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
Raw, Rough, and Delicate
The mundane seems to explode with possibility when looked at up close. This is part of the carpets I put on my decks in the Winter to make them less slippery. From far, they are unremarkable, dull, brownish, dirty, rough, and not very appealing. On the day I took this shot, the sun was bright … Continue reading Raw, Rough, and Delicate
Oh, That Elusive Purple Again
I was looking for shades of indigo that I might use to get new paint colours for another art project and fell upon my favourite messenger of Springtime. These amazing flowers pop up as the first signs of Spring and often when the snow is still around them. We had a few really dry and … Continue reading Oh, That Elusive Purple Again
Imagine The Red
I got in really close to my Japanese maple tree and was astonished by the structure of the leaves. They reminded me of blades at first, then a little like a pile of sword blades overlapping each other. As I continued to stare and play with settings, including switching to monochrome, I found it reminded … Continue reading Imagine The Red
I Can Feel the Colour and the Light
Imagine the lush greens, modulating hues and tones with the sunlight that hits them through the canopy. Imagine the wind twisting the leaves in all directions and showing the natural colour changes in each leaf. Imagine how the underbelly of each maple leaf has a silvery iridescence that reflects even more colour changes. Imagine the … Continue reading I Can Feel the Colour and the Light
Green Uncertainties
I have all these fern-like plants around my house. From far, they are not too exciting to look at but get closer and they become a jungle filled with ominous possibility. To the naked eye, the bigger and finer leaves appear to be two different plants; they even have different green hues. Up close, they … Continue reading Green Uncertainties
Gothic Leanings
Early this Spring, I took several pictures of the dead milkweed plants in a nearby field. I've always found these beautiful and used to use them in flower arrangements and other wall-hanging sculptures. The grey tones really appeal to me, even before I started to understand Wabi-Sabi aesthetics. They normally last well into the Summer, … Continue reading Gothic Leanings
Forrest Sentinel
On a recent trip to the Laurentians, I was walking in the forest behind the pace we were staying. I came across this I posing sentinel standing in a small clearing. Clearly dead, desiccated, rotting, and pecked, and yet... somehow standing strong and imposing. The hole in the upper side sometimes looked like an eye, … Continue reading Forrest Sentinel
