Horse in the Mist

Horse in the Mist
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

I don't know what it is about horses and foggy mornings. There is a kind of magic in the air whenever I see them.

This particular morning the magic was strong magic,overpoweringly so. When I saw this scene through the viewfinder something clicked, not only in my camera but in my minds eye.

The real scene was considerably more dull and well, foggy, but my imagination saw a dreamscape instead of a landscape. Working with the image later, at home the illusion began to take shape and this is the result.

This is far and away from my usual workflow which is usually confined to a few clicks of the mouse to bring out the details. This time I was on a totally different path trying to pull out the surreal.

Horses and fog will do that too you, throw in a woodland setting and your in trouble :-)

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. ~Henry David Thoreau

Closer, Closer

Closer, Closer
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

It's funny how someone you have never met can become a friend and for someone you haven't seen in about 50 years remembers you as a friend.
Mike and Chris are such people.

Chris I knew as a kid growing up in England, she was a friend of my sisters. A year or so ago Chris found me via the internet. Since then her husband Mike and I have kept in touch through the common bond of photography.

This last month they came to Canada to visit Chris's relatives in Eastern Canada and took the time to travel to Ontario to see me. Well me and Niagara Falls ;-)

I enjoyed their company for a day at The Falls before they had to fly home. I spent the day  talking of old times with Chris and new times with Mike, a long day but a grand day.


Haste ye back guys ...



No road is long with good company. ~Turkish Proverb

Elmira Barn and the traveller

Elmira Barn
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Early Sunday morning I visited a few local barns that I had had my eye on. The light was right so I ventured out.
This was the last of three and close to home.

As usual I parked off the edge of the road with my hazard lights flashing and wandered off the make this image. When I got back to the car and was putting my camera gear away a car, traveling in the other direction, stopped. The occupant, a young man asked if everything was alright. I smiled and said thanks and told him I was just taking photographs. His reply was
"well that's good I am never too busy to stop and offer help if it's needed"

That made my day, how long has it been since someone has done that for you?
Or more importantly how long has it been since you did that for someone else?

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice,

Newfoundland - The reason I went back.

Newfoundland - The reason I went back.
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Well the real reason I went back was because my wife said I should. She could not get time off work but insisted I go alone, because she knew I wanted too. Go back that is but not necessarily alone.
She understands me better than I understand myself. I guess she saw my disappointment, although I tried to hide it and thought I had, when we visited in June. In a whirlwind of a few days the decision was made, the flight booked and I was on my way.

I was going seeking Icebergs, what I found, was me.

There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall. ~Colette

Newfoundland - Sitting on a rock, on "the RocK"

Newfoundland - Sitting on a rock on "the RocK"
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Notes from my journal:
Onward to Great Brehat (Braa-at) and another of those hidden gems. This is such a joy but the icing on the cake was the path that lead to the top of the headland.

From here there is a panorama of blue sea, white ice and green grey rocks and cliffs. Add to all that is the scent of bayberry, talk about sensory overload. I sat there for quite a while and managed a self portrait sitting on the rocks overlooking the ocean.

I think I am getting a feel for this place now.

The solitude gives your mind a chance to wander, free like the circling gulls above.
The silence, the crunch of your boots on ancient rock, the wind in your ears, the sun on your back offer peace of mind.
A feeling of belonging, a place where everything is right with the world. It reminds me of a line from a Foster and Allen song ..
"and if you come broken, we'll see that you mend"
I can only describe it as Hauntingly beautiful

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~Albert Camus

Leica Sunrise

Leica Sunrise
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Just North of Guelph, early in the morning, we found a trail in the woods.
The sun, just rising and filtering through the mist and cast sunbeams along the way.

This is what makes mornings special.

I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time. ~Emily Dickinson

Industrial Vision - Sleeman Brewery

Industrial Vision - Sleeman Brewery
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Our photo club challenge this month was a follow on from watching "Manufactured Landscapes" by Edward Burtynsky.
When I introduced it at our meeting my comment was "this movie will change the way you think and maybe the way you live."

My search for an Industrial image today was more than that, it was an eye opener to what is happening all around us.

Go see for yourself.

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963