The rivers turns crystal

Wonderland
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Deep in the valley in the deepest winter, the creek flows almost silently under multilayered ice seemingly laid down by a jeweller.

So we crouch down and take in the scene, intricately painted by invisible forces while everyone else is busy being busy.

No one is busy here. And if we lean in just so, we can make out the gentle sounds of the water flowing below, life playing out in shades of black, white, and grey.

It’ll all disappear as the temperature inevitably rises. But it’s here, now. Which is all that matters.

#ldnont #medway #abstract #monochrome #stilllife

Stores in the neighbourhood

Shop local
Toronto, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Toronto is filled with commercial streetscapes just like this one, businesses that have been there seemingly forever, owned by real people with real names, that form the epicentre of the neighbourhoods that surround and nurture them.

They look so plain with their weathered brick and decades-old signage, but there’s nothing plain about them, each block telling unique stories to anyone lucky enough to live nearby.

Today the winds outside are blowing ominously, foreshadowing a storm moving into the region. These icons of the community stand ready as safe havens for all. Maybe a bagel or a quick snack. Or the dream of getting away to somewhere warm. Or a meal from home and a gentle chat over tea.

Whatever’s on offer, it’s difficult to imagine this or any city without anchors like these. That turn out to be the very opposite of plain for those who step inside.

#toronto #ontario #canada #eglinton #architecturephotography #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Where we visit dead fish

School is out
London, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

At the back of a crowded T&T grocery store, the frozen fish section is a beehive of activity, crowds of rushing customers jostling for position in front of the artfully laid-out glass display cases.

I spot this particular section and think it would make for a fun spontaneous moment of photography, but one uncharacteristically patient customer has staked out his spot directly where I’d need to be to snag the optimal shot.

He says nothing, interacts with no one, and seems willing to wait as long as it takes before one of the countless fishmongers notices him among the crowd.

Since his nutritional needs rightfully take priority over my silly photography, I’m obviously not getting the shot anytime soon. I turn to rejoin my family. We came here to get groceries, not shoot stupid pictures of dead fish through glass.

Yet as we make our way through the rest of the bustling store, the fish stubbornly stick in my mind. I’m weird like that, like a dog refusing to let go of a bone.

So before long, I scoot back to the fishies and, to my delight, the place is uncharacteristically deserted. As I approach, I preset the camera, my composition plan playing out in my head so as to attract as little attention as possible once I reach the glass.

I rack off three frames in seconds, then disappear before anyone notices I was even there.

This isn’t the first time I’ve shot fish in a store, and it likely won’t be the last. I’ll furtively shoot scenes like this for as long as I’m able.

Because weird is where we go when we’re navigating crowded stores and worlds and chapters, where blink-or-you-miss-it moments of photographic whimsy become places of temporary refuge from the often serious, sad, scary realness that soaks into the everyday.

So we visit the dead fish and smile in the brief moments before we have to get back to whatever it is that’s screaming for our attention.

The real world will always be waiting for us. Sometimes we need a bit of a fishy break from it all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #frozen #fish #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Donut from our daughter

Sweet memory
London, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Our daughter ordered an extra donut for me, a “just because” surprise because she inherited the “just because” gene from her lovely mom.

So of course it had to be recorded somehow before it was consumed. Because in my world, tiny moments like this need to be frozen in time.

And with the muted light of a snowy late-winter afternoon filtering just so through the dining room window, I knew we had the perfect spot for a spontaneous photo session.

I wasn’t remembering a donut as much as I was remembering the story behind it. That it’s a Boston cream, my absolute favourite. That cherished snacks have always been a go-to in our family. That this one arrived in our home via kindness.

The donut didn’t last too much longer after this photo was taken. The memory will linger indefinitely.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #dessert #donut #foodporn #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Goodbye, mall

Glass overhead
London, ON
January 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We don’t go to the mall like we used to.

The rise of e-commerce has changed the rules of the retail game, and brick-and-mortar sellers who still think it’s enough to open a storefront and wait for legions of passersby to walk in won’t exist for much longer.

Mix in a healthy dose of economic uncertainty and it’s easy to see why even the established players are vanishing from view.

These sleek, once-crowded spaces have been slowly, sadly hollowed out, with many surviving by converting to office space, their public corridors now dominated by mall walkers and the occasional stroller.

Still, sometimes the architecture beckons, a silent reminder of what once was and will likely never be again.

