Balconies of death

Where did everybody go?
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ll often stand on the street below and wonder if anyone ever uses the balconies high overhead.

I want to imagine they do, but they seem more suited to convenient storage of patio furniture and bicycles than anything else.

Maybe if they came with parachutes.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #architecturephotography #buildingporn #downtown #geometry #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Paws for effect

Toe beans!
London, ON
December 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Since it was a busy day for us yesterday, it was a busy day for her, as well. Hence the toe beans.

I don’t think she moved from that spot all evening, and I wasn’t about to interrupt her dog dreams.

They looked like happy ones.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callithethewonderschnauzer #dog #actofdog #schnauzersofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Where's my ruler?

Tiled vision
London, ON
December 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We often come across some fairly abstract scenes as we go through the paces of our otherwise ordinary lives.

Because wonder lurks in the corners we’d typically ignore.

And anything can be extraordinary if we choose to look through the right lens.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #restaurant #geometry #abstract #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

An eagle watches over Eagle Lake

Sentinel
Eagle Lake, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The biggest bird sits on the highest tree beside a remote lake, watching and waiting for whatever might happen next.

Maybe she knows that humans long ago decided to call this place Eagle Lake. Maybe she can read a map. Maybe she appreciates geographic irony.

Probably not, I think to myself, as she continues to scan the landscape from her perch, looking our way every once in a while to ensure we don’t get in her way.

No risk of that, I silently tell her. This is her domain, not ours.

#dryden #ontario #canada #throwback #eaglelake #bird #birdphotography #birdsofinstagram #birdwatching #naturephotography #landscapephotography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

Freshly frozen

Miracles on the porch
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s that season once again, where the warming sun plays tug-of-war with winter’s chill.

And if we look in just the right spots at just the right times, we might be in for a bit of a show. For example, I found this one next to our front porch as I stepped outside to walk the puppy just before midnight.

I appreciate that icicles may be below the radar for most of us. But I can also appreciate that perhaps our radars aren’t pointing in the right direction, because there’s merit in the everyday, in the things that wait quietly for us just outside the front door.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #ice #icicle #winter #weather #wx #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

When trees stretch a little further

Symbiosis in action
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Do you ever just stare at a tree and wonder what it’s thinking as it reaches for the sky?

I know what you’re thinking: I’m insane.

You’re probably thinking there’s no way that trees are sentient enough to reach for the sky in the same way that us humans do. And you’re probably right.

But plant life is life all the same, with a complex and nuanced relationship with the environment around it. Research even suggests trees can communicate with each other. And I’m not so arrogant to believe that we’ve figured out all the minute facets of life that make trees thrive.

They were around long before we were, after all, and they’ll be around long after we’ve finished trashing this place. And each other. They’ll reach for light and life and water and energy in ways us puny humans may yet never fully understand.

So on an autumn evening under a cloud-smudged sky, I watch the bare canopy sway in the breeze, its silhouette serving as a reminder that life takes on many forms, and we might want to slow down and appreciate all those forms every once in a while.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #sunset #tree #cloudspotting #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Rocky road

Worn
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Deep in the woods, a narrow, rocky path winds its way down toward the river.

Every time it rains, the cascading waters scour the countless stones, smoothing them out in a process that’s been going on here since the glaciers first carved these lands millennia ago.

I can feel the loosely set rocks through the soles of my shoes. They move under me with each step, and I slow my pace to keep from falling. Maybe it isn’t the safest path, but it’s the only way in, and it’s the only one that speaks to me as I move through the woods.

They say we should get in touch with nature. On this day, I choose to take that advice quite literally.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #rocks #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Dead or not?

Past and future life
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This tree is either dead or waiting for life to return in the spring. Or maybe it’s somewhere in between.

I’d like to imagine that whoever stops to check in here has their own story to tell.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #autumn #forest #trees #gameoftones #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Ephemeral tracks in the snow

Lead me home
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In the dying hours of a month best described as grey, the dark skies open up and cover the ground with a blanket of white.

While most folks choose to stay inside, out of the storm, too many others have no such choice.

They leave tracks in their wake, temporary signatures of their having been here, pointers to where they’ve been and where they’re hopefully headed.

We come across an intersection with curved tire tracks, a change in direction on a night when it’s safer to just go straight.

The why of this particular turn will only be known by whoever’s hands were on the wheel. We can only wish them a safe journey.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #onstorm #streetphotography #abstract #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone