Lezley Woodhams – Barn Study 2 Spring

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Lezley Woodhams

Instagram @lezleywoodhams_photography
www.lezleywoodhamsphotography.com

Lezley Woodhams’ exhibit is sponsored by Stoneguide Realty Inc.

Bio
For 25 years, Lezley Woodhams has worked in photography and high-end image manipulation for Toronto advertising agencies. However, it was her time living on a farm in small town Uxbridge that ignited her passion for landscape photography. Lezley is fascinated how a solitary tree or rustic barn is transformed visually, and emotionally, by a change in season, time of day or weather patterns.

Recently the allure of shining waters, and colourful sunsets have drawn Lezley to move to the city of Kawartha Lakes, where you will find her out on the lake in her kayak, camera in hand. The resulting images are an intriguing mix of dynamic compositions, contrasting shapes, and expressive visual depth. Woodhams, through the lens of her camera, has found an inimitable peace in observing the world around her and capturing the quintessence of time and place. The images in series are a powerful metaphor for life’s joys and sorrows, inspirations and challenges.

Artist Statement
Most people stop noticing the locations, they pass by every day, but I tend to see these places in a different way. I am fascinated by the play of time, space, and light on surfaces, and trying to capture a unique moment when all the elements align in a particular way. I am drawn to the beauty of nature, gathering of light, intensity of colour, complexity of texture, the elegance of line or moment of stillness.

Lately I’ve been intrigued by the concept of taking photographs of the same place, but under different circumstances. Often, I will go back at different times of the day or a different season, with the same view point to do a careful study of the original setting. Seasons and variations in weather, time of day, clouds and light endlessly remake familiar landscapes. When comparing those images, I’ve captured from a specific view point, I am always amazed at how different the same scene can appear simply by changing the season, time of day, or type of weather condition during my visit. The images I see and capture exist only for a moment, then the wind picks up, the water moves, and the image changes into something else.

In this series, over the course of one year, I have photographed the exact same barn, with the same composition, the same angle, the same distance, and the same orientation to highlight the four different seasons as the year progresses. What an interesting way to show a year. Each period has its own charm and character. The landscape thus looks quite different depending on the season.

Changes in lighting and different seasons creates a dramatic shift in the mood and content of these images. How light interplays and interacts with the subject is important to me. When I shoot I remember that I am taking pictures of light, not just of an object.

Whether it is the golden glow of the field in Barn Study 2 Spring or the pink sky in Barn Study 1 Fall, this same location has something new to offer at any time depending on the season and the light variation and even depending on my own mood and inspiration. These images show how time can sometimes change everything, while some things stay the same.

I have been standing at that same spot, in different weather conditions, different seasons and different times of day to study my subjects in all environments on more occasions than I can remember and, to be quite honest, every time I stand there I get the same awe-inspiring feeling that surely fills every avid landscape photographer’s soul.

Scan to visit my website: www.LezleyWoodhamsPhotography.com

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Shirlanne Pawley-Boyd – Mount Edith Cavell

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Shirlanne Pawley-Boyd

Instagram @gardengirl440

Shirlanne Pawley-Boyd’s exhibit is sponsored by The Dennis Group Inc.

Land & Water

Bio
Shirlanne Pawley-Boyd has lived in Peterborough most of her life with periods of time spent living in Toronto and Vancouver. She and her husband, Stephen, have two sons, Nick and Cameron, who for many years kept their parents busy as supporters while they pursued athletic endeavours. For over three decades Shirlanne has been a professional fundraiser working for organizations in the Education, Health Care and Arts & Culture sectors. Her passion for photography, gained while attending college, was put on hold while she focused on family and work priorities. Now as an “empty-nester” Shirlanne has picked her camera up again with a re-ignited spark for capturing what surrounds her and brings joy.

Artist Statement
I have always loved taking photos. Be it in my own backyard, on a hike or kayaking in the region I live or in my travels further afield. The images I capture are those that bring me joy and illustrate my appreciation for the wonders of nature.

During the pandemic I gained an appreciation for mindfulness and living more in the moment, and this has translated into actively seeking opportunities to quietly observe the world in which we live, while immersing myself in the beauty that surrounds us.