I get why we lost what we had, yet part of me will always miss what it felt like when it was at its peak.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #shopping #westmountmall #retail #glass #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

The forest city kills its forests

Hmm, looks like the City of London, Ontario - Municipal Government is quietly trying to carve out some lands from the Meadowlily Woods Environmentally Sensitive Area.

Under the proposal, the subject lands would be removed from the ESA, and would be subject to an amendment that would change their designation from Green Space Place Type to Neighbourhoods Place Type. In other words, protected lands are about to be opened up for low-density residential development.

Maybe I'm naive, but aren't ESAs supposed to be protected from this kind of thing? Hoping Steve Hillier, the city councillor for the ward where this is all happening, might be able shed some light on why the change, who's behind it, and why ESAs seem to be so vulnerable to this type of activity.

I raise my voice because if we keep snipping off pieces of our ESAs - absolute jewels of our shared urban environment - then it won’t be long before we have no ESAs at all. Either we say something now or we eventually regret not having said anything at all.

CC:
CBC London
CTV London
The London Free Press
980 CFPL News

Giant pile of tomatoes

Ready to make the sauce
London, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There are days when the only answer is a jumbled pile of roma tomatoes.

I believe today is such a day.

There doesn’t need to be a reason.

All we need to do is revel in the weirdly random joy of chaotically arranged vegetables.

This moment of agricultural peace has been brought to us by our local Sobeys grocery store and the kind lady who chose not to report me to the food police for taking this photo.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #stilllife #photography #fruitography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Pandemic + 6

An indelible day
London, ON
March 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Six years ago today, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, and in an instant, COVID went from a once-obscure virus that had been fuelling increasingly alarming headlines to a generation-defining event whose impact continues to be felt today.

I recall being at the office when the news broke, surrounded by confused colleagues rushing around and wondering what might happen next. Before long, a company-wide email went out and we were being sent home - officially for the next two weeks until this would all hopefully be over.

Well, we know what happened next. And as I loaded my bike down with everything I could and pointed for home, I thought about how quickly the world had just changed. I pedalled under cold grey skies along the flooded, angry river, and decided I didn’t want to forget what this day felt like. So I hit pause on a nearby bridge and took in the scene.

I remember how I felt as I took this photo, that for a fleeting moment I was able to withdraw into composition, shutter speeds, and f-stops and ignore the chaos spiralling around us. Photography had always been something of an escape, but on a cold morning on an empty bridge, it became starkly obvious just how much this medium now meant to me.

I spent much of the subsequent months of lockdown taking silly pictures like this one, and ended up with a wildly diverse record of an extraordinary moment in history that defied - and still defies - explanation.

I guess we all revert to the things that bring us comfort. I guess we all need anchors in the inevitable storm. #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #gutter #ice #abstract #stilllife #photography #google #pixel

Frozen in (curved) time

Icily yours
London, ON
December 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If you follow weather to any degree - and I think we all should, if only to know what we should be wearing on any given day - you may get all tingly when the weather warnings are first posted.

Today’s weather fun revolves around a possible ice storm that may or may not move into the region. We know we’re getting some kind of significant weather event, mind you, but it remains to be seen whether the tiny temperature shifts one way or another will result in a major freezup or just a lot of rain. Such mystery from on high, and frankly it’s one of the things that makes weather so enjoyable to track. Even with all the technology in the world, there’s still a bit of uncertainty in the skies.

So I find myself looking back at photos from an ice storm earlier this winter, when the branches were weighed down with thick layers of frozen delight. As much as I appreciate the danger of this kind of meteorological event, I similarly appreciate its stark beauty, and the quiet comfort of observing it from behind a window, preferably with a mug of something in hand.

Alas, we have a dog, so I had to venture out for a bit. I found this encrusted tree not far from home, its curved branches seemingly speaking with each other as they gracefully endured the weight from above. It seemed like something worth remembering before the inevitable next meteorological twist melted the ice and spawned the next round of breathless weather-related speculation.

Because there’s always a new story waiting to be written in the skies, ready to reshape the otherwise ordinary places below. We’d hate to miss the show, wouldn’t we?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #onstorm #icestorm #winter #night #bokeh #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

The not so simple simple tree

Surviving...
London, ON
January 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It may look simple at first glance, but it really isn’t.

Maybe it’s a tiny tree stuck in winter’s grip, or perhaps it’s a person we encounter along the way.

Because we’re all reaching higher.

Trying to survive the storm.

Or just hoping to stay warm until the seasons change.

