Beaver Lake, October 27th

A few, selected mages from an overcast, bright morning at Beaver Lake in Stanley Park:

I confess I spent too much time in Lightroom processing these four photographs as I experimented with colour grading, rather than relying on presets. I’m not sure I like the results but it was time to say “Enough — done is better than perfect.” And overall, it was a worthwhile learning exercise in which I felt uncomfortable but also eager to become competent in this skill. I will continue to practice!

Among the Trees

A walk of faith at Stanley Park in early October

 
 

While I wandered along the trails, I listened to Emergence Magazine's podcast A Forest Walk – a guided practice by Kimberly Ruffin, which helped me experience a "continuous exchange of belonging" with the forest.

 
 
 
 

My eyes were delighted by komorebi, which is the untranslatable Japanese word for the effect created by sunlight when it is filtered through the leaves of trees (source).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As Suzanne Simard writes in the introduction to Finding the Mother Tree “The scientific evidence is impossible to ignore: the forest is wired for wisdom, sentience, and healing." I also can’t ignore my own experiences and so say in response “I know and believe!”

Beaver Lake, Early October

I walked to Stanley Park again this past weekend on both Saturday and Sunday mornings to wander along the trails and make photographs until mid-afternoon.

When I do this I turn off my mind and orient my senses to all that surrounds me. I am filled with gratitude, reverence, wonder and calm.

 

A slow transition to autumn foliage on South Creek Trail

 

Reflections on a calm day

 
 

Harmony, balance, and rest

The peace of wild things — this perfect phrase and the title of a beloved Wendell Berry poem come to mind whenever I’m among the more than human creatures of Stanley Park.