A tree and two bushes.

Be like water.

A beautiful mess.

The wait of water.

Water is beautiful when frozen in time, but now and then I like opening my camera’s shutter for a while and waiting for the magic to happen.

Love note #27.

 

View the love note collection.

Till the clouds roll by.

It’s April, and the air still hurts my face. But I didn’t let that stop me from a pleasant walk on Burlington Beach. (Yes, it’s true. I – detester of most winter things – have actually become a fan of winter beach walks. What next? Winged pigs?)

When I arrived, the sun was glinting warmly on the water, and by the time I left, the clouds had overtaken the sky, leaving a dull, flat light. I liked this shot – converted to black and white for some extra drama – because the clouds seem to be pulled in by the barge in the distance. Plus… doesn’t that top-most cloud look like a bird in flight?!

I’ll share a couple more pictures from my chilly beach wanderings in the coming days. Hey – word on the street is that the temperature might rise to double digits at the end of the week (!!!). My face – pale, cracked and frozen – cannot wait.

Not the kind of jam I like.

After a week’s absence (sorry! I’m still here!), I’m back with a few shots of the water. Well, frozen water – an ice jam choking the Grand River in downtown Cambridge, Ontario. Here’s how it looked for a few weeks – these photos were taken near the end of January:

 

 

Yesterday, after a couple of mild, rainy days, the ice jam released, sending a sudden surge of water and massive chunks of ice downstream to Brantford. There, the river clogged up again and resulted in flooded roads and the evacuation of 2000 households located in the floodplain. (There’s also a heartbreaking report of a toddler swept away in another region near the flooded Grand). This afternoon, the Brantford ice jam began to loosen and water levels are receding. Ice and debris are now making their way further downstream… here’s hoping that other communities aren’t affected by flooding.

I didn’t get dramatic shots of all this excitement, but I was able to get out today to make a few pictures of the remaining ice along the banks in Cambridge.

I’ve much gratitude for the quick and tireless actions of all the staff and volunteers in our communities. Stay safe, everyone!

 

The same rail bridge as the one in the photos above.

I’m not really liking where these stairs are leading.

That tiny crescent beneath the windows is all that’s visible of a large, (usually) open archway.

Walkway closed.

Kitty love.

*In response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Beloved

Safety first.

I’m starting to believe that photography is not only helping me become more observant of my immediate surroundings, but also that the camera is a kind of self-awareness/subconscious-exploration tool.

I didn’t realize it until I sat down to sort the photos at my computer, but during a walk the other morning, a curiously high proportion of the pictures I made included some sort of railing or safety barrier. They didn’t feel right to me until they were converted to black-and-white images. And I was strangely drawn to the popped nails of a boardwalk beam torn from its post.

I might have some analyzing to do…

Same/different.

This morning’s walk beside Hespeler’s Silknit Dam resulted in two versions of the same story (aren’t there always at least two? 🙂).

One is a single moment, frozen in time, and the other is an accumulation of moments, captured with the help of a neutral density filter and a fifteen second exposure. Two photographs, two truths – their variations resulting only from the passage of time and a different lens.

I’ll share them here in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge: Variations on a Theme.