#ldnont #canada #medway #winter #monochrome

Filthy window in a quiet airport

Focus on this
Mississauga, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: Pearson International Airport, 6:00 a.m. The terminal wears the early-morning quiet like a soft blanket, the few passengers nearby speaking in hushed tones as they make their way to destinations both known and unknown.

On the other side of the glass, ground crew members crowd around aircraft at the gate in a coordinated ballet of non-stop motion, readying them to return to the darkened skies.

Kaleidoscopic lights flicker in the distance, interrupted occasionally by the ghostlike silhouettes of heavy jets being towed back to the hangar.

The thick windows keep most of the noise from seeping inside, save for the deep thrum of the occasional departing wide-body. The massive panes are filthy, the textured layers of dirt from relentless flight ops making it impossible for the autofocus to do its job.

At first it’s frustrating, the camera unable to zero in on the early-morning scene, the messy foreground stealing the focus from the tarmac behind it, turning it into a blurry mess of smudged lights and lost details.

But I keep shooting, anyway, the chaotic mess slowly grabbing my attention, refusing to be rejected as a failure.

Eventually I settle on this particular one as my absolute favourite of the entire morning, filled with tones and shapes that capture the very spirit of this very unique space at this equally unique time of day.

Perhaps there’s a lesson in this imperfect image of an otherwise perfect moment. That an airport can be a sacred space before the sun comes up, where countless unseen heroes move heaven and earth to get strangers safely on their way.

It only looks chaotic.

#toronto #yyz #pearson #airport #ontario #canada #night #abstract #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Shadowy trees on a shadowy planet

Deep in the snowy valley
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Not so long ago, the ground was frozen, covered in white, the bare tree branches whistling as the winter wind blew through them unimpeded.

The setting sun cast long shadows through the empty valley, painting stark lines in the deep snow under the brilliant blue sky.

Weeks of rising temperatures have since redrawn the landscape, so I’m sharing this now because I never want to forget what it felt like to stand above it all and breathe it in.

Stories get told in milliseconds, then vanish. Photos keep them alive in our memories for just a little while longer.

#ldnont #canada #medway #winter #landscape

Where trees wear their scars

Imperfectly perfect
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Trees wear their scars out in the open, sharing stories of past trauma for anyone who bothers to slow down for a closer look.

Humans, not so much. Our scars often remain unseen, holding stories known only to us.

Something to ponder, perhaps, when we encounter others. Assume they have scars. Assume their stories remain untold. Have some empathy.

#ldnont #canada #medway #monochrome #stilllife

Let's get canned

Overlooked spaces
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Nobody enjoys grocery shopping these days. It’s expensive and frustrating, and complete strangers still think it’s acceptable to spontaneously invade my personal space so they can beat me to the pickle display.

My coping mechanism is a familiar one: random acts of photography in weird corners of the store. Because in my world, pretty pictures - or even less-than-pretty ones - bring joy. Since I don’t ever want to be accused of being a self-absorbed pickle-picker, I work quickly and quietly in otherwise empty aisles. Or as empty as they can possibly be.

I scan the place for strange scenes and wait for my brain to decide on what’s worth shooting.

And on this particular afternoon, I find inspiration in the geometrically shadowy spaces behind the canned beet display. I figure it’s a part of the store most of us have never seen - likely because our heads are too big to fit between the shelves - so before long I’m wiggling my smartphone behind the randomly arranged cans in search of a workable angle.

Like so many photographic adventures of mine, this one doesn’t follow a logical roadmap. The universe doesn’t need a photo like this, and I’m reasonably sure you don’t either.

But the universe is a big, sometimes frightening place. So we seek solace in hidden oases where no one else would think to look.

The beets are a bit of a bonus.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #shelf #sobeys #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Where I talk about Iranian cyberattacks on CBC Radio

As our national digital intelligence agency warns Canadians of potential Iranian cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, I’ll be joining CBC Radio stations across the country on Thursday morning.

We’ll discuss why this particular threat is so concerning, and what we need to do in our everyday lives to reduce our risk profile.

#technology #cybersecurity #radio #analystlife

UPDATE:

Here's the link to the one of the interviews I did this morning.

This one's with CBC Winnipeg's Marjorie Dowhos.

Lost in the fog, for now

Enjoy it while it lasts
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When the day dawns foggy, the only option is to head outside and revel in it for a while.

The rest of the world can wait a bit.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #trees #fog #weather #wx #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography