William Oldacre Photography

Tag: simple

  • Cabin Retreat

    Cabin Retreat

    Light Signatures series, day, colour photograph, art, abstract, abstract expressionism, creative, city street, urban, downtown, cityscape, speed, blur, movement, motion, blue, yellow, green, muted, swooshes, waves, layers, pattern
    Koi Pond, 2014 – Light Signatures :: (click to see more)

    For quite a while now I’ve wanted to build a quiet hidden cabin retreat off somewhere in the woods or by some water. When I was a kid around 8 or 9 my parents found a piece of land on an Indian reserve on Georgian Bay and built a beautiful A-frame cottage off the grid. My brother and sister and I all helped build in any way we could and over the years it was a quiet, progressively hidden retreat as all the trees and foliage encroached upon it.

    Sadly there came a point at which through a long painful process the cabin retreat was pried from our hands. Since then as my son has grown I’ve come to appreciate the important roll my family’s cabin retreat played in my life and I want to – aside from my own selfish reasons – provide the same experience for my son.

    I’ve been exploring an image blog of cabins of all kinds from around the world called cabinporn.com that has an amazing array of retreats in all circumstances. The irony for me is my intense desire to have a quiet cabin retreat external to the city – opposite to the city – despite my creative interest in the city – disconnected, simple, woodland, water, quiet and slow. All that the city is not. It’s something I thirst for and have been unable to compensate for while living in the city. There are many excellent and beautiful retreats within Toronto for example and I love them all, but none are the same as a quiet retreat in the woods.

  • Simple Pleasures

    Simple Pleasures

    Light Signatures series, day, colour photograph, art, abstract, abstract expressionism, creative, city street, urban, downtown, cityscape, speed, blur, movement, motion, fuchsia, pink, muted, waves, streaks, patterns
    Red Smear Over Orange Brown, 2013 – Light Signatures :: (click to see more)

    I’ve been struggling today with fatigue and disillusionment. Trying to think about what to write and not too happy with myself in general – in short –  moping.

    But as I’m finishing this image I’m thinking what would it take to lift this cloud – what’s missing exactly. You know I don’t think its any object or service that’s missing from my life. There’s nothing much I couldn’t procure if I really thought it was important. Money is not the issue – not saying I have lots – just that it’s not the solution or the means to a solution.

    I’ve read that lottery winners, after an initial high from their winnings will return to their previous life upsets and issues. Having gobs of money doesn’t make you happy – much to everyone’s dismay.

    Honestly, I think its the simple pleasures of life that bring the most happiness. Waking up to the sun, a good meal, a good sleep, laughing with friends, visiting family, crying, music, learning. These are all fundamentals that give the greatest happiness in our lives. Things that are the essence of ourselves. When we ignore them we feel emptiness.

    Think of your happiest moments – weren’t they something like this?

    I keep saying I need to live in the now but in fact more precisely – I need to live in the simple pleasures of the now.