A blog to encourage you to see the world in a fresh way | Lidgard Photography

Miksang on Sable Island

22 November, 2021 by damian lidgard

Since 1997 I have been working as a seal biologist on a remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia called Sable Island. Initially, my view of this wonderful place was of science; that is where my focus was for many years. In recent years however, my interest and practice in Miksang has allowed me to truly appreciate this island for what it is. Although I have been working on this island for more than 20 years, every time I go, I see something different; the images I bring home are different to those I took in the previous years. The reason is because Miksang allows one to see things as they are and this island changes continuously.

During the day, my mind is focused on the research of course. But over the time I have worked on this island I have been able to develop an openness to my environment and to flip my mind from work to seeing. Being in an open, wild, natural environment one’s mind is very relaxed and open. All day I am outside working amongst the seal colony. We do not walk anywhere, rather we drive All-Terrain-Vehicles due to the distances we need to travel, the gear we are carrying and the risk of seal bites (!).

All of the perceptions shown here occurred during my regular day. When driving, my mind is open to the environment around me which is forever changing. A perception can occur, for whatever reason, at any moment. It will just appear. The first ‘act’ of seeing a perception is the inner sense speaking out and then, immediately after, the chatter starts. The chatter dilutes the strength of this inner sense and the perception starts to fade. So, when the inner sense first speaks, I brake, get off my ATV and get my camera out.

It is so easy to keep driving; to develop a dialogue of whether I actually saw anything, or that what I saw was not a very strong perception, or interesting, so why stop? I always stop.

There is certainly a trap door once one has stopped to see the perception. I often will see something adjacent that is interesting, and it can certainly pull you away from the core of the perception. If you lack the confidence or the strength to stay with the core, the image that results is not strong, doesn’t feel right; you know you are cheating your inner self.

The practice of Miksang is very much a contemplative exercise and allows one to see much deeper than one normally does with traditional photography. Once one becomes proficient in the practice, the world appears brighter, more vivid and accessible. My experience with Miksang on Sable Island offers a good example. I often describe Sable Island as raw, not because of its isolated location but because one is surrounded by both new life and death; nature is at work.

Practising Miksang has allowed me to see and appreciate the beauty in this rawness. When I come across dried remnants of a seal placenta, because there is no labelling or judgement, I can see the rich colours, vivid texture and its contorted shape on the sand. The image of the dead seal with its head hanging over a sand cliff would normally repel an onlooker, but when I saw this, I was immediately stopped by its starkness, the blood-soaked sand, the triangular form of the body hanging over the cliff, the rough texture of its fur. All of these attributes were present and accessible to me because there was no barrier between my seeing and this rather raw expression of nature.

Of course, I do not need to be on Sable Island to experience such strong perceptions; they are ever present. One just needs to open their eyes and calm their minds to see them.

Six days in November on Sable Island

10 November, 2021 by damian lidgard

I have just returned from a short trip to Sable Island. The purpose of the visit was for my work with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the deployment of video cameras on two adult female grey seals.

Each seal also had a satellite transmitter so we can see where the seal goes and an accelerometer that records fine movements of the seal’s body and head. We are hoping that the footage recorded by the camera and the data from the transmitter and accelerometer will help us better understand the seal’s behaviour while at sea.

The image below is of a seal called F412. We attached the camera to her on 3rd November on the North Beach. She has a strong record of pupping on Sable Island so we are quite confident that she will return in December to give birth and we can recover the camera.

F412 showing the satellite tag and video camera

F412 departs the beach carrying the digital video camera

The map below shows the movement of F142 from Sable Island (red line). The blue line is of another female carrying the same instruments. The two seals departed Sable at the same time and are obviously following a similar track out to foraging grounds.

As soon as night time arrives and the seal dives to below 25 m the camera will turn on and record the seal’s behaviour.

Seals and cameras on Sable Island

21 October, 2018 by damian lidgard

I am not terribly good at writing posts for this blog, as you can see. My last post was quite a while ago. However, I have someone re-designing my website and it has given me some inspiration and energy to write.

