“At least the light is nice…”
Rain, changing light, and a camera connect two walks separated by nearly twenty-five years—one through Paris and another along the shore of Lake Erie.
When I was working on my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, I spent a summer studying abroad in Paris. For several weeks, I walked through the city with a camera around my neck. Most of the time I walked alone, though occasionally I went out with another student.
I remember one walk with a graduate student in his late forties, about fifteen years older than I was. During that walk, we were stopped several times—nearly twenty-five years later, it feels like dozens—by tourists asking us to take their pictures.
Every time, they asked him.
Some even waited while he took a photograph for someone else, then approached him next, even though I was standing less than five feet away.
Today, I was walking along Lake Erie with my camera—grey hair and beard, a bigger belly, and far less equipment. Several people approached me for a little conversation and, yes, to ask me to take their picture in front of the lake. As I was taking a picture for one couple, a light rain began, and that walk in Paris came to mind.
A few minutes later, a gentleman about my age approached with a smile, walking his dog. “At least the light is nice,” he said, just as the rain began spitting at us again.
I smiled. “Yes, the rain and the light are nice today.”
“Sometimes we go out into the world for discovery and to learn new things, but sometimes you just need to keep walking the path near you.” - Melinda French Gates, Guardian Interview, June 2026
A camera always sits beside my desk. Today, there are three: a Horseman 4x5, a Hasselblad 500C, and a Sony A7R III.
They help keep me grounded through meeting after meeting, moving between Teams, Zoom, and WebEx—the day-to-day work that pays the bills. But there is always something else tugging at the back of my mind.
Every so often, I look out the window and watch the sun move across the lawn or the birds dart to and from the feeder. Sometimes, that pull wins. I pick up a camera, step into the yard, and explore the light waiting just a few feet beyond the window.
Spring is here…
There is a point every year in Northeast Ohio when the debate ends.
The forecasts stop threatening frost. The lake softens. The trees begin to fill in. The beach, quiet for months, starts to belong to people again.
Today felt like that moment.
Maybe winter isn’t fully done with us yet… but, maybe.
Today felt like the first real day of spring in Northeast Ohio. Of course, anyone who lives here knows better—fake spring usually hangs around until Mother’s Day, teasing us with sun before one more cold blast reminds us who’s really in charge. But Lake Erie has a way of making an ordinary afternoon sunbath feel a bit warmer this time of year.
Maybe winter isn’t fully done with us yet. Maybe there’s frost hiding somewhere in next week’s forecast. But for today, it was spring enough.
In Motion: Selected Birds in Flight -2025
Spring 2025 birds-in-flight photography featuring Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows gathering mud, Red-winged Blackbirds, and a Blue-winged Teal taking off from marsh reeds.
A few quick captures of Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, a female Red-winged Blackbird, and a Blue-winged Teal focused on motion
St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh