossom. Yesterday rained… Read More
“She was pure, it was true, as he had never dreamed of purity; but cherries stained her lips.” ― Jack London In this year’s theme of ‘firsts’, here’s yet another. The first white peony made its appearance in my gardens this morning. These white peonies hold a special place in our family, having been passed do from my wife’s grandmother. It’s an interesting blossom, being a beautiful pure white, with a tiny… Read More
“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay Before they fade with the heat, I thought I’d make a quick image of this anemone blossom. Which, like all the studio close-ups, reveals wonderful details and complex structures. This blossom, a bit ‘mature’ has dropped a lot of pollen on the petals already. I’m not sure what… 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 This was, at one time, yet another ‘mystery’ plant that came from… Read More
“If people did not love one another, I really don’t see what use there would be in having any spring.” ― Victor Hugo This flower is my sure sign of spring. Though it was a bit late this year, due to cooler, wetter days, it still managed to bloom in May. There always seem to be a few hardy specimens that bloom early, despite cooler weather. May is a busy month of celebrations… Read More
Alliara petiolata What at first glance looks like a scraggly weed, growing in profusion along railway tracks, turns out to be a beautiful, interesting plant close up. I find myself guilty, of late, of not taking the time to look at some of the more mundane plants that grow in my area, north of Markham, Ontario. This is a prime example. I’ve seen vast patches of Garlic Mustard but never taken the… Read More
Tiarella condifolia The above is another of what I categorize as the ‘second’ wave of spring blossoms. This, like the others I’m posting are predominantly white. The foamflowers are quite abundant this year. I really had no idea how beautiful they were till I got in close. Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm 1/80 sec, f/16.0 ISO 400 or more images like this, please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming or… 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 really appreciate this wonderful, short-lived spring blossoms. The burst forth quickly in mid-April, bloom brightly for a few days and then are gone, a mere memory of the first warm days of spring…. Read More
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.” ― Luther Burbank A new day, a new flower. As with the pink one I shared yesterday, it fills my home with the sweet fragrance of spring. This blossom was so heavy with tightly packed flowers that it can barely sustain its own weight, and I’m presenting it as such, as it leans toward the light,… Read More
“Life isn’t static, and sometimes, we don’t realize the value of knowledge or even of people, until further down the track, when we’re mature enough to truly understand.” ― Nalini Singh Watching this lily mature has been an interesting process for me. Photographically, because I’m trying to keep the image attributes consistent, without leaving my camera set up, as well as from an observation standpoint, as I watch a natural process unfold… Read More
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt This is the continued documentation of a lily I recently purchased as it opens. Hopefully, at some point soon, all three blossoms will be opened. As you can see on this image versus yesterday’s post, the second blossom is now starting to open and the… Read More
This was a bit of a theme for me last week as I was out making photos. Soft, pure, snow blanketed the fields and open spaces during my extended hikes. The low angle of the sun in the winter sky accentuated the shadows. As I reviewed the many images I realized that as mono images and without context these images could be of almost anything: water, sand, cloth, foam, or soft clouds…. Read More
“This is the sacred secret of love. Love a person for their heart and only their heart, and you will be rewarded with the best unconditional love in return. If you ignore the heart and focus just on a person’s outer beauty, love will ignore you. Love a person for only the beauty found in their heart, and that beautiful heart will always be beautiful to you.” ― Suzy Kassem Now that… Read More
“I loved sitting on the pile of freshly cut logs, running my hands over the different shapes and smelling their woody fragrance. To this day I think that there is nothing as interesting to look at as a heap of newly cut logs, the delicate colouring of their veined insides telling their life story, while they wait to bring warmth and comfort.” ― Alice Taylor A very simple title for a simple… Read More
“The light of love, the purity of grace, The mind, the Music breathing from her face, The heart whose softness harmonised the whole — And, oh! that eye was in itself a Soul!” ― George Gordon Byron At this time of the season, when plants begin to wilt from the exertions of the summer, the cosmos still perseveres, brightening my gardens with their snow white purity and diaphanous petals. I see the… 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
“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
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” ― Osho Now at number five in this series, it may be time for me to take a short departure from this and… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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