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Claude Hamel

Took up photography only six years ago at an advanced age. As an amateur, my focus is now on the quality of experience potentially leading up to making photographs (influenced by Guy Tal’s writings). I am drawn more particularly to moving water, ice and the colours of autumn.

I live in the town of Rimouski in the Lower Saint-Lawrence region of the province of Québec in Canada. In the centre of town, at the foot of the hills, one finds a small park, called parc Lepage. It is a charming place, with few visitors, especially in winter. Light is often dim in some sections because of the canopy and the angle of the sun. I go there often with my snowshoes and end my stroll by the little stream that flows through the park. It comes from the hills and runs under buildings and roads until it enters the grounds through a large cement pipe.

From there, it gurgles and even giggles with joy until its freedom is once again robbed from it. There, it is made to disappear through another large city pipe, not to be seen again – not unlike the fate of a great many of us. The stream does not freeze over in winter and during its short musical journey in the open air, when the temperature is quite cold, it turns itself into a jewellery artisan by lapping the snow around rocks, branches and roots. Surprisingly, I never seem to see anyone else stop by to admire or photograph the delicate artefacts being sculpted right before our eyes by Dame Nature!