Though I have been fortunate enough to travel to wonderful cities across the globe in countries of wonder and intrigue-I am lucky to live in a  country where I feel at home; safe and comfortable among the politest people in the world.

Canada is a vast nation and diverse in it’s geography. In the west there is the coast, mountain ranges, beautiful lakes and our home on the golden prairie.

My oldest daughter left home at 17 to go to school, and after years of training, has pursued a career on the stages of New York city. As often as possible, she returns home to seek the calming influence of the laid-back rural lifestyle.

Within a 5 minute drive from our home, are stretches of prairie ripe with wheat and canola. I had wanted to shoot some farmer’s fields, and using a visit from my daughter as an excuse, we set off to find the perfect spot.
It didn’t take us long to find a great location; the sky being a perfect blue and though the sun was somewhat harsh, I had to do some improvising so that I did not capture her shadow as she jumped into the field.

As I lined up this shot, I realized that this photo is a bit metaphorical. Here is her home-a beautiful but simple place.
A place that shaped her, grounded her in good-old fashioned values and honest living. A place that she returns to in order to re-connect and revitalize.

And yet, she is destined to forge her own path. A path away from home and the big prairie sky toward her own destiny in a place quite unlike this one with its bustling city noises and the rapid pace of a million feet running for trains and the humming of a thousand neon lights under a crowded gray sky with its spires reaching for a distant sun.

She looks back at where she began her journey.Though her chosen path looks far different from where she started, she knows it will always lead her back under the prairie sky that she still calls home.