Through this immersion, I have gained an appreciation for looking back at my photos and specifically at how the images I capture change when observing them from different perspectives – on land, on water, from a distance or up close … hence the theme of my exhibit Land & Water.

Click to read more about the Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit

Jonathon McKinney, Untitled, Model: Poet

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Jonathon McKinney

Instagram @jmckinney_photography

Jonathon McKinney’s exhibit is sponsored by Bellwether Family Wealth – Weichel & Associates

Bio
Jonathon McKinney is a young photographer based in Peterborough, Ontario. His work is abstract in nature, and focuses on finding unique perspectives for everyday objects and scenes. Jonathon is passionate about both analog and digital photography, and enjoys spending his days in the darkroom. Jonathon graduated from the Photo Arts program at the Haliburton School of Arts and Design wherein he learned useful skills in print production, studio work, and historical processes.

Artist’s Statement
In my work, I look for unique angles, lighting and focus to create images out of seemingly uninteresting things. By breaking down objects into their base textures, lines and surfaces, interesting compositions can be created out of anything.

Light, as a creative tool, has taken a prominent position in my artistic process. I see light as paint, the shutter as a paint brush, and light trails as brush strokes. My canvases are black, and I paint with the light I have available to me. In this series, I experiment with the different ways light can be used to create an image. Not only does this produce dynamically interesting images, it also changes the way we look at our environment.
Photo Model: @sketchbookofpoet

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Keith Manser – The Lookout

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Keith Manser

Instagram @keithmanserphotography

Keith Manser’s exhibit is sponsored by Griffin’s Greenhouses

Moments with Birds

When I was ten years old my family immigrated to Canada from the UK. It was pretty traumatic to leave an urban setting where even the countryside seemed completely managed and manicured, to arrive in a land full of wilderness and untamed places. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the land, its wildlife and nature, its various landscapes, and its opportunity for adventure.

The choice for my post secondary schooling was an easy one and I enrolled at what was then known as Sir Sandford Fleming College, in the Fish and Wildlife Technician program. Recreational time was almost always camping, canoeing, and at that point in time, hunting.

I think I was in my early 20’s when I purchased my first SLR camera and while the selection of lenses gave me some photographic flexibility I underutilized the camera, shooting exclusively in “Auto mode”. The preferred subject matter was then, as it is now, anything to do with our natural world.

Several decades and SLR cameras later, two things had happened. I had finally learned to use the camera in a fully manual mode utilizing settings to help me achieve the kind of mood I wanted to present with the image. I also retired from work life and finally treated myself to some nice camera equipment! Today I’m shooting with a Canon R5 mirrorless and most often a 100-500mm Canon zoom.

Wildlife photography has allowed me to ground myself and provides me with a perspective that is outside of the human existence; one that opens my eyes to other existences. A bird is no longer just a bird but another being making its way through a life. Close up images of birds, reveal expressions, postures, and intimate details that we are unable to see with the naked eye. Traces of soft down on a young Green Heron, the alarm posture of a Brown Thrasher, these are things we miss were it not for our ability to capture the moment.

Being a naturalist, I always try to convey my appreciation and respect for those other beings with whom we share our world. I use Instagram (@keithmanserphotography) to share my work and as a portal to share interesting information on the subject matter be it plant or animal. I prefer darker, moodier images to intrigue the viewer into taking a closer look at the subject. It is my hope that by capturing a viewer’s interest, I have the opportunity of nurturing their appreciation of the natural world.

Keith Manser

Please scan my QR code to find my Instagram gallery and “follow” for my most current images.

Click to read more about the Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit

Elayne Linn – Gold-rimmed Eyes

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Elayne Linn

Instagram @hopeful_caterpillar

Elayne Linn’s exhibit is sponsored by INSPIRE: The Women’s Portrait Project

Bio
Elayne Linn is a hobby photographer who seeks the little things in Nature for her wellness and joy. For her, the little things are big and magical. She also finds joy in road trips throughout the countryside, photographing old things like barns, abandoned rides, and forgotten cemeteries. In recent years she has completed online digital photography courses, including Secrets of Better Photography and Photographing Nature with Your Digital Camera through Gale Education Courses. She has also recently joined the Northumberland Photography Club and the Willow Beach Field Naturalists. Find a glimpse of her work on @Hopeful_Caterpillar through Instagram where she shares her love of nature and photography, as well as her passion for pottery and wellness. Elayne lives in Cobourg with her husband, son and whippet.

