Originally from Northern England, Alan Norsworthy has been a photographer since the late 1960's.

He moved to Canada in 1973 and has made Guelph Ontario his home for the last 24 years.

" I remember visiting the CN Tower in the early 70's and the guide said that as far as you could see in any direction is the best farmland in Canada. That comment echoes down the years as I watch subdivisions eat up the landscape."

The area around Guelph offers up a plethora of rural images which Alan captures with his artistic vision. His work covers everything from macro photographs of flowers, sweeping landscapes, historic buildings and old abandoned farms in both colour and Black and White.

"This is where I find my inspiration, I have a need to show people the beauty I see as I walk the woods and fields of Southern Ontario"


Sunday, March 31, 2013

It's a Small World - Lichen I


It's a Small World - Lichen I
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


To me, photography is more than a hobby, it is a release, a teacher and a giver of those things lost.

Let me explain; photography has been a part of my life , to a greater or lesser degree, for close to 50 years now. Sometimes it rose to the surface at other times if sat quietly in the background as life, children and mortgages demanded my time and energy. Now that the children are grown, the mortgage gone, life takes on a new chapter.Yes we still have our trials and tribulations and it's not all milk and honey but I do have (or find) the time to think, to ponder and to look back.
One of the things that I have been thinking about is how, as we grow, we lose the ability to play as a child plays. As we grow to be adults the cost of that growing is that the time of innocence is lost. As the years pass by we see so much, experience so much that the grand adventure of living and growing has become tiresome and mundane.
Photography gave it all back to me, it opened not only my eyes but my mind and in that reawakening let me become as a child again to see the world as the wondrous thing that it is.

Yesterday three grown men crawled around in the mud puddles and across the half frozen earth looking for things that most adults never even consider let alone go out in search of. We were hunting lichens, in a macro world no bigger than a dime we found pleasure, excitement, a joy in discovery and camaraderie.

We were as children again.

It was photography that brought us together and gave us back the opportunity to play and explore. People walking by saw the intricate set up's and smiled, waved a greeting and carried on their way. No embarrassment on our part, us 'grown men' playing in the dirt, no pitying looks from those who passed by. Well they may have thought us daft but no one shook their heads, no one laughed at us. Even if they had should it have mattered? Children do not look for approval in their games they just go ahead and do what they need to do. We needed to crawl around in the dirt, so we did.

It is important for us as adults to discover or should I say re-discover that sense of adventure, that freedom to do such silly thing s without fear of condemnation from complete strangers or indeed our peers.

Photography gave me that freedom, freedom to poke around in the dirt, to study a puddle looking for tadpoles, watch the birds gather nesting materials and it allows me to do nothing at all except listen to the sounds of the natural world as she once again wakens from her long slumber that is Winter.

Photography gave me all that and more.

My wish for you on this Easter Sunday is that you too find that vehicle that will allow you to "Find the child within "

If only for today.

A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. ~Rachel Carson

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Earth Hour - Orion Nebula


Earth Hour - Orion Nebula
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


So, how did you spend Earth Hour?

The antibiotics are working their magic and I am slowly getting over whatever it was that knocked me flat for several days, weeks?
After what seems like forever I felt that I was up for a walk so I joined up with Doug and Patrick for a leisurely stroll along a section of Arkell Road.Not exactly the most quiet of places due to the constant traffic but there were a myriad of interesting features along the roadside and in the gently rolling fields beyond.
Yes, a leisurely stroll was just fine and I appreciate that my companions had put my health ahead of an adventure.

Despite my concerns about an evening excursion to ‘hunt comets’ I went anyway, which made for a long day on my first day back ‘in the fold’.
Pan-STARRS was our quarry but unfortunately the clouds would not co-operate and hugged the horizon hiding the comet from view.
However looking up we had spectacular views even if the moon was up and shining brightly.

All that know me know that I am not a night person, ‘early to bed and early to rise’ that’s me but there is something to be said for walking abroad in the country with only the moonlight to show the way and listening to the night ...

This image is of the Orion Nebula, taken with my D300 and Nikkor 400 f/3,5.

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Sitting Pretty


Sitting Pretty
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


For most of my life I was a "cat person", then a dog came into my life and everything changed.

16 years of devotion, wanting nothing in return but a good scratch of that itchy spot they cannot reach. That and a walk or a treat now and again.

We should be so selfless.

Now he is gone, but not really, for every time I see a dog I think of him and I smile.
He will be beside me always "Man's best friend" doesn't really tell the whole story, not even close, maybe it should be more like .....

Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man, without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog.

~George Gordon, Lord Byron, "Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog"