Photo of the Week 2013-05-27

Daylight comes early this time of year and allows me the opportunity to trade the treadmill for an outdoor trail with my camera on some morning walks. Early morning is a calm time, the pace of life is still relaxed, the calm before the storm.

One morning last week, I chose to walk the trails of the Guelph Arboretum in the soft light early morning with an added bonus of a slight mist wafting over the grounds. Wandering along moist forest trails and across open fields of grass laden with dew, I decided to chance the trails of Victoria Woods and the waiting hordes ...

reflection under spring maple

... with just enough deet applied to keep them at bay. I can certainly confirm that mosquito season has arrived in Southern Ontario. Arm yourself with your choice of deet laden repellent or run for cover.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-05-20

Every where you look, the landscape is flush with the greens of spring.

While out photographing in Victoria Woods recently, I found the trilliums already past their peak with their blooms starting to show signs of distress. Ostrich ferns though, were unfurling and will soon be fully open to shade sections of the forest floor. Jack-in-the-Pulpit were as plentiful as I have ever seen them.

After spending considerable time hunched over or on hands and knees setting up for close up images of this new growth on the forest floor, it was a simple scene at the edge of a pond that drew me down to capture the serenity.

spring pond

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-05-13

Holding on to memories ...

... it can be a challenge for the elderly. Mom was always sharp mentally, that is until the last couple of years when her diabetes became too much for her to manage by herself. For more than 30 years, with help from Dad, she had managed her blood sugar level by strictly following diet guidelines, testing her blood and giving herself four insulin injections per day. Just over a year ago, living on her own in a seniors residence, things changed.

Her "brittle diabetic" condition got away from her and she was hospitalized with DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), on three occasions. On the last, I just about lost her. She was in ICU for over a week and unresponsive for the first several days as medical staff helped her fight to stay alive. Her body chemistry was way out of whack and more than once I questioned what impact it would have when and if she recovered.

She did recover but it would no longer be possible for her to live on her own and she moved to a long term care facility. Sadly, she had lost some of that mental edge she always had. Now, when I visit, we do crossword puzzles together to help keep her mind active. We also talk a lot about what is going on with her grandsons and of things past.

On Mother's Day, I took some of my photos to look at so she could see what I've been up to. We talked about them and a reprint I had made of a portrait my Dad took of her a long time ago.
 

We talked about how much Dad enjoyed photography and taking her picture whenever she got dressed up. Mom said she remembered having her photograph taken wearing the blouse she has on in the the photograph she is holding. I posted that image and a blog post for Mother's Day yesterday. I also planned to make an image of her with that photo that would capture the mood as she relived the memories.

All visits with mom are special, but on Mother's Day this past Sunday, it was extra special.

DJE

GRACE - for Mother's Day

When Mom moved from the house back on '06, we went through Dad's darkroom and more photos than you can imagine. During the next few years she organized, arranged and culled the family photo collection down to albums from vacations and trips and a collection of shots from over the years. When she had to move into a nursing home last year, we had to downsize her belongings completely. I kept the family photo collection. There are three boxes of the photo albums that she had assembled and a bunch of loose prints, some small snap shot, some larger prints from Dad's darkroom. 

Mom was always a patient model for Dad through the years. This is one of the prints from Dad, I believe it is from the early '50's when mom was around 20 (scanned from a 4x5 print, frame outline and title in CS6)

Happy Mother's Day.

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2013-05-06

A number of years ago, when I began taking a DSLR along on hikes on local trails, I was no doubt, "back into photography". It started out with a few images made as Lynn and I enjoyed the sights and sounds of local woodlands and fields. Over the years we have continued to add an ever expanding list of trails that have provided opportunity for some of my favourite images.

This past weekend, Lynn and I decided to take another day trip up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermorey and hike some of the trails in Bruce Peninsula National Park. After a later start than planned we arrived at the Cyprus Lake access to the park just before noon with warm sunny weather. Another hiker told us that some of the trails were muddy and washed out on certain sections but that the Georgian Bay Trail leading out to Indian Head Cove was in good condition.

The trail is not long and well maintained with stone screenings which made for easy going. As we came to the end of the woodland section at Indian Head Cove, we were presented with striking views of the water and cliffs. In the mid day sun, the water was that gorgeous, clear, Georgian Blue that I love, hard to capture in a photograph but you know that I gave it my best shot.

Indian Head Cove

more ...

On the Lookout ...

 

lookout edge

... oh, and I made time for golf (I walk and carry my clubs) on Sunday, the legs got a great workout this weekend :-)

DJE