On Tuesday, 23rd October, I headed out to Sable Island for a week, which actually extended into more than that. The trip on one hand was exciting while on the other it was daunting. It was exciting because I was working with a local film crew to capture footage for a film focused on the seals of Sable Island. At the core of the film is my hope to capture underwater footage of the behaviour of seals using a video camera mounted to the back of a seal. Yes, the seal will be working for us and showing us what they do out at sea. We deployed two cameras. The deployment of the cameras was the daunting part. I have attempted this several times now and either the seal decides it no longer wants to carry the camera on its back and removes it, or we get the camera back but there is no useable footage, or the seal simply decides not to return to the island and the camera falls off during their annual moult in May. So, four deployments to date and nothing to show for it. So that was the daunting part.

This is the video camera we will use to capture the life of the seal underwater. It will sit on the back of the seal and be programmed to turn on when the seal dives below 25 m during the night time, which is when the seal is most likely to be foraging.

So the exicitng part was shooting footage for the film. I have spent a lot of time capturing images of wildlife through my camera so I was thrilled to see how different it is to observe and capture wildlife on video.

One of the cameras that we will be using is below. Looks like a beast. It is sitting on a homemade sand sledge that we pushed along on the beach to get close to the seals.

Well I will post more later with updates on the working seals.

Damian

Putting Price Tags on Things As They Are

6 December, 2016 by damian lidgard

“Using concepts is like putting price tags on things as they are. When we look at things without such barriers and blockages, we begin to be more inquisitive and clear. More critical judgment begins to take place.”

Excerpted from: “Awakening Unfabricated Perception” in The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion, Volume Two of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, page 183

Stay grateful

24 November, 2016 by damian lidgard

“The Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes,

I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is to walk on earth . . . a miracle we don’t even recognize.”

—Jan Chozen Bays, MD, How to Train a Wild Elephant: & Other Adventures in Mindfulness, page 143.

Sable Island to feature in ‘Meet in Beijing’ 2016 festival

18 April, 2016 by damian lidgard

Meet in Beijing is an annual arts festival held in Beijing to celebrate Chinese culture, introduce arts from overseas and promote cultural exchange between China and other countires. This year, the featured country is Canada and the Canadian Geographic has called out to photographers to submit their best shots of this wonderful country. Much to my delight, one of my images will be featured…Sable Island is off to a Meet in Beijing.

Seven weeks on Sable Island, part 2

16 February, 2016 by damian lidgard

Here is the second post to the ‘Seven weeks on Sable Island’. A series of images from my winter (Dec-Feb) trip.

This rather large wooden mast appeared on the South Beach this year. It is a few 100m west from another shipwreck that remains partially buried in the dunes.

Female grey seal. Once females lose their mass from feeding their pup (a whopping 3.5 kg per day) their coat becomes lose and creates folds. The eye of this female holds the viewer.

Grey seal pup suckling from its mom on the South Beach at dusk. As females lose their mass, their hip also becomes more pronounced. Pups will gain ~1.5 kg/day and are weaned on average after 17 days.

We came across these Sable Island horses in a cove off the North Beach. They were drinking from a water hole they had dug within the seal colony.

This dune is called Highground Pass. It is a popular area for weaned pups to congregate, away from the adults in the breeding colony thus avoiding potential injury.

After strong storms, and particularly with high tides, the South Beach is often flooded. This photo was taken after one of these storms.

Male grey seal in icy pool.

Adult male grey seal coated in sand

Grey seal pup resting in a sand storm on the South Beach. The sand on South Beach is very different to that on the North” quartz, granite, tourmaline, magnetite. The mix of minerals creates a much darker coloured beach compared with the North Beach.

These two horses were standing on the top of this dune on South Beach during a strong wind storm. They appeared very majestic.

Seven weeks on Sable Island

12 February, 2016 by damian lidgard

About 10 days ago I returned from a ~7 week trip on Sable Island, 10th Dec 2015 to 3rd February 2016. My Xmas, New Year and birthday was spent on the island with friends, work colleagues, seals and horses. The reason for the visit was, as usual, the work I do with grey seals, and they are plentiful on the island. It was, as usual, a thoroughly enjoyable trip with new sights and experiences.

