Fish on ice

Why hello!
London, ON
September 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ve got this thing about eating things I recognize. So, no, this fish won’t be finding its way home anytime soon.

But refusal to eat something doesn’t mean it doesn’t fascinate me photographically. So when the fishmonger at the back of the grocery store goes on a break - chatting with the lady in the cake department, from what I can tell - I make my move.

It doesn’t take long to compose the shot and get back to the very serious business of shopping. Those eggs won’t pick themselves, after all.

There’s no pressing need in our world for yet another photo of a fish on ice under glass (for what it’s worth, this isn’t my first fishy rodeo.) But most of my photographic output can easily be classified as unnecessary, and I have no intention of removing my finger from the shutter or otherwise missing out on trivially unnecessary scenes like this one.

Because some part of my brain believes that somehow, somewhere, there’s someone who will come across this photo - or others like it - and smile. Or think. Or pause. Or all three. Or whatever.

Photography, to me, then, is the relentless pursuit of the unnecessary, an endless effort to make friends and strangers alike stop for a bit and reflect on life. Because there’s enough seriousness out there already, and maybe some unnecessary, frivolous fun under the glass fish section glass - or anywhere else - may be just what we all need.

Maybe it’s a little more necessary than I might have thought.

Either way, this fish needs a name. Suggestions welcome.

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