An icy, successful failure

Blur!
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Question: what happens when you don’t check the camera’s settings before stepping out onto the front porch to shoot the icicles?

Answer: an unplanned 8-second handheld exposure in all its blurry glory. In other words, an abject failure of a shot.

But is it really?

I was fully prepared to delete this one, just another of the countless photos that understandably never see the light of day. For all the precision of modern cameras, where even in manual mode it’s hard to mess up an exposure, leave it to me to find new ways to screw up a pic.

But the longer I hovered over the image after I imported it into Lightroom, the more I decided I liked it.

It screamed abstract to me, a chaotic mess of light and texture that could only exist in that singular, imperfect few seconds. Or a reminder that not all plans are meant to work out, and it’s perfectly fine to end up far away from your original destination.

So let’s call it a happy accident, then. Or an unplanned failure. Or maybe something I should deliberately shoot for the next time I pick up a camera.

Maybe there’s something to this failure thing after all. Maybe the very word, failure, needs a new definition.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #ice #icicle #drip #abstract #blur #winter #weather #wx #night #naturephotography #landscapephotography #doorstep #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Transit in monochrome, November 2024

Speed. I am speed. June 2024

Accidental exposure, June 2024

More fast water, November 2021

Revisiting the mysterious flock, November 2020

Life is a blur, August 2020

Life is an endless blur, June 2016

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Deep into twilight
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s been 32 minutes since the sun disappeared beneath the cloud-covered horizon, so I’ve hung around the frozen park just in case the grey skies decide to allow the light to break through one last time.

It’s called hopeless optimism, and apparently I suffer from a severe case of it.

I hold the camera in my hand, my fingers aching from the cold, and while my mind says it’s time to pack it in and head home, my feet decide otherwise, and stay planted in the hard-packed snow.

Suddenly the clouds shift just enough to expose a gentle orange glow in a tiny speck of sky just down by the treeline. It isn’t much, but I raise the camera and snap off a few frames before it winks out for good.

The barely-there light show is over in around 30 seconds, but it turns out to be the only 30 seconds I need.

On the slow walk home, I think about the notion of patience and time. Because if time is the only true gift we’ve all been given, it might make sense to consider spending it with more care. With or without a camera in our hands.

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

Related:

It's never too late, May 2024

That night the sky turned purple, May 2024

Everything ends eventually, February 2024

Flying through the brilliant twilight, March 2023

Thirsty trees crying tears of joy, August 2022

Swimmer in the sky, August 2022

One last show of brilliance, July 2022

Do not go gentle... November 2021

Trampled

After the fall, before the melt
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Snow isn’t always pristine.

Not long after it falls, it’ll get walked on, thrown, even trampled, its once-perfect surface transformed into something imperfect.

Yet as my boots sink into the chaotic white and not-quite-white mess, I find myself fascinated by the stories being told in the seeming imperfection. Of kids being kids, dogs being dogs, of life being lived in the now before it all melts.

I decide the after is even more worthy of our attention than the before. And stories should be crafted and told before they disappear forever.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #snow #frozen #winter #weather #wx #onstorm #abstract #street #stilllife #streetphotography #texture #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Light from a buried car, January 2025

Gloomy, desolate beauty, March 2024

Brake for snow, January 2023

Honda snow sculpture, December 2022

One last walk in the snow, April 2022

After the fall, February 2022

Snow kidding, February 2022

Actual photos on an actual studio wall

On display...
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ve been sharing my photos for so long on a screen that I almost forgot how viscerally rewarding it can be to see them on a wall.

Well, I’ve got some good news on that front: the gracious folks at ArtVenture Art Studio here in London have granted me the privilege of displaying my work in their studio.

19 of my favourite scenes - still-life, street, abstract, and more - will be on display there for a bit, and if you’re in the area I’d be tickled if you dropped by and had a look.

Please say hi to Erica and Hugo while you’re there, and thank them for creating a community hub of artistic excellence that feels like an oasis of creativity in an often turbulent world. I’m humbled to be a part of it.

https://www.artventure.ca/

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Sharpen your pencils, please, July 2022

The way it used to be... June 2020

Artist in Residence, December 2014

Incomplete... April 2010

A necessary jolt of color, April 2008

Caption This 59, February 2008

Caption This 50, December 2007

A little birdie told me, November 2007

American Airlines jet collides mid-air with Black Hawk

BREAKING: American Airlines Flight 5342 on final approach to Reagan National Airport collides mid-air with a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter. Airline confirms 60 passengers and 4 crew were on-board the aircraft, a CRJ-700. This is bad.

Talking DeepSeek on CBC Radio

#DeepSeek seems to have come out of nowhere, and is rocking the #AI world to its core. What is it? What does it mean for the very future of #tech? Is the app a bigger security risk than #TikTok?

