Standing under a setting sun

Painted sky
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Dear sky,

Thanks for the show. Let’s meet up again soon, shall we?

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

Spirit Airlines goes dark

The flying banana
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Goodbye, Spirit.

Airports across the U.S. and Central and South America this morning are witnessing a sad milestone: the shutdown of a major airline.

Spirit Airlines, the ultra low cost carrier known for its bright yellow planes, is winding down operations after months of speculation that it wouldn’t survive its latest brush with financial ruin. 17,000 employees are losing their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of customers are either stranded far from home, or can’t leave home in the first place.

As a ULCC, Spirit’s business model revolved around super-cheap fares, then charging additional fees for just about everything else. It earned the airline a somewhat tarnished reputation among travellers, who often complained, bitterly, about unfair charges and terrible customer service.

The company filed for bankruptcy twice over the last two years and was in the process of slashing its fleet and route network before the war in Iran dealt it the final death blow. Between spiking fuel costs and a failed bid for a government bailout, it simply ran out of runway.

In Spirit’s wake, other airlines will step into the void, but consumers will carry the cost. Even if they had never flown Spirit before, they benefited from its existence. The mere presence of a giant ULCC in the market put pressure on larger, traditional carriers to hold the line on pricing. With Spirit now gone, expect ticket prices to increase.

It’s a structural change that disproportionately impacts those least able to adapt. Customers who could only afford cheap tickets will no longer be able to fly as the entire pricing scale moves upmarket.

Sure, we lose a fan-unfavourite Yelp review whipping boy that over the years deservedly earned its bad-customer-service scars, but we also lose democratized access to air travel.

Worse, we lose the budget option completely, because if Spirit couldn’t make unbundled air travel fly, then no one can. Don’t expect cheap startups to pop up in the years to come, as it’s a business model that, at least in North American skies, no longer makes mathematical or economic sense.

I’ll miss seeing the bright yellow livery. I’ll miss the era when we all had choice and access even more.

#cancun #mexico #throwback #airport #ywg #spiritairlines #airbus #a321 #aviationphotography #planespotting #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

Costco, reflectively

Warehouse shelf selfie
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

My lovely wife and I have come to a crowded Costco to do the things that average people must do, like restock the pantry and forage for dinner.

By the commonly accepted definitions of modern life, it shouldn’t be remotely memorable, and we won’t be marking this date on any calendar or celebrating it with candles and parties. Yet I’m with her, so the experience still matters in its own way.

I hang back as we walk down a desolately grey aisle and encounter a single chrome-finished container perched on an otherwise empty shelf. It speaks to me, so I pause for a closer look while my ever understanding wife continues on our original mission.

I pull out the smartphone and play with the angles as strangers pushing carts with squeaky wheels amble past with bemused looks on their faces.

It occurs to me as I shove the phone back into my pocket and rejoin my lovely wife that even stores of dusty concrete can serve up memorable moments on an otherwise forgettable weeknight masquerading as date night.

And nobody is just average.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #costco #random #retail #reflective #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Railyard from above

Pick a direction
Toronto, ON
July 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some days the path is obvious.

Others it is not.

Yet still, we go.

#toronto #ontario #canada #unionstation #viarail #train #perspective #downtown #monochrome #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

Pick your peppers

All the bright colours
London, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As children, we were always told to eat our vegetables.

What we weren’t told was to appreciate them, as well.

To marvel in the sheer biological magic of their existence.

To give some thought to how they got to us.

To thank total strangers who tended their fields for months to will them out of the fertile ground.

To look beyond the obvious and realize that everything, even a simple red pepper, had a back story.

And to express a little gratitude for the things we could not see.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #metro #red #peppers #vegetables #stilllife #photography #fruitography #thankafarmer #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Before the forest comes to life

Hug a tree today
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: our dog is leading the way as we head home from a walk. A warm breeze blows under a gently cloud-flecked blue sky, an ideal spring evening to be out and about.

We come across a path leading into a small woodlot carved out of the otherwise concrete-encased suburb. Calli the Wonderschnauzer quietly pulls to the right, as if she wants a moment among the trees before we get home. Since I’m not one to disagree, we soon find ourselves padding along the soft path, guarded by giant, bare branches overhead.

Some of the canopy has begun to sprout springtime buds, but most of it is still bare. I lean against a particularly craggy trunk and watch her sniff its roots, the rough texture of the bark making its presence felt through the back of my shirt.

A squirrel leaps from one branch to another, fearless in the face of gravity. Calli is so entranced by whatever is going on on the forest floor that she misses the show overhead. She gets a treat for her uncharacteristic good behaviour, and I gently coax her back toward the real world.

I take a few quick photos on the way out, reminders of an unremarkable moment in the shared life of a dog when nothing matters beyond saying hello to the trees and putting everything else on pause. I should follow her lead more often.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #walnutwoods #cathedral #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Stop and smell the flowers

Life in bloom
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On a brilliantly sunny Sunday morning, I’m spinning my way through a crowded park with my cycling group when I catch a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye.

It’s just a patch of tulips, but as we continue down the path, I make a mental note to come back here when I’ve got the time.

As luck would have it, the group decides to take a rest just a few hundred metres later. It’s ostensibly for water and snacks and maybe a quick group photo, but we get to chatting about how lovely the park is, and how pretty the flowers are.

I mention I’d like to bring my camera back, then realize I already have a smartphone with me. My ever-understanding fellow cyclists nod with understanding as I pedal off for a super-quick photo shoot.

As I get back to the field of orange and start composing, two joggers stop in as well and thank me for taking the time to stop. They would have kept running past, but saw me in photo mode and didn’t want to miss out.

In the end we all manage to get our photos, but more importantly we have a moment among the Sunday morning crowds. What often seems to be an exercise in capturing pixels turns out to be something infinitely more precious.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #flowers #naturephotography #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Stormy Toronto skyline

So far away
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The storms may be threatening from above, the dark skies casting ominous shadows for as far as the eye can see.

But the city still reaches for the sky, its roots buried just as strongly in the ground that rises out of the turbulent lake, its people ready for whatever the skies decide to throw at them.

Part of it feels like a distant photo of a familiar skyline. Another part feels like a metaphor for the times we live in, a gentle reminder that no storm lasts forever.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #cntower #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #skyline #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

All (cycling) points west

Time to crank
London, ON
July 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Where do you want to go today?

The answer could be as simple as pointing the handlebars in any random direction, then pushing off.

Physics takes care of the rest. And maybe some assorted snacks.

But the ride has to start somewhere.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #cycling #bicycle #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Bark, bark

Wearing the years...
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When we find ourselves barking up the right tree.

#ldnont #canada #medway #stilllife #texture

Sit, Calli, sit

Good dog
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m just going to sit here and stare into your soul until you give me those treats I know you have in your right-front pocket.

#ldnont #canada #schnauzer #callithewonderschnauzer #actofdog

Chasing birds through the sky with glass

Hey, I see you!
Sunny Isles Beach, FL
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The day’s mission was a simple one: chase birds through the sky with glass.

Not because the world especially needed another bird pic.

But because I needed a singular moment where nothing else mattered beyond this.

Where the distractions of the everyday got shut off as these wondrous creatures danced in the winds far above my head.

And stared right back at me before flying off into the unknown.

#sunnyislesbeach #florida #throwback #bird #seagull #flight #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Hingeworthy

Listen for the squeak
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everything always seems to hinge on one thing.

What that one thing is, however, is entirely up to us.

#ldnont #monochrome #abstract #architecture #growingchefs

Fenced in

Field of play
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We all grew up on some kind of playground.

Behind fences that either kept us in or kept others out.

Where we either made friends for life or learned harder lessons.

That not everyone looked out for us.

That the rules only applied to some.

That play was an analog for the life that awaited us.

So as I stare through the chain link fence at the dusty asphalt, I imagine not all of us have the same memories of what it was like to grow up in places like this.

And not all of us choose to return.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #chainlink #fence #maitland #downtown #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone