Another macro shot was taken in early Spring. Taken well before the Spring cleaning that tidied up the yard and helped me transform it into a more purposeful zen garden. The dry leaves and other detritus left behind by the previous season leave us with shapes, tones, and textures. I felt I had to go … Continue reading Waiting to Rot
Used And Rotted
I reclaimed an old wooden ladder from a neighbour's trash and had lofty plans to convert it into some shabby-chic treasure. It sat outside baking in the sun last summer and under the snow all this past winter. Amazingly, most of the paint and dirt remained on it through all that. I gave it a … Continue reading Used And Rotted
Uncertainties
Debris and rot in progress. These leave much to the imagination. I blurred the image and saw water with my mind's eye. Something like the Renaissance paintings of Ophelia drowning in her stream. There are all sorts of strange things going on in this shot that I can't explain; the most obvious is the burst … Continue reading Uncertainties
Traces At Sunset
In preparation for my zen garden... before any rock or plants were laid in, I put down some earth that I'd been reclaiming on the side of my house for the last two years. It was a mix of topsoil, clay, compost, and sod-soil. It came out dry and granulated. I raked it over roughly … Continue reading Traces At Sunset
The Trees Have Ears
Perhaps this is a little obvious as a title. I saw the title the moment I saw the mushrooms growing on this tree trunk. I must have said the title out loud while taking the shot because, by the time I was returning past this stump a few hours later, most of them had mysteriously … Continue reading The Trees Have Ears
The Root & Foot of the Issue
I'm starting to wonder if I'm obsessed with tree trunks and why that might be? Sure, I love everything Wabi-Sabi: the colours, subtle tones, textures, naturally occurring patterns... all making the work unique and impossible to reproduce (easily). But, why all these gnarly stumps? There was a time that I thought I was looking for … Continue reading The Root & Foot of the Issue
The Lateness of Daylight Facing South
Being at the right place at the right time: How much of life's successes occur because of this? This was taken on a warm Spring day, near sunset and yet, it feels distinctly wintery. There's a chill across the image that wasn't present where I took it. The Winter wasn't yet done with us yet, … Continue reading The Lateness of Daylight Facing South
The Fire is Winking at Me
For the first time in many, many years, I finally took a weekend off and went out of town for a little RnR. At night we lit a small fire in a cast-iron fireplace and watched it burn as we mused upon what caused so many colours and shapes to appear in the flames. The … Continue reading The Fire is Winking at Me
Textures
These sorts of images bring me a great deal of pleasurable anxiety! I tend to take hundreds of them; seldom really knowing why I'm attracted to the shot. A tension arises in my chest as I frantically search for what I'm seeing. My eyes rapidly move back and forth across the vision I've framed in … Continue reading Textures
Shadows & Skin
Imagine wandering the Canadian tundra after a long dry season and finding the desiccated and destroyed carcass of something unrecognizable. There's no sign of fur, only thick and deeply creviced skin. Could it be the remnants of a mammoth uncovered by the retreating glaciers? Could it be what's left of a walrus dragged miles by … Continue reading Shadows & Skin
The New Renaissance Mindset 