Welcome!
What is the Poetic Lens?
An eye, a camera, a world, and this je ne sais quoi which people call poetry.
I started doing photography years ago in Algonquin Park, a remarkable place of wilderness in central Ontario, Canada. It happened almost by accident, the way one falls into silence at the beauty of the world, the way one sometimes stumbles into prayer. I drove to the end of the road, parked the car and went on by canoe. I set my tent among trees and rocks, in a forest of silence. And then I looked, and took pictures of what I saw. Later, there was Killaloe, on the edge of the Ottawa Valley. Now it is mostly Marmora, two hours north of Toronto. At the end of a dirt road that meanders through the woods, there is an old log homestead, built by some pioneer in the mid 19th century. The land has found its way back to wildness. In a small corner of it, I planted a garden: potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, onions, asparagus, tomatoes, zukinis, lettuce, melons, tarragon, basil, mint and flowers of all kinds--oh, the fecundity of the earth! I like sneaking into the secret life of flowers and trees and vultures and insects. Into the intimacy of rocks and carrots. I often use a macro lens, or a zoom, to see more than the human eye can see. I try not to do my subjects any violence. I do my work, respectfully, and pursue my own life with renewed strength, haunted by the beauty of what I have seen. The Poetic Lens is organized around the four seasons because they structure the changes of nature, the moods of the soul and the stages of a life.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT HOW TO BEST USE THE SITE:
When you click on a season, you will access a menu of the different folders it contains. Some pictures stand alone, you will find them in the Pot-Pourri folder of each season (in French, pot-pourri means something in which there is a bit of everything). Most appear as part of a series: pictures which, together, whisper a story, hint at a poem. They may be best seen as a slide show. But you can also view them individually. Click on a thumbnail once to see the full picture. Then click on the picture and it will reach its maximum size. To see everything full screen (I recommend it), press F11. Do make use of the e-card option which you will find attached to each picture when you first click on it. It is free! It might happen that, instead of the picture to be e-carded, what appears in the box is a large "X". If so, you have clicked on "send as an e-card" too quickly after opening up the picture. Do it again more slowly. The system does not like to be rushed! You can buy a print (framed or not) of any picture, to decorate your home or offer as a gift, by contacting me.
Like all living things, the Poetic Lens starts small. But it will grow! I will post new photos regularly. If you want to be notified of updates, suscribe to the Feeds.
Enjoy!
Antoine
Vicente is the one who first had the idea of this website. He is also the one who made it possible in more ways than I can say.
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