As the beautiful game ends

Field of dreams
Toronto, ON
September 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s still a beautiful game.

It’s still a beautiful team.

Filled with players, coaches, staff who aren’t just great at the sport, but great at life.

And maybe the ending wasn’t what the country had hoped for, but the journey was magical all the same.

And I’d like to believe that the story behind a sports statistic matters at least as much as, if not more than, the statistic itself.

I’d like to believe this applies in the game of life, too.

So this morning I’m grateful for what was, and for what lies ahead. An entire country got to share common, indelible moments of joy and heartbreak for months on end, and we were all lucky to have been a part of it.

Go Jays. Always. And thank you not only for what you pulled off, but for how you conducted yourselves along the way.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #throwback #bluejays #mlb #rogerscentre #stadium #skydome #baseball #worldseries #sports #sportsing #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

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When colour comes to the sidewalk

Painted destination
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Colour seems to find us in the most unexpected of moments, like when we’re walking through the neighbourhood.

All we need to do is look up.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #autumn #forest #trees #gameoftones #leaf #texture #sidewalk #streetphotography #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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One defiant leaf

Still standing
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There’s a spot in the woods where the ground always seems to be muddy and mushy. So the community volunteer group that maintains the paths here decided to build a wooden platform to make it a little more accessible.

As I approach it on this autumn afternoon, I notice a single leaf stuck in between the boards. Despite the steady breeze whispering through the treeline, the leaf refuses to budge.

It isn’t much of a leaf. No spectacular colours or textures to speak of. But it stops me all the same. So before long I find myself sitting down on the dirty planks to get a closer look before this leaf, one among the countless, disappears forever.

I take a bunch of low-angled pictures, hoping against hope that they’ll be sharp enough. My once-black jeans now wear enough dirt to make them more grey-ish, but I figure it’s worth it if I can bring something worthwhile home. It’s a quiet argument I’ve had with myself so many times before.

Soon enough I’m back on my way, wondering about the single leaf that the universe left in my path. Sometimes we just have to stop what we’re doing and take a closer look.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #autumn #forest #trees #gameoftones #leaf #texture #stilllife #bokeh #dof #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Catching the light one last time
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The sun was setting. The colours were worth remembering.

Simple as that.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #autumn #colours #tree #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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The Butterfly Effect in action

Just above the hard deck
Port Stanley, ON
August 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m not a meteorologist or a mathematician, so I won’t weigh in on whether the Butterfly Effect is actually a thing.

But when a single monarch braved the winds over the burning hot sands of a local beach last summer, I thought it would be fun to follow it around for a bit.

There was no real point to any of this: it simply brought me joy.

I hope it has the same effect on you.

#portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #monarch #butterfly #sand #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Late night on an empty corner

Cross with care
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s 11:20 p.m. on a lonely stretch of Wharncliffe Road. Not even the Tim Hortons coffee shop is open, its darkened windows overlooking an even darker parking lot.

A crisp autumn breeze scatters dried leaves across the sidewalk underfoot, as the occasional passing car speeds past, its tires thumping over the cracked pavement before fading once more into the night.

The crosswalk has no takers, the traffic lights reflecting off the worn paint as they mindlessly flip from green to yellow to red.

The tedious dance plays out to no one in particular, a story with no audience, repeating itself endlessly.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #streetphotography #intersection #nightphotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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Almost roofless

Let's pause...
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It won’t be long before the forest loses its roof, before the leaves that shade and protect this place fall back to earth.

It happens every year, of course, but it still feels like an ending of one chapter, and a harbinger of the next one that in all likelihood will leave us colder and more exposed.

Does that necessarily make this a depressing thing? As is often the case in nature and in life, the answer depends on who we are and where we stand.

What is certain is the leaves will eventually return next spring. Less certain is who will be on the ground by then to witness it. Or, assuming they’ve been blessed with another season, whether they’ll have the wherewithal to look up at all.

I toss that one around my head as I make my way out of the woods. I was lucky to have had this moment, in this place. For now, that will have to do.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #trees #cathedral #autumn #colours #canopy #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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31 years and then some...

Everything...
Dryden, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You are the one who made us parents, who charmed everyone you met, who taught your siblings that older brothers are always there for them, who has grown into a remarkable husband and father - and the kind of human every parent wishes their kid would become.

As you finish your 31st trip around the sun, we find ourselves wishing we could slow this time thing down a bit, if only to remind ourselves how blessed we are to have you.

Happiest of birthdays, Zach. Keep making every day count. Keep making us all so incredibly proud of who you have become.

#LiveLaughLevy #family #everything

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Play with me, please

Ball?
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Never miss an opportunity to play with the dog.

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

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Not every leaf is brilliant

Almost forgotten
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Autumn can be many things. The conventional definition revolves around brilliantly coloured canopies and saturated tones that jump off the screen and into our souls.

Or it can be this less conventional view, an inglorious ending devoid of colour, trampled by the feet of the masses looking everywhere and anywhere else for those eye-searing tones.

On this particular evening, there are no masses walking on the path through the rain-soaked forest. Just me, looking for visual inspiration in the final few moments before the sun sets.

Maybe this isn’t the inspiration most people have in mind when they set out looking for autumn. But who wants to be most people, anyway?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sidewalk #streetphotography #leaf #texture #water #droplet #stilllife #autumn #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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Staring stage left

Together...
Port Stanley, ON
August 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

A flock of seagulls isn’t just some 1980s new wave band whose music seems to cross generational divides. It’s also a lesson from the animal kingdom to the human one.

See, these particular gulls, seen on a warm summer’s afternoon on an otherwise abandoned edge of a lakeside beach, are all focusing their attention in the same direction.

No one’s buried in a smartphone, arguing over a parking space, or flexing over who has the nicest ink. Instead, they’re collectively turned into the wind, working together to figure out where their next big worry is coming from, ready for whatever may or may not happen next.

They aren’t distracted. They’re dialed in. Together.

I hear the sounds of the human masses in the distance and wonder why no one else is looking this way. They might learn something.

#portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #great #lake #erie #birds #seagulls #flight #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Sun-bathed brick

I

In the golden hour...
Côte-Saint-Luc, QC
August 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As the sun sinks toward the horizon in a Montreal suburb, I find myself walking the streets in search of something, anything before darkness wins its daily battle.

There isn’t much to see, just a whole lot of uninspired late-20th-century brick and a shopping mall parking lot filled with abandoned grocery carts.

Yet just before the golden light is snuffed out for good, it paints the skies with an indescribably warm glow. The uninspired mortar above me comes alive as photons ending their 147 million kilometre journey bathe the tired surface in iridescent energy.

If magic has a visual, this may very well be it.

The show doesn’t last long, just barely enough for me to compose a few geometric frames before night officially arrives.

But it’s enough to remind me that old and tired can still be inspiring, and we only learn these lessons when we choose to look for them.

#montreal #cotestluc #quebec #canada #yul #throwback #apartment #building #architecture #sunset #goldenhour #geometry #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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The good guys win

Convertible top
Toronto, ON
September 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Canada wakes up happy after the Toronto Blue Jays came from behind last night to win the 7th and deciding game 4-3 over the Seattle Mariners. In taking the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, Toronto earns its ticket to the World Series for the first time in 32 years.

The Jays are indeed Canada’s team, and it’s not much of an exaggeration to say the entire country held its breath before the team pulled off yet another come-from-behind victory. Beyond the stats, this is a story of a remarkable team of remarkable people. Behind the numbers, these are people who inspire. Both on and off the base paths, this is what empathy and selflessness look like - and why these traits matter as much as they do both in baseball and in life.

Still ahead lies a titanic battle against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But whatever happens next changes nothing about the character of a team even non-fans have adopted as their own.

It isn’t often that sports manages to transcend the field of play. This may be one of them, and all of Canada now has even more reason to stand by our Boys of Summer as they make their - and our - field of dreams come true.

Go Jays. Go Canada. Maybe this is now more than just a game.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #throwback #bluejays #mlb #rogerscentre #stadium #skydome #baseball #sports #sportsing #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

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Orange bike on a green bridge

Temporary parking
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Winter will be here soon enough. So for now we throw a leg over the bike and ride it to places that bring us joy.

And we’ll park it on bridges older than our grandparents so we can linger among the green-painted girders for a while and feel the gentle warmth of the light reflecting off of the wooden deck.

And we’ll smile at strangers and have quick chats with them about the wonderful season before they turn the corner and disappear from view.

And we’ll close our eyes and listen to the breeze in the trees. We’ll smell the slightly moldy smell of autumn as wispy leaves float down and skitter past our feet.

And we’ll watch the birds dance in the skies above. We’ll wonder where they’ll go after the leaves are gone and the snows return, and we’ll wish them a safe journey.

And soon enough we’ll throw a leg over the bike again and push off for destinations possibly known, possibly not.

What matters isn’t where we’re going. What matters is that we set off at all, and stop along the way to remember how it feels.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #kingstreetbridge #thames #river #cycling #cyclist #orange #bicycle #cyclinglife #instabike #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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In memoriam...

Reflective
Duvernay, QC
August 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On our most recent trip to Montreal in August, we visited my father’s and in-laws’ graves.

I’ve never believed they’re “there” in any sense of the word, but it still feels right to spend time in this resonant place whenever we’re in town.

They raised us, after all, built homes around us, made sure we made it to adulthood with the tools we needed to succeed in this life thing. And while those memories are woven into our very fabric, there’s a certain sense of connectedness to who they were whenever we come here.

Since this is me we’re talking about, I brought my camera. It’s something my in-laws always enjoyed, from reviewing photos I had just taken from their high-rise terrace to putting up with me when I stuck my lens in their faces, photography had become an integral part of our relationship over the years.

Was it entirely appropriate to shoot artsy pics in a cemetery? Probably not. But my father-in-law in particular would have found it amusing, and would have quietly asked to see the photos after I was done.

It’s a memory I continue to hold onto whenever I pick up the camera and ponder where we’ll go next. Over the decades that I evolved from the big-haired, loud-mouthed teen who kept showing up for Friday night dinners to the son-in-law who built a life with his daughter, my father-in-law not only gently taught me that the stories we craft along the way are worth remembering, but there’s joy in sharing them with others, as well.

I can’t share this one with him anymore, but I’m comforted by the notion that while we had him, he appreciated the simple joy of an image that told the story of us. And as long as I’m able to capture them, here in a cemetery or wherever else we happen to be, I’ll continue to bring the camera to places it probably shouldn’t be brought.

#laval #duvernay #montreal #quebec #canada #throwback #cemetery #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #family #everything

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Looking into the windows of strangers

No one is home
Côte-Saint-Luc, QC
August 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

From the outside in, there’s no way to ever know what goes on behind each of these windows.

Which is as it should be. We all deserve our privacy, after all.

But that’s the funny thing about windows. They still invite us to wonder about the unknown. To respect the trials and triumphs of strangers navigating life quietly amid spaces they call their own.

Indeed, don’t we all deserve spaces to call our own?

#montreal #cotestluc #quebec #canada #yul #throwback #apartment #building #architecture #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Sculpted cat

Hanging out with the dogs
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Berczy Park is a magical little place in downtown Toronto, with a showpiece fountain dominated by 26 cast-iron dogs, all staring at a bone high up in the middle.

It is a delightful spot carved out of the shadows of skyscrapers, and it invites everyone who visits here to linger and wonder. It is the very best in placemaking.

The visionary designer, the late Claude Cormier, who along with his team crafted this space in close consultation with the city and the surrounding community, also threw in two cats and two birds.

And while all the dogs are focused on the bone, this lovely feline is zeroed in on the birds.

I wish I could still have a conversation with its legendary creator to understand the story of why. But I’d like to imagine it’s a silent message to those who visit here to follow our instincts, and not the crowd.

Meow.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #berczypark #throwback #downtown #urban #city #art #artofdog #artofcat #sculpture #streetphotography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

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Riverbank reflections

Standing guard
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There’s a place deep in the woods where the thick tree cover beside the river gives way to a bit of a clearing. I like to occasionally stop here and listen to the soft hush of the lazily flowing water, and stare at the reflected canopy growing out of the opposite bank.

I’m not seeing anything particularly new or spectacular here, but that’s not the point. I think of this spot as something of an anchor, a familiar place that’s always there, where the rest of the world can be put on hold while I watch trees shimmering across the surface of the water below.

We should all have a place like this.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #autumn #forest #trees #thames #river #reflective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

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Anchors in the wind

Strength in numbers
Port Stanley, ON
July 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Sometimes I’ll wander over to the edge of the beach and watch the dune grasses sway in the breeze.

I’m usually alone, because who else would want to stare at grass? I get it, it’s freaking grass.

But even forgettable slivers of organic matter can have a story. And far away from the crowds and the surf, a compelling story is being told.

It’s a story of survival, of deliberately planted grasses digging roots in the sand and standing against the winds that would wipe all of this out.

It’s a story of partnership, of working together to create greater collective strength and resilience.

It’s a story of humility, of getting the job done, quietly and in the margins, while the rest of the world is busy with being busy.

So, sure, this is just a stupid picture of grass. But standing alone listening to the green blades away in the wind, I couldn’t help but think that they were trying to tell me something.

#portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #grasses #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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So Meta announced updates to its Instagram Teen Accounts earlier today. Good on them, but it's still not enough - not even close. My latest article for my newsletter subscribers is now live.

Meta’s Instagram PG-13 restrictions: too little, too late