I’ll join CBC Radio stations across the country Thursday morning - starting with @CBCOntMorning at 5:30 a.m. ET - to walk through one of the most consequential tech milestones of our time.

Related:

Talking TikTok on the CBC, January 2025

Talking about the Australian social media ban with the CBC, November 2024

Talking about BlueSky to Canadians, November 2024

Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton wins the Nobel Prize in Physics, October 2024

Where I talk about Instagram and teens, September 2024

Where I talk about AI smartphones with the CBC, September 2024

Stroke Month, FAST, me, and maybe even you, June 2024

Ties my father-in-law gave me, November 2023

Icy finger

Pointed
London, ON
December 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some of us are just a little different than the norm.

Doesn’t make us any less beautiful or compelling, though.

What is “the norm”, anyway? And who decides?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #ice #icicle #drip #winter #weather #wx #nature #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #doorstep #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Gravity always wins, January 2025

Icy trapeze artist, February 2023 

Driveway icicle works, February 2023

Pretty frozen, February 2022

When icicles melt... February 2022

Winter meets the downspout, February 2022

Ice cubed, January 2022

Together into the unknown

Partners
London, ON
December 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Walk with me forever, together into the unknown.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #fog #weather #wx #gameoftones #naturephotography #landscapephotography #streetphotography #strangers #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Scene from a sidewalk, December 2024

Lens to lens with a stranger, November 2023

Strangers at the beach, August 2023

Not-so-newlyweds. Still holding hands. February 2023

Little girl on a Shanghai street, August 2020

Not remotely disabled, January 2019

The strangers we meet, May 2016

It, perversely, took a village

No simple sign
Toronto, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

80 years ago today, the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was liberated.

The world stood by and did nothing - until it was too late. Even cheered those fuelling the hatred.

History is now repeating itself, and we’d be naive for thinking the roots aren’t being laid today, using the very same playbook crafted by the Nazis.

Clearly humanity has learned nothing.

Maybe humanity simply never wants to learn at all.

#toronto #ontario #canada #rom #holocaust #jewish #life #stilllife #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Auschwitz-Birkenau, 80 years on, January 2025

What happens when we forget? May 2024

Why we must remember, January 2023

Not quite never again, January 2022

The dangers of forgetting about Auschwitz, January 2022

Never again means never again, May 2019

No, Mr. Trump, one is never too many, January 2017

They hate Jews, too, July 2016

Never forget, April 2012

On never keeping silent, July 2011

Hatred through an 8-year-old's eyes, June 2009

Kristallnacht + 70, November 2008

Tilt shift at the home show

Life under glass
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Not everything is as it seems.

What we think we see at first glance often turns out to be something completely different.

But that only becomes apparent after we spend some time to really dig into the details.

It’s just as applicable within the confines of an architectural model as it is in real life.

So we take the time.

Simple, really.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada @londonhba #lifestylehomeshow #stilllife #tiltshift #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Hot Wheels parking job, April 2024

Big little blue pickup truck, April 2022

Tilt shift neighborhood, January 2020

Quasi-museum in a pharmacy, January 2020

Old Parked Cars - '57 Chevy edition, May 2016

Little planes. Big dreams. June 2012

Little yellow taxi, January 2012

Sealed under glass, April 2011

Screened in

Meshy
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I call this one, “Scene from suburbia”.

More precisely, it describes what we get when we choose to focus on the things that are less obvious.

I’ve got to play with screens and lines more often.

Maybe I just have to play. Maybe we all do.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #window #glass #screen #focus #geometry #abstract #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Shelter from the storm, February 2023

Thankfully staring out the window, December 2020

Ice storm from the inside, February 2019

A quick look out the window, December 2017

Looking out the window while I work, September 2017

Winter arrives. Deal with it. November 2013

Wondering what will be, April 2011

The prettiest sunsets in the world

93 million miles of light
Grand Bend, ON
July 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram

They say this place has some of the loveliest sunsets on Planet Earth.

I still don’t know who these “they” people are, but standing just at the water’s edge, my bare toes sinking slowly into the cooling sand, and my eyes watching the sun’s reflections march across the calming waves, it’s difficult to disagree with them.

#grandbend #beach #ontario #canada #throwback #greatlake #huron #sunset #cloudspotting #weather #wx #sky #water #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

The deep end of the lake, August 2021

One last flash of light, July 2021

The final waves of the day, July 2021

Sailing to the horizon, July 2021

Of anniversaries, beaches, and memories, July 2021

When a bird chases the sunset, July 2020

As the day slips below the horizon, October 2014

Resolving to get out here more often

The winding woods
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I didn’t make any resolutions before the new year, but if I ever decide to start making promises to myself around major calendar milestones, taking walks in the woods will likely be high on the list.

