Significant places and moments
Mill Pond, Milton, Ontario
August 10, 2017
This untouched photograph of nature was a one in a trillion image I captured on film, when I was alone, walking near my home around the Mill Pond in Milton. It was a sunny August day when I noticed a beam of light shining through the leaves, tree branches and scattered cloud cover. I photographed the beam of light and tried to take several shots. Unknown to me, the memory of my camera was full. I could only take a single picture.
Later that day when I opened my laptop, I was shocked at the image before me. In the center of the upper third of the photo, was the distinct image of an old man’s face. I could clearly distinguish his balding forehead, both eyes, his left ear, the nose, cheekbones, and white beard. The ray of light emanated directly from his right eye. For those who see the image, about half of those I’ve shown, they are incredulous, often emotionally overwhelmed. For others, they simply see a pleasant image of nature.
It was August 10, 2017, barely two hours after my wife’s funeral; the reason I was alone at the time. I printed and framed the image and named it The Face of God. This implausible moment inspired me to write this trilogy. The astonishing photograph now serves as the stunning backdrop of the front and back covers of Book Two, Tracks of Our Tears. I hope you are among those who are deeply touched by this photograph as I was. Enjoy!
Later that day when I opened my laptop, I was shocked at the image before me. In the center of the upper third of the photo, was the distinct image of an old man’s face. I could clearly distinguish his balding forehead, both eyes, his left ear, the nose, cheekbones, and white beard. The ray of light emanated directly from his right eye. For those who see the image, about half of those I’ve shown, they are incredulous, often emotionally overwhelmed. For others, they simply see a pleasant image of nature.
It was August 10, 2017, barely two hours after my wife’s funeral; the reason I was alone at the time. I printed and framed the image and named it The Face of God. This implausible moment inspired me to write this trilogy. The astonishing photograph now serves as the stunning backdrop of the front and back covers of Book Two, Tracks of Our Tears. I hope you are among those who are deeply touched by this photograph as I was. Enjoy!
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
I recently came across these photograph that stopped me in my tracks. It was from the spring of 2009, a trip my wife and I took to Mexico when my grandson Benjamin was just three and a half years old. The image captures a moment so close—both in time and place—to the one that would unknowingly set me on the path to writing Tracks of Our Tears. It was taken on the very beach, mere moments before Benjamin found the ring. That small discovery, insignificant at the time, became the seed of a story that would grow into a trilogy spanning decades, history, and the echoes of my own life. Now, nearly 16 and a half years later, I look at that photograph and marvel at the journey it represents—not just the stories I’ve written, but the life that has unfolded because of them.