With Open Eyes

“So much of what we do is by virtue of luck, to be sure,

but we get luckier the longer we remain patient, with open eyes...

...Patience is allowing your body of work to surprise you,

to take unexpected turns, to become something you didn’t expect,

and to allow your curiosity to lead you further down the rabbit hole.”

David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera - The Photographer's Place in Picture-Making

(Rocky Nook Inc., 2017)

This blog posting is a celebration with two strands, combining into one.

The first strand: I’m writing this piece on Canadian Thanksgiving Monday. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favourite Canadian holidays – a time for gratitude, family, friends, and the first real taste of autumn. It is very different from American Thanksgiving in late November – gentler, more measured, fewer Tweets.

It is also the fourth anniversary of my marriage to Bill Stearman, my dear husband.

Bill and I both lost beloved partners in the last decade. To have found love again in the autumn of our lives is indeed a miracle, one worth celebrating. It is not a coincidence that we chose to marry on Thanksgiving weekend, 2013.

So, the first strand today is a celebration of my life with Bill.

The second strand: I’m currently taking a year-long online photography course (with 1300+ other people!) with the remarkable Canadian photographer, David duChemin. David’s profound book, The Soul of the Camera, is a source of inspiration and challenge that nourishes my photography. His online course is called “The Compelling Frame: A Mentor Class in Creative Photographic Composition.”

So on this Thanksgiving weekend, my second strand of celebration is for David duChemin’s photographic vision.

And here’s how these two celebratory strands combine: both strands feed my soul, give me courage to take risks, and open up my life to unexpected joys – “with open eyes” as David duChemin says. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, David.

The photos that follow: they were all made in Prince Edward County in the last two weeks. Bill and I share a deep love for Prince Edward County. We spend many happy hours driving around, visiting friends, and reconnecting with our roots. I hope these photos reflect my feelings for The County – and for Bill.

Enjoy.

Closson Chase Vineyards, where we saw 

Johnny C. Y. Lam's evocative photos of Prince Edward County.

Closson Chase Vineyards

Closson Chase Vineyards

Closson Chase Vineyards

Closson Chase Vineyards

Dirt on the side of our car because of road construction near

Closson Chase Vineyards

Alpaca beasties,  SHED-Chetwyn Farms

SHED-Chetwyn Farms

SHED-Chetwyn Farms

West Lake shoreline, Wellington

Main Street, Wellington 

Wellington Harbour

Pavilion Light, Wellington Park

Bloomfield autumn leaves

Heart Stirrings

Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled one

to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart was

stirred to come to do the work...

Exodus 36, verse 2 (NRSV)

All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what

they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and

 fine linen; all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill...

Exodus 35, verses 25, 26 (NRSV)

One of my personal rituals is reading a chapter of the Bible each day before breakfast. It takes about three years to complete the Hebrew and Christian texts, Genesis to Jude. When I finish, I start all over again. It is a useful spiritual discipline that keeps me connected with the ancients and strengthened for the future.

I have just finished reading Exodus. The story of the Jews fleeing Pharaoh’s oppression in Egypt is both stirring and breathtakingly contemporary. The latter chapters of Exodus detail the design and building of the Ark of the Covenant, including the first artists named in the Bible: Bezalel and Oholiab. Alas, the skillful women are unnamed.

This is the first time I have encountered Exodus since discovering my passion for photography, so when I read about Bezalel and Oholiab having their hearts stirred, and the skillful women having their hearts moved, I, too, was moved in a way I had not been when reading these chapters in the past.

I have always felt my photography drew its inspiration from a spiritual source deep within me. To read that Bezalel, Oholiab, and the skillful women shared the same source for their creativity is humbling and profoundly interconnective, spanning thousands of years, yet retaining its vibrant call. Because for me, photography is a call. It is not, as one well-meaning soul said to me last month, “Taking pictures must a good way for you to fill your time now that you’re retired.”

Well, no, photography is not a way for me to fill my time – it is a profound expression of my faith and my commitment to living a life filled with integrity and beauty. It is my way of changing the world.

The photos that follow were all recorded late last week – farm fields north of Stirling, pink oyster mushrooms at the Wellington market, weeds near Wellington beach, and the blue skies of Prince Edward County.

Enjoy.