Here is the first of several photo posts of the trip

Just before Xmas Day we were lucky to see this wonderful sunrise.

Not only were the colours brilliant but the shapes of the clouds were incredible.

Grey seal males are generally an ugly beast but they have a lot of character and they are as tough as nails.

Even though the island is made entirely of sand it has impressive landforms and scapes.

One late afternoon I spent a few minutes with this pair of seals on the South Beach. The female was a little annoyed with the male, likely due to the copious saliva leaving his mouth.

Females are very protective of their young, especially toward males that may injure pups during fights.

Sable Island horses with, as usual, heads down grazing on grass.

This day was an extraordinary day on Sable Island. We had high winds, bright sunshine, rain, snow, and overcast skies. The light was absolutely amazing; here you can see the waves of rain approaching the island from the south.

When I look around me, the one thing that excites me most is simplicity. This is Bald Dune, an area that is very beautiful and expansive. This image stopped me in my tracks…

A year in photographs, 2015

9 February, 2016 by damian lidgard

To follow on from my previous ‘A year in photographs, 2014‘ here are my best shots from 2015, each with a little blurb.

Bald Dune, Sable Island. This is one of my favourite places on Sable Island. Once the highest point on the island, it has recently changed form but remains as elegant as ever.

Dune, Sable Island. I have awlays been fascinated by the forms that are created using such simple ingredients as sand and wind.

Sanderlings, Sable Island. For such a small bird as the sanderling, Sable Island is a harsh place. Here they huddle behind a very small hump of sand in a sand storm.

Grey seals in coitus Sable Island. Naughty, yes, but I find this shot so beautiful to look at. Very peaceful and I love the form and textures.

Dune, Sable Island. I often find myself drawn to lines when I look at the world.

Snowy Owl, Sable Island. A rather tame image but it was a joy to share Sable Island with this amazing bird. The owl was on the island throughout January and was still there in June when we returned.

My niece, Abigail; Ireland. I enjoy shooting people but find it difficult. Occasionally they drop their guard and just look at you, and not the camera.

My nephew, Tadhg; Ireland. I really like the composition of this shot. Tadhg is very energetic and awlays playing up for the camera. I think I got him here though.

Hadrian’s Wall, Scotland. I am really not great at shooting landscapes but like the feel of this one. An amazing place to visit.

Trees on the path of Hadrian’s Wall, Scotland. Trees are very expressive and display a strong sense of place.

My nephew Sam; Hove, England. Sam is always full of energy and simply a crazy kid, but very artistic and creative.

Clouds, Sable Island. The formation of these clouds was something I had never seen before. I have been to Sable Is. each year since 1996, and every time I go Sable always shows me something new.

Arctic Tern, Sable Island. These birds are very elegant, in appearance and behaviour. I find it a challenge to express it.

Sable Island horse, Sable Island. The Sable Island horse is the main reason why people are fascinated by this island. Although there is so much more to see, I too find myself drawn to them, especially their wildness.

At Jim McMillan’s wedding, Annapolis Valley, NS. A moment during a busy colourful day.

The digital seal, Sable Island. This is why I go to Sable Island, to study this critter, the grey seal. This male has been deployed with a GPS satellite tag to record his movement and diving behaviour, an accelerometer which, 50 times a second, will record its head movement so we can study its behaviour while at sea, and an acoustic transceiver that will record the presence of any acoustically tagged fish. Using these tags, we hope to better understand how seals behave at sea and what they are feeding on.

New Public Artwork

2 April, 2015 by damian lidgard

Today I spent a few hours (admittedly frustrating hours) securing two large pieces (60″ x 40″) of artwork in the recently renovated public washrooms on Bishops Landing in Halifax. The wall was a mix of concrete, wood and plaster so drilling holes in the damn thing was interesting. My good friend Dorothee Rosen helped to install these two pieces and am so grateful to her. Huge thanks too to Sean Burke at Frames Express; poor fellow had a nasty cold but still provided help with the installation.

If you are in the area, pop in for a peek and a leak!