One of my current projects is to create abstract photographs of my hometown of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. With abstract photography, we try to reflect the mood or emotions or qualities of a place. Each Tuesday, I’ll present a new image from the project.

 
This week’s post was inspired by an article I read about the sculptor, Charles Ray (via Improvised Life and the New Yorker). A teacher once said this about one of his sculptures.

It shows me you want to make something, instead of discovering something. Don’t ever do that in my class again.

Writing and wonder mentor, Jeffrey Davis, advised me this week to “draft to discover.”

This is an important part of the process of writing and photography for me. I do both to discover what’s already there.

Below are three photographs I discovered last week – abstract views of fallen blossoms.
 
P1170518
 
Walk
 
Walk2
 

Niagara-on-the-Lake is a tourist town, stepped in history. It’s surrounded on two sides by water – Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. The world famous Niagara Falls are twenty miles down the road.

It has a world class theatre series called the Shaw Festival, which draws thousands from April through November.

This town was the first capital of Canada and one of the major battlegrounds for the War of 1812. You can see re-enactments at Fort George. The U.S. counterpart, Fort Niagara, can be seen across the river.

This is one of the best agricultural areas in all of Canada, known for its fruit – grapes especially, and is now home to more than 100 wineries.


 

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