"For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage and bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
On the eve of Christmas, my best wishes to all of you!
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Route of the Magi
Tryst
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st;
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be,
And her quietus is to render thee.
Shakespeare's Sonnet #126
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Senhora Lucilia
Senhora Lucilia is the eldest resident (94 years young) of Casal de São Simão, an amazing village in the mountains in the interior of Portugal (north of Lisbon, south of Coimbra, west of Castelo Branco). If you are looking for an opportunity to see the real Portugal and its people then I highly recommend a visit here. It is a photographer’s dream come true with amazing mountain vistas, beautiful nature walks with sunlit canyons and fast water, rural landscapes and working farms - and, of course – warm and friendly (and photogenic) people everywhere. If you are interested - contact me via Flickr mail and I will connect you with the proprietors of a brand new house in the village that is available for rent to folks like you and me. Those into clubs, fast night life, getting sunburned on beaches and playing golf all day long need not apply - however, if you want tranquility, great food (and wine) and a genuine Portuguese experience don’t hesitate to write me.
Three Amigos
On the way to Montsanto, Portugal we came across “these three wise men.” I broke out of my comfort zone a wee bit and did more people photos on this trip than I usually do … it was great fun but I have so much to learn about people photography. So many wonderful Portuguese faces to capture … these three amigos were a fascinating array of 'looks' and I hope the image captures some of their character. The red hydrant, staircase railing and conveniently located green bush and shadow to balance and frame the three village elders was a nice bonus.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Far from the madding crowd ...
She seemed so deep in thought and never saw me looking ... I watched for longer than I should and intruded by taking a photograph?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
"My Blue Heaven"
"My Blue Heaven", originally uploaded by Canadapt.
"My Blue Heaven"
When whippoorwills call and evening is nigh,
I hurry to my Blue Heaven.
A turn to the right, a little white light,
Will lead me to my Blue Heaven.
I'll see a smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room,
A little nest that nestles where the roses bloom;
Just Molly and me, and baby makes three,
We're happy in my Blue Heaven.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Happy Birthday Mom!
Posted on Mom's 97th Birthday(April 28, 2010). In this photo she is 92 years old.
My Father & Mother circa 1949, originally uploaded by Canadapt.
April 10, 2010 was their 76th wedding anniversary.
The original photograph is a hand painted b&w photo ... Mom is a vibrant 97 year old more clever than ever and Dad passed in March,1990. Cheers to the unknown photographer!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Can't see the forest for the trees
If I was told that I would only be allowed to photograph one subject for my remaining days I think I would pick trees ... they are infinitely varied and profoundly beautiful!
Black on White, originally uploaded by Canadapt.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
The View from Home
Sunrise at Keefer Lake, Ontario (photo M.Hill)
"I am no longer a trophy hunter with a life-list of places to go. There is great beauty in my own backyard and I think learning to photograph the everyday and the ‘mundane’ will make you a better photographer than constantly trying to go to new and exotic locales. Depth comes from immersion and not from a shallow two week whirlwind tour. The best photographs I see are from people that immerse themselves into a location they love. I love Canada, I live in Canada and so I plan to photograph my country. Canada excites me as much as any foreign locale I have been to. Why not know your homeland?"
(Quote from Darwin Wiggett - Canadian Photographer)
Sunrise at Keefer Lake, Ontario (photo M.Hill)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Myth of Individuality
I don't think anyone is 'whole' by themselves ... I think that the idea of the individual is a contemporary myth .... a modern construction ... and wrong at that!
- MJH -
Friday, February 5, 2010
Twins
Would that Powers that made my eyes so keen,
To stare at things intently, near or far;
That I discover twins at last, in what
I thought at first was but a single star –
Would that those Powers had made my ears the same,
To tell the Oak and Maple in the dark,
To recognize their songs in wind or rain,
Before I knew their names by leaf or bark.
W. H. Davies
(from the poem entitled "Eyes and Ears")
Thursday, January 14, 2010
For Dylan Thomas ...
FERN HILL
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Dylan Thomas
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Winter's Relief, Summer's Capture
Winter's Relief, Summer's Capture, originally uploaded by Canadapt.
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the green heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
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