It's the Little Things Beneath our Feet That Matter

Yesterday over lunch I took a wonderful journey to places both near and far all from the comfort of my desk chair.

Through a friend of a friend type of connection I stumbled upon the photographic work of Randy Sutherland. He is a photographer that lives in Guelph, a community not that far away and where I have visited many times.

Randy's work is a stunning array of landscapes, portraits and close up photography, many of which are of places or things that I am familiar with and probably pass by on a regular basis without pausing to appreciate. Not only does he seem to take his camera everywhere he goes, but more importantly, he takes the time and has the awareness to notice and capture the stunning beauty of the everyday things he finds.

Spending time going through his photographs reminded me of all the amazing natural things that surround us - a jumble of tree roots; lichen in all it's colours and varieties; rocks, with their texture and contours.

This journey reminded me that the environment is not only the ice caps and rain forests, but also the sparrows that visit my backyard bird feeder and the flowers that seem to reappear in my garden every year, no matter how much I ignore them.

My ability to halt global warming in its tracks is limited; however, I do have the ability to avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides in my own backyard. I also have the opportunity to show to my son all the amazing things that are just beneath his feet so that he might develop a passion for them as well.