Lens-Artists Challenge #409 – My Wannabe Best Ever Images

 I scoured my MacBook for five perfect views,
By Lens-Artists standards, there’s not much to choose!
A laneway a skyline and a barn of stone,
An eagle, a crown where a butterfly’s flown.

My photography skill is a work in progress so, being perfectly honest with myself, “best-ever” is, as yet, a goal not an actuality. But I did have fun, a lot of fun actually, choosing my five images.

“Conviviality”

This July 2012 image is my first choice for “best-ever” because it was my very first attempt at macro photography. Back then, I was using my first digital camera, a point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix. When a friend suggested I try macro, I had no idea what it meant but was too proud to ask. One quick research session later, and I was hooked. This shot is far from perfect, and I have since lost the original file, but even in square format, it remains a sentimental favourite.

“Toronto Tableau”

This is my second choice of “best-ever” — it’s far from my favourite photograph, but it is the first (and only) image for which I received a prize.  I also like it because of the CN Tower with which I’ve a very long history.  Thanks to my dad, in 1975 I was on the 56th floor of Commerce Court with a bird’s eye view of the helicopter lifting the top of the tower into place.  A day I’ll never forget!

“Eddie the Eagle”

This is my third choice of a “best-ever” because of the circumstances of the shot.  Whilst driving past Hillman Marsh, we saw him soaring above us.  Cam was driving and he quickly followed this incredibly beautiful, powerful and — in the air only — graceful bird.  We found him in this tree, just 12 feet up, and he sat there ever so patiently whilst, from right underneath him, I shot picture after picture.  When he decided he’d had enough of me, his take-off was as clumsy and awkward-looking as you could possibly imagine, hence his name (for the English Olympic ski jumper of the same name).  

“Romantic Ruin”

This is my fourth “best-ever” shot because this beautiful old barn relic sparked my love of old barns and was the catalyst for my book, “Anatomy of a Barn”.  Every old barn is possessed of an exclusive history.  Just imagine… The family who built it, the livestock that dwelt in its shelter, storing the harvest, the calving, feeding, milking, the farm dog following his master everywhere, and children playing in the loft.

“Lornay Farms”

Favourite “best-ever” because this is the laneway of the farm where my Cam grew up.  His dad was Lorne Abraham (Lorne A.), hence “Lornay”.  It was a mixed use, but primarily dairy farm, on the fourth line, Clarke Township.  Now that we’ve moved so far away, I badly wish I’d had the courage to go up the lane and ask the current owners for permission to shoot the house.  For Cam, it is the site of a very happy childhood, a place where he learned a lot of practical skills and life lessons from his dad, whom I adored, and refer to as Saint Lorne.  If you only knew Cam, you’d understand!

Thanks to Steve Hyde for this very timely and most enjoyable challenge!  I hope he gets another chance to host!  His images truly are “best-ever” and his narrative is engrossing, so I urge you to spend a few minutes browsing his blog post, you’ll be very glad you did, promise:

Lens-Artists Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images

’Til next time, y’all…