There’s a peace to these places that can’t be captured in words or images - try as I may. And since there’s ample demand for peace these days, places like this seem to offer up a bit of a refuge from all that stresses us in the big bad world.

There are no headlines here. No deadlines, either. No one spewing hatred. Or intolerance. Or any of the countless other things that make life less joyous than it should be.

Indeed, it needn’t be a forest. It can be any place that offers up an escape. The key is to seek it out. And to remember why we need to walk paths less travelled in the first place.

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

Related:

Visiting Harry Potter's forest, January 2025

A spooky morning in the woods, January 2025

Looking for order among the trees, March 2024

When trees fall... March 2024

Listening to the soundtrack of the forest, March 2024

One last look back... December 2023

Trees from Venus, October 2021

Not as scary as it seems, October 2021

When the forest disappears from view, December 2018

Looking to the trees for guidance, March 2018

Medway Valley, muted, January 2018

Foggy trees in a nearby valley, January 2018

Into the blue forest, January 2011

Mailboxes Etc.

Waiting...
London, ON
June 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Whenever I come this way, I’m usually on my bike, pedalling down this arrow-straight country road at some silly speed, head down, ears listening for traffic, eyes flashing to my rear-view mirror, just in case.

So I don’t have much time to focus on the subtle details of life in the countryside. Like the weather-worn picket fences that line the ditch or the mailboxes that stand lonely sentinel by the front gate.

But today I find myself walking on the side of the road, my feet carefully picking through the uneven gravel, my eyes now lingering over those no-longer-ignored mailboxes and the occasional random dust-covered roadkill. The skies are a washed-out grey, and so is everything underneath it.

I have an hour or so to kill before the next appointment on my calendar beckons, so I slowly plod along the roadside and try to see the things I usually miss.

In the end it’s the mailboxes that stick with me, their iconically geometric forms waiting patiently for deliveries that may or may not arrive.

They are as timeless as country life itself, crucial connectors to a world that often seems so far away from this place of quiet farmers’ fields and the distant thrum of tractors. Lifelines, even, reminders that physical things still matter. Even out here.

Soon enough it’s time to leave this perfectly bucolic place behind and return to the life I know. The next time I’m here I’ll be back on two wheels, moving far too quickly to appreciate the nuances of a part of the world that tells its stories in whispers.

Whispers just loud enough to be heard over the late afternoon breeze rustling the dried corn stalks, telling us we might want to slow it down and enjoy the view.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #nissouri #road #roadside #naturephotography #landscapephotography #streetphotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Mailboxes get another look, January 2022

Canada Post delivers...design, June 2021

Standing at a curve in the road, July 2018

The protectors around us, May 2014

The postman always rings twice, September 2012

You've all got mail, October 2011

Tractor beam, September 2011

Let's make some waves

Energy, visualized
Toronto, ON
July 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s time to make some waves.

So let’s do just that, shall we?

#toronto #ontario #canada #throwback #swim #swimming #pool #water #waves #abstract #blue #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

When infinity...isn't, February 2023

Swimming in the abstract, September 2021

Return to the not-so-deep, January 2018

Beneath the non-existent waves, July 2015

Just ducky, January 2011

Deep blue not-quite-ocean, July 2010

Brightly lit steps, March 2008

Look toward the light

Hope
Pointe Claire, QC
August 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Today is a dark day for anyone who values truth, kindness, democracy, or the rule of law.

So please don’t mind if I revert to the comfort zone that is my viewfinder. Because when I’m staring through it, the only thing that matters is the light flowing through the lens - and how it makes me feel in the moment.

We can’t stop the darkness from casting shadows, but there’s no rule against looking up to the sky and feeling the power of forces that transcend even the most seemingly powerful among us.

Because all power is relative. And sunrises and sunsets will play themselves out regardless of who’s in power.

#pointeclaire #montreal #quebec #canada #throwback #sunset #sky #clouds #cloudspotting #weather #wx #weatherphotography #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Raindrops on my window, January 2025

Storms where I grew up, September 2024

Towers that once lit the way, November 2022

Take your tummy to Chenoy's, October 2022

Still-life in a Montreal hotel room, July 2021

Looking out the window one last time, June 2021

That new hotel smell, June 2021

Auschwitz-Birkenau, 80 years on

Murdered
Toronto, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

A child’s sock and shoe, removed and discarded before he or she was gassed at the Auschwitz death camp.

I lingered over this artifact at the Royal Ontario Museum yesterday, just one tiny element of an exhibit chronicling the befores, durings, and afters of humanity’s darkest chapter.

I tried to imagine the unimaginable, the deliberate extinction of a child because he or she, simply, was a Jew. I tried to imagine the broad-based hatred that led an entire society to this singular moment, that normalized it, institutionalized it, celebrated it.

Then I did the math. Not just one child gone. Entire generations, and those who would have followed. