Thursday, November 28, 2024

Reflecting over a bunch of glasses

Drink up
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The pandemic took so much away from us - but in some ways it also changed us for the better.

Exhibit A: these glasses.

They were sitting in the kitchen of our friends’ home. As we all gathered around the central island and caught up since our last gathering, I stepped back a bit and found myself listening to the warm buzz of the room.

I do that often, and my friends get the why. If I pull a camera out to remember the moment, they smile that understanding smile that only true friends can. I’m a lucky human, indeed.

Since we all began reconnecting after COVID started to slip into the past, I found myself appreciating these moments even more than I might have previously.

Maybe being stuck connecting to each other exclusively via videoconference made us appreciate these in-person get-togethers a little more after the lockdowns ended.

I know it’s changed me, and I no longer take simple moments like these for granted. They matter to us far more than we once thought.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #glass #kitchen #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Cool glass of water, August 2021
Raise your glass(es). November 2017
Goblets and light, March 2007

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Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Leafy chaos

So much going on
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Admittedly, this photo of a leaf-covered forest floor is a chaotically random mess. But that’s entirely the point.

Every year, my photo roll seems to overflow with images like this one. While the canopy overhead gets everyone else’s attention, I’m the weirdo pointing the lens straight down and trying to keep my feet out of the frame.

I’m perpetually intrigued by the riot of colours and textures, the sheer complexity of scenes I’d otherwise miss if I chose to be a little more like everyone else.

But I’m not. I look in the shadowy nooks and crannies that surround us. Or the wonky stuff everyone else would just trample on their way to something else.

Because the forest floor isn’t the only thing that’s chaotically and randomly messy. So is life.

Which, to me, is beautiful and worth a closer look.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #forest #floor #fallen #leaf #leaves #autumn #colour #stilllife #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Canine sphinx

I'll just be over here, looking pretty
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Days with dogs > days without dogs.

Calli the Wonderschnauzer agrees, and hopes she’s prompted some smiles on an otherwise grey day.

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

Related:
Our dog the photo model, September 2024
That Schnauzer stare, December 2023
Boop the snoot, October 2023
Sleepy puppy stare, November 2022
The king at rest, December 2014

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Monday, November 25, 2024

Praying at the altar of red

Leftovers
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every other tree around here has been bare for weeks, empty branches swaying in the cold late-November wind.

Yet this young maple sapling stands defiantly against the season, its few remaining leaves of red calling out from clear across the street, almost begging to be seen one last time.

The winds toss them around, yet they still hold fast, tenaciously refusing to slip easily into memory.

But remember them we will, for defiance plays well in those forgotten spaces beside the woods - and everywhere else, too.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #trees #gameoftones #autumn #colour #red #leaves #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone
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Sunday, November 24, 2024

The floating leaf

One last look before...
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In the middle of a shallow creek deep in the wooded valley, a single tattered leaf fights the gentle yet relentless current.

The water has been flowing here since long before recorded history was a thing, slowly carving out the spectacular landscape.

Year after year, countless trees have sprouted even more countless leaves, only to have them fall, forgotten, before the snow returns.

This single leaf is no exception, yet still it holds on against forces it knows it can’t outlast.

In a way it feels like a broader lesson, perhaps one the person staring into the quiet waters might want to ponder on the long walk back to the so-called real world.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #trees #leaves #rocks #water #shadows #sun #autumn #gameoftones #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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Saturday, November 23, 2024

Peering out of the forest

The things we see from underneath the darkness
Komoka, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: I’m wandering solo through the woods west of London. The steel-grey skies have been threatening rain for most of the afternoon, but thankfully the wet stuff has held off.

Not that I can see the steel-grey, because the canopy here is still thick with leaves on this miserable October afternoon, and the forest floor is coated in deep shades of gloom.

I’ve got my camera in my hand in case I come across anything of interest, but so far I haven’t shot anything. The day might very well be a bust.

Eventually, I come across a small clearing at the top of a cliff, a small stab of light piercing deep into the woods. If I (carefully) stand between the trees just so, I can see for miles. I shoot a few quick frames between the random branches before continuing on my way.

We never know when the light will shine through the darkness. We can’t afford to not be prepared when it does.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #komoka #provincialpark #throwback #autumn #colour #trees #leaves #gameoftones #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography


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Friday, November 22, 2024

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it

Start with one step
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Sooner or later we all run into bridges that need to be crossed.

So we cross them.

What we find on the other side is anyone’s guess.

But we’ll never know unless we take that first step.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #heritage #forest #bridge #trees #autumn #color #colour #gameoftones #perspective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Thursday, November 21, 2024

When is a yam not a yam?

Go on, touch it
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram
 
Saturday afternoon grocery runs in a college town mean aisles clogged with students and parents debating the merits of regular Kraft Dinner vs. the upmarket white cheese version.

It also means an ultra-fast smartphone photo shoot in the vegetable section, where some of those very same students and parents watch with bemused smiles as I zero in in on a particularly texture-rich pile of yams.

At least I think they’re yams. [CORRECTION: I’ve been informed these are beets. I have zero veggie cred.] Doesn’t matter either way, because precision takes a back seat to the fact that my little photo sesh makes complete strangers smile a little.

And in case we haven’t been paying attention, Planet Earth is a bit of a Dumpster fire these days, so we could all use an excuse - any excuse, really - to smile.

I’m using my smartphone to make that happen. What’s your tool of choice?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #loblaws #shopping #retail #random #stilllife #photography #fruitography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
This spud's for you, January 2021
Step gingerly, August 2019
Stalker! July 2018

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Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Talking about Bluesky to Canadians

What’s #Bluesky and why are we hearing so much about it these days?

Could it be the heir apparent to X-nee-Twitter?

I’ll walk through the ins and outs of the planet’s most buzzworthy social media platform with #CBCRadio stations across Canada on Thursday morning.

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Walk the leaf-choked path

Carpeted
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Maybe the path ahead is littered with the remnants of seasons past.

Walk it, anyway.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #heritage #forest #trees #autumn #forest #floor #fallen #leaf #leaves #stilllife #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Getting reflectively autumnal

Bouncing colour and light
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The world looked so different a month ago, didn’t it?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #forest #trees #autumn #color #colour #gameoftones #thames #river #reflection #water #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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Monday, November 18, 2024

Building a better web

It only looks lightweight
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Depeche Mode’s Construction Time Again always seems to play in my head when I come across scenes like this.

Maybe it’s the relentless tenacity of building and rebuilding despite everything nature throws this spider’s way.

Maybe it’s the sheer engineering genius of something that at first blush looks simple, but in reality is freakishly complex.

Maybe it’s the sense of wonder taking place in the shadowy corners where most of us never look - but probably should.

Maybe it doesn’t need to have meaning at all. Maybe it’s just an excuse to be wowed in a world where few of us seem to be looking for those elusive wow moments.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #naturephotography #monochrome #stilllife #photography #spider #web #spiderweb #spidersofinstagram #macrophotography #spiderphotography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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Sunday, November 17, 2024

Glass cube in the sky

Where's my ruler?
Toronto, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Officially, this is the Sheldon & Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre, and it’s part of the Toronto Metropolitan University (nee Ryerson) campus.

Unofficially, it’s an icon on Yonge Street, a sleek glass box on the busiest stretch of Canada’s biggest city that serves as an anchor to generations of students during their journey toward a brighter future.

Compelling architecture can do that, namely rise above its obvious purpose as a safe space protected from the elements. It can make us feel something from a chapter that mattered, trigger a memory, or simply stop what we’re doing and reflect on the what, the how, the who, and the why.

I didn’t study here, but I’ve got similarly resonant buildings from faraway places cluttering the shadowy corners of my mind. And walking up to this sleek glass box on a grey day somehow unlocks memories I thought I’d buried long ago.

We all come from somewhere. We all possess memories of places that have wrapped themselves around our souls. It’s not a bad thing to reconnect with them every once in a while.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #urban #downtown #tmu #city #yonge #geometry #reflective #mirror #glass #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone


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Saturday, November 16, 2024

Always a new sky

Come on out for another show
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

While it is true that the sky is always putting on some kind of show, it’s just as true that the show it’s putting on right now will never be repeated.

Which explains why I keep finding myself standing quietly, camera in hand, waiting for something to happen far above my head.

Perhaps it seems repetitive. And it is. Or maybe even a waste of time. Which I promise you it most certainly is not.

Every time I stand here, I see something new. Or maybe it seems familiar, but I’m seeing it through a different lens. Maybe I’m in a different mood. Maybe I have thoughts that need to be worked out. Maybe I just don’t want to be thinking at all.

There’s a sense of comfort derived from returning to the same place and waiting for something that may or may not happen. There’s a sense of comfort derived from turning it all off and just enjoying the show.

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


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Friday, November 15, 2024

Red leaves on a string

Slash of colour
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We can see red and get upset, or we can see red and be inspired.

Choices. Entirely ours.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #trees #red #leaves #gameoftones #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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