Brambles 1

Sometimes the prettiest of pictures can conceal a darker, more sinister underbelly. Welcome to Charles' Hallowe'en picture.

This was made today, October 30, 2007 at the junction of Elgin Road and the 401. This is a hydro corridor which has been denuded by the hydro authority to accommodate two high voltage, alternating current transmission systems. I once knew the capacity of both, but all I can recall is that they are carrying very high kilovolt, very high capacity loads. One is an upgrade over the other.

What is apparent, is that the regeneration of the forest is not what you would expect after many decades of potential regrowth. True, OPG does cut the right-of-way from time to time, but, being good little imperialists, they won't cut a blade more than is necessary. Why then is there no growback right up to the tree line?

The "brambles" gives us a clue. This thicket, of which you are only viewing a small part, is long dead. It leads me to wonder if EM fields emitted by the cables have guaranteed its demise. If so, then what other risks do we run when we pasture cattle or elect to live underneath such structures?

"Brambles 1"  Digital photograph. Olympus E500. 1/80 @ f.5.0, 2007

I am releasing this image into the public domain. If interested in a full-sized file to print and display, please send me an email from an address that can accommodate an approximately 5 meg file. I will attach it to a reply. I would recomment gmail for this purpose. I have never had any difficulty sending huge files through there. If you don't have an adequate connection, let me know and I will give you a disk. If I do that, I will charge $10.00 for my effort. Cheers.

Charles Francis McNeil is associated with the ACA Gallery, Toronto and is represented in London by Imagine on King Street, downtown.