CHRIS SHEPHERD

After Poetry

In an After Poem the author declares a relationship between their writing and another artist’s work. “After Poetry” acknowledges that reading poetry influences how I make things. It’s not a direct relationship. I don’t read a poem, get a vision, then make photographs. It’s more like the spirit or ethos of poetry has pervaded my […]

Wandering Summer 2022

Wandering Summer 2022 I carry my camera everywhere I go. I hope someday they make an ultralight version that I can trade my behemoth in for, but I need really big files, so I carry this monster around still. These are my favourite images from Summer 2022 (June-August). The period when I re-discovered reading, realised […]

Book Villa

Book Villa Every weekend when I was young, my brother and I took a bus to visit my grandmother. We did the trip together for a year, and then he had other things to do and I started going alone. Walking from our house to the bus stop on Lakeshore Road in Burlington took twenty […]

Unnatural

Unnatural This vacant lot is one of my favourite natural places in the city. You can see how it looked fifteen years ago on Google Maps Streetview. At that time, this wilderness was an unused parking lot with two small structures on it. There was a shack used as an office, and a maintenance garage. Back in 2007, […]

Instagram

Instagram I wrote this four days ago.  June 9th. I take my camera everywhere I go, every morning. During the last few weeks, I’ve taken pictures, but nothing that makes me happy.  I wrote this little poem about the best photograph I didn’t take. I’ve decided to get rid of all my social media accounts. […]

Wandering Spring 2022

Wandering Winter 2022 The following are favourites from an ongoing series called Wandering. This particular batch is from the first four months of 2022.  I walk about 15-20 km daily, and cart my camera with me everywhere I go. I tell everyone the 140,000 weekly steps are about exercise, but they’re really about talking pictures. It’s […]

This Line

This Line The first large images I ever printed were of water and sky. The horizon. That was about twenty years ago.  I’ve been shooting any place where water meets sky for about two decades. I never grow tired of it. I’ve shot the ocean, smaller northern lakes, all five Great Lakes, rivers, ponds and […]

The Black and Whiteness

The Black and Whiteness My work is in colour. That’s how I think and how the world looks to me, so that’s what I shoot. I don’t dislike black and white photography, and some people do it very well, but it’s not for me.  That said, I do often seek out places and things that […]

Lake Effect

Lake Effect COVID has left an indelible mark on everyone’s life. We’ve been fortunate. My partner and I have stayed healthy and we’ve been able to keep our jobs while working from home, so we’ve maintained our middle class income. There’s been some anxiety, but we’ve had ample food and shelter. We haven’t been marked […]

Wandering

Wandering is a continuing meditation on urbanity. I walk the city. It’s my preferred way to get around. I find other transportation too quick and it doesn’t allow me to observe the way I want to. Sometimes I may see something while riding the bus, bike or driving the car–but I rarely stop to take […]