Demented birds

Fly away
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every time I hold a camera in my hand, I learn something new.

As an example, I offer up this highly imperfect shot of random ducks ripping holes in the sky.

I didn’t set out to shoot them. Instead, I had been focusing on another flock quietly playing on a floating log when this other group of birds decided to ruin the serenity of the moment.

The camera wasn’t remotely configured for a spontaneous high-speed pic, so I shifted my gaze and did the best I could in the 1.2 seconds I had before they disappeared for good.

As you can see, it was mission only partially accomplished. The shutter speed is too slow. The composition is somewhat off. The entire exercise feels less than stellar.

Yet I love the image.

Not because it’s perfect. Far from it. But because it telegraphs a moment I don’t want to forget, where I went from zero to oh-my-GOD in a blink. Where it was just me and some demented birds playing with light in the late afternoon sky.

So what did I learn?

That perfection matters less than we think.

That successful storytelling is often less an exercise in technical precision than it is about seeking simple joy.

That the experience of capturing an image extends well beyond the resulting two-dimensional collection of pixels.

That looks matter, but feelings matter more.

Those demented birds sure know their stuff. I should hang out with them more often.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #bird #ducks #unlimited #flight #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

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Three birds in the distance, October 2024

Never leave your wingman, July 2024

One last flight over the beach, October 2023

Party of birds, September 2023

When birds dance in the sky, October 2020

Taking off into the unknown, February 2019

When storms move in

Threaten me. Save me.
London, ON
April 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The skies threatened last night as the leading edge of a continent-spanning storm moved into our region.

Not too far to our south, millions of Americans hunkered down for a night of tornado warnings and fear.

By the time darkness fell, the threat north of the border had degraded to little more than sleep-interrupting thunderstorms, but it was still sobering to realize how thin the line has now become.

So while the dog sniffed for treasure in the soaked grasses below, I watched a single bare tree blow in the strengthening winds. And I was struck by the duality of the scene, of a sky that both threatens the very existence of the tree, yet provides all the ingredients for it to grow in the first place.

And still, despite it all, the tree stretches to the sky.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #jayceepark #tree #weather #wx #onstorm #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Running in the sky, March 2025

Monochrome is a colour, too, November 2024

After the last leaves have fallen, November 2022

Finding beauty in an ugly world, May 2022

Where the trees paint the grey sky, February 2022

Stripped tree. Blue sky. November 2021

Under an angry sky, August 2021

No joke. Dog.

So, about that treat you were talking about?
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ll be blunt: I despise April 1st with the heat of a thousand suns, and I awake this morning relieved that it’s over for another year.

I don’t know the origins of April Fools’ Day. And while I could easily edumacate myself on it with 90 seconds of online research, my white-hot derision compels me not to.

Perhaps this makes me look and sound like the old man screaming at the kids near his lawn, but there’s nothing funny about a joke that we know is coming. If we’re looking for pure comedy, the hackneyed, forced, derivative examples on display every April 1st will never qualify.

The journalist in me feels it degrades the craft. With legions of social-media-fed morons already casting doubt on the credibility of the entire industry, why on Earth would a legitimate business platform risk its brand integrity by sharing an obvious lie?

There’s enough misinformation floating around as it is that we hardly need a day dedicated to it in the name of so-called humour.

And the bullying-masked-as-a-joke vibe that dominates the day feels like everything our parents never wanted us to become as adults.

So please consider this photo of our dog, Calli, as something of a day-after palette cleanser. She isn’t trying to be anything she isn’t, nor is she attempting to force her humour on the rest of us.

She just…is. And the things that make her funny are the things that come naturally to her.

Thank you for attending my rage-induced TED Talk.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

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#TikkunOlam Photography begins, February 2025

Dogs get out the vote, too, November 2024

Random dog photo time, October 2024

Helper dog, August 2024

All dogs deserve a Place, February 2024

That Schnauzer stare, December 2023

Waiting for kickoff

Game on
London, ON
November 2011
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Before the game is played.

Before the players take the field.

Before the lights flood the stadium.

Before the fans show up.

Before the cheers echo off of the concrete.

The stands sit empty.

Waiting for new stories to be told.

For winners and losers to be decided.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #td #stadium #uwo #football #sports #sportsing #geometry #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

After the last fan has left the stadium, February 2024

No fans here, January 2021

Watching baseball with his son, July 2020

The wisdom of the crowd, March 2019

Expensive blue seats, October 2017

Life in the abstract, August 2017

The Olympics suck, August 2008