The news of the Notre Dame Cathedral has shocked the world. Everybody knows or has seen the magnificent 850 year old structure in some form. I have had the pleasure to visit it many times over, alas without a camera. From recent images and clips, though it is apparent that not everything is lost and the structure is not “burned to the ground”. Rebuilding it will be a huge task, but it will be without the atmosphere of 900 year old timber work.

While work will be done on one of the grandest churches of the world, smaller churches also seem to get quite a bit of attention. Prairie churches here in Canada are famous. Well, famous at least on the prairies.

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We have all had them, those foggy mornings. Mornings where nothing is clear, no matter what you try. There is always something that remains hidden. Impossible to create a complete picture of what you are trying to see. Just when you get closer, the details reveal themselves, only to have the past views closed off to you. It’s like walking in a dark place with only a candle in your hand.

Some people have that foggy feeling every morning, others will search that sensation of being alone while surrounded by everything. Mist or fog in the morning creates a very special feeling for those who dare to go out and experience it. Not just to drive or walk though it, but to experience the eerie sense of solitude.

Read more: Morning fog

Going out to shoot a series of pictures is nice. Shooting with friends is a lot nicer. There’s a game out there called “Words with friends”, but I prefer the version called “Pictures with friends”. Going out alone can be a bit overwhelming at times. Even more so if the conditions are not too favorable. Icy cold temperatures, stormy nights, you name it.

All of those conditions can be daunting to shoot in, it’s always more comfortable and more fun to shoot them with friends.

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Something that doesn’t belong in a given time period. Cavemen eating with knife and fork, for example. Once in a while in Manitoba we have a whole festival of anachronisms, although the word itself is never mentioned. It’s a time where festival goers dress up for the period and often miss a few items, like a camera or a pair of glasses.

I always like to pick out these details. Others dress up completely for the part and don’t get out of character at all.

Read more: Anachronism (2)

Nostalgia is good, it means you had a good time with good memories at one time in your life. As some of you know, I lived for some time in Ukraine several years ago. While I love Canada, there is still a piece of me that wants to go back to Ukraine and smell the earth over there.

Of course, this type of nostalgia often overcomes me when the temps here dip below the –30C… It’s not easy to go outside and do your daily exercises while your eyeballs are freezing. In my case even my brain might be freezing. Instead,  I’ll stay inside for a while and remember the warmer days we spent in Ukraine.

Read more: A bit of nostalgia

Weekends are for relaxing from the stresses of the weekdays. So Saturdays and Sundays are filled with… nothing. Well, not exactly. When your better half decides that it is time to go and “do something”, that weekend just got filled with all kinds of things. Luckily I am blessed with a better half that knows what we both need.

So the weekend was filled with white and blue. White for the snow and ice, blue for the muscles that ached after going cross-country skiing for more than my muscles would like.

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A hard question for some. Photography today quickly turns into showing pictures on social media and reaping “Likes”, “+1”s or thumbs ups. Once the hype for the picture is over it is mostly gone and forgotten. In many cases it will even be deleted from memory card or phone, never to be seen again. Facebook has the “n years ago…” memory feature, bringing back those pictures after some time, we are surprised we even took that picture, let alone posted it on social media.

Social media has become the collective memory of modern man. Without it, man will forget quickly and move on to the next dose of “Likes” to feed his energy.

Read more: The meaning of photography