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, August 21, 2011

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

Sunday, August 14, 2011

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

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Safari Road - the long and winding path to morning


Safari Road - the long and winding path to morning
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


Rising early on a Saturday morning, to some, is madness.
I'm lucky to have enough crazy friends that I do not have to do it alone :-)

You can only come to the morning through the shadows. ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Monday, August 1, 2011

Serendipity - Sunflowers


Serendipity - Sunflowers
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


We were wandering the back roads this morning when we saw a lady frantically waving from the side of the road.
I stopped, she said "have you seen the sunflowers?" (frantically pointing over her shoulder).
In truth I would have driven right by. Thank you Margaret-Ann for pointing the way !

The flower offered of itself
And eloquently spoke
Of Gods
In languages of rainbows
Perfumes
And secret silence...
~Phillip Pulfrey, from Love, Abstraction and other Speculations, www.originals.net

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Elora Morning - The ruins


Elora Morning - The ruins
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


It has been quite a few weeks since I walked the path through the woods in Elora.
My first stop is always the old ruined mill.Then I continue on and wander through the woods to the bridge and back across the other side. I have walked here so many times and yet these paths never fail to offer up something new

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. ~Eleonora Duse

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Alien Landscape - IR


Alien Landscape - IR
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy


In the early spring I came across this landscape and made an image in black and white, with a pledge to return in the height of summer.
Yesterday I went back with my Nikon D70 and a 720nm IR (Infra Red) filter to record what we cannot see with our eyes.

The quotation this week has been my e-mail tag line for quite a while now and seems appropriate...

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. ~Aaron Rose

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Grindstone Creek - Feeling instead of Seeing


Grindstone Creek - Feeling instead of Seeing
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

 (click on the image to see the original)

Sometimes you have to stop looking for an image, listening and feeling your way instead.

Grindstone Creek tumbling along the Bruce Trail near Waterdown, Ontario is one of those places that draws you back time and time again.
The rushing waters remove the noises of the 'real' world. The tree's filter the light to dappled shade.
The sounds,
the smell of the earth,
the hardness of the rock formations,
the softness of the soil,
the solitude
and the quality of the light is what I am trying to capture here.


While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~Dorothea Lange