Artist Statement
Walking slowly through Nature makes me feel small and connected to the universe. In the grind of daily life, it is easy for humans to forget to rest and care for our bodies and minds, yet as soon as I get to the woods or water, I feel grounded in the present moment, and my mind calms and centres, no longer dwelling in the past or future.

For me, taking photographs is about capturing the moment and the ever-present beauty of nature, regardless of whether I use my phone or DSLR. As Vincent van Gogh said, “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” This has been my experience from the time I was a girl, catching butterflies and picking blackcaps while living in an ever-growing subdivision in a house that backed onto a pond and woods, now both buried under a house or highway.

My connection to, and loss of, nature inspires me to treasure all of the little things like lichen and moss, fungi and fiddleheads. And snow and ice and fallen trees, and birds and all the beings who live in threatened spaces. Humans are part of nature and we need natural spaces as much as any insect or plant. Mary Oliver, nature poet, introduced me to the truth that toads have gold-rimmed eyes in her poem Toad, the beauty of which I witnessed for myself years after when I photographed a frog with those same gold-rimmed eyes. Through her poem Wild Geese, Mary also introduced me to the “family of things”, which is the theme of my exhibit through Spark. All of us, from humans to ladybugs to sea turtles to moss, are all part of the family.

Connection, belonging, interdependence and the web of life are themes I hope to convey through my photography. Through my photos, I want people to see the little things for themselves and to realize that the little things are actually big things that we cannot afford to take for granted. I want people to see how frogs’ eyes are wrapped in gold, and to get up close to lichen, and the beauty of fungi, and the goldleaf that fiddleheads are wrapped in as they crown through the earth with the hope of reaching the sky. While not all of these images are represented in my selection, they are all part of the beauty I have witnessed on my journey through life and nature. My wellness and joy as a human are connected to the natural world and I will always find beauty wherever I go.

Click to read more about the Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit

Sioux Dickson – Mother Says This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit
SPARK Photo Festival Exhibit

Peterborough Public Library; lower foyer
345 Aylmer St N
Peterborough
705 745.5382
www.ptbolibrary.ca
facebook.com/PtboLibrary
instagram.com/PtboLibrary
twitter.com/PtboLibrary

Hours
Mon to Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist

Sioux Dickson Instagram@SiouxLilyDickson

Sioux Dickson’s exhibit is sponsored by INSPIRE: The Women’s Portrait Project

Bio
Sioux Dickson is an interdisciplinary artist who has called Nogojiwanong/Peterborough home for almost 35 years. She is a graduate of both Fleming College and Trent University. Her work explores difference and disability as it bumps up against the social imperative of uniformity. Sioux and her cat, Schrödinger, live in East City, where she practices hyperlocal photography.

Artist Statement
My art practice finds beauty in forgotten things, difficult circumstances, and less-than-perfect places. I create art in alleyways and back corners where I seek out rotted wood, rust flakes and blooms of mould. When a surface is unblemished, it can hold only the pride of being pristine. As with people, the best stories come to light from flaws and failures. My work captures the narratives that amuse, delight and compel me.

My pieces are usually created in situ, but sometimes I uncover the story afterward as I go through my shots. My editing recalls nights spent in the darkroom where I learned I could either cloak or expose the unseen in a photograph. Today I am free from fretting about the rules required to show a scene as captured because my efforts are to share my view, not only the image photographed.

Many of the walls I have photographed no longer exist. I capture my art right before the system consumes the imperfect. I love photographing dumpsters. Dumpsters are an excellent place to find nature’s graffiti, the underpinnings of my art. This ephemeral nature of my work complements the joy required to enjoy the right now because I know that the beauty could be gone tomorrow. In this way, my art reflects my perspective as seen through the lens of a disabled artist living in a world not designed for wheelchairs or neurodivergence.

Click to read more about the Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit