Archives
“There are a few precious days in February when hints of spring float in the air.” – Ed Lehming I’m continuing with a series of photos I made last weekend while hiking local trails. These are the final few days of February and I was glad to have two wonderfully mild and bright days to be on the trails. As I mentioned earlier, I had a repeat injury to my knee which has… Read More
“Floating in a soft sea of snow, the forest weathers the drifting tide of whiteness that surrounds them.” – Ed Lehming As I composed this image I was struck by the illusion of movement in the snow as it followed the contours of the forest floor. By adding just a bit more movement than I normally do, the illusion is enhanced further and the snow takes on the appearance of soft liquid… Read More
“The surprises light offers are endless” – Ed Lehming Today’s image has a direct connection to the one I posted yesterday. Namely, the interesting colours that winter can offer. This is the first image I made as I embarked on a 6 km hike at a local conservation area. I used my standard camera setting for my deliberate camera movement pans, but this image was slightly overexposed. I would normally have deleted… Read More
“Winter is not all bleak and gray, if you look closely, subtle colours abound in the most wonderful places” – Ed Lehming Well, after a long hiatus, I have returned to my photography and writing. Last year was ‘disruptive’ at best. Too many changes came at me too quickly and left me overwhelmed and uninspired. I was ‘retired’ from work briefly and It took me some time to come to terms with… Read More
“Memory serves to remind us of the cycles we live in. Nothing is permanent, ever repeating; familiar, yet never quite the same.” – Ed Lehming As spring slowly takes hold, traces of winter still linger in the shadows and low places of the forest, a reminder of the days gone by. Yet, the warming air brings forth the promise of a new season, in yellows, browns, and greens, as the sun touches… 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
“As winter releases its grip, memories of warmer are revealed” – Ed Lehming I’ve spent a lot of time recently walking around my town. Primarily due to convenience and partly because the late winter forests have been fairly uninspiring. I’m always looking for unusual things that might make for an interesting photo. Many times, I will see something that catches my eye and I spend more time observing the scene or object,… 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
“The most amazing thing about the winter is that even a frozen world may be perceived as a heaven!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan Here we are in March and the temperatures are finally starting to moderate. What better time than today to post this self-portrait I made back in late January. It seems to me to have been a particularly harsh and too oft ice-cold winter in Southern Ontario this year. That weather… Read More
“It’s the unexpected beauty in the most commonplace that often surprises us” – Ed Lehming This has been the nature of winter in my region. The days warm and cool rapidly, causing condensation and wonderful frost patterns on windows. The window here happens to be right next to my desk, so I see the patterns change on a regular basis. It’s especially nice in late afternoon, when the low sun shines between… Read More
“In the deep of winter, colour and sound fade to nothingness. The world becomes muted and silent as it slumbers beneath the snow” – Ed Lehming As a lover of light and colour, winter can often be the hardest on me, especially when seeking inspiration and beauty. In the winter months, it’s not just the drastic reduction of colours, but also the silence. So many times, the only sound I hear is… Read More
“The snow began, as a faint mist, floating in the air, gradually softening the distant trees” – Ed Lehming So it was, that March morning, a day that started out dull, the forecast calling for light snow, which did not seem to materialize as I started my hike. Then slowly, a beautiful and unexpected brightness filled the forest, taking away some of the dull cast of ceaseless clouds that have dominated this… Read More
“The difference between darkness and brightness is how you thrive on those moments and how you use such circumstances with goodwill in your spirit.” ― Angelica Hopes I find myself, on this day in early March, wondering where time has gone. It’s been many weeks since I felt inspired to sit and write. I’ve been out making photos, but the days have been cold, dull, and largely uninspiring. Today, I set forth to… 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
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
“Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.” ― Flannery O’Connor Well, back to reality. I live in a land of four seasons, often extreme and more often, surprising, offering unexpected gifts. I got out on the trails again. The trails, at this time of the year, are downright treacherous,… Read More
“I love the scent of winter. I love the scent of winter enough to suffer the cold for it.” ― Tiffany Reisz It’s been a while since I posted, it’s also been a while since I’ve had anything to share. The cold snap finally eased up to the point where a reasonable person could venture out for a while. It’s felt odd, being cooped up and not making photos. So, I finally got… Read More
“You think winter will never end, and then, when you don’t expect it, when you have almost forgotten it, warmth comes and a different light.” ― Wendell Berry Warm, merely describes the spectrum of the light, certainly not its effect on the surroundings. Once more, this winter, I find myself drawn to the trails, despite the bone chilling -20C temperatures. Despite a few days above freezing, winter was swooped back and locked the… 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
“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?” ― Shannon L. Alder I left the title as is, my first impression, but then, I looked deeper, at the bright orange beech leaves, the richness of the tree trunks, and the pale clean blue of the snow and realized, it’s not bleak at all. Perception, is driven so much by… Read More
“Winters are a desolate time where all senses are wiped away, and here in Canada, this is especially true. All smells are sucked clean from the air, leaving only a harsh, icy crispness. Colours are stripped away, leaving a stark white landscape, a sky which stays black at night and gray in the day, a world of only three shades.” ― Rebecca McNutt This is an image from yesterday’s hike in a nearby… 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
“I have lived long enough. My way of life Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, And that which should accompany old age” – William Shakespeare The words to the Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun” echoes through my mind as I consider this image made on the trails yesterday. “It’s been a long cold northern winter”. Indeed, it feels that way. In reality, this past winter was relatively mild, delayed till late November in… Read More
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘Good morning’ at total strangers.” ― Maya Angelou I posted a nuthatch image a few weeks ago bt could not resist this one, sitting at my impromptu feeder (the base of a flower pot). Birds have been very active lately and I’ve started… 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. Not that year. 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 February has been an odd one here on Southern Ontario. After the snows of December,… Read More
“Silence can always be broken by the sound Of footsteps walking over frozen ground In winter when the melancholy trees Stand abject and let their branches freeze ” ― Merrill Moore So typical of the past week, this cedar bough, coated with a glass-like film of ice, the result of an evening of freezing rain and a gradual morning thaw. What drew me to this composition was the warm morning light and delicate… Read More
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” ― Albert Einstein There is something magical about ice, by times. During this past week’s thaw and freezing, some interesting effects were… Read More
“Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous – to poetry. But also, it gives birth to the opposite: to the perverse, the illicit, the absurd.” ― Thomas Mann Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming or my website (some images available for purchase) http://www.edlehming.com
“Real Canada is where people wear sweaters for survival, not style.” ― Mark Leiren-Young Ice, ice, and more ice. The surreal effects of freezing rain on delicate branches. Beautiful, yet treacherous in even mall doses, making a single misstep dangerous, we soon miss the effects of friction in our world. The curious thing I’ve found when faced with this spectacle is that when everything is beautiful, it becomes difficult to separate single compositions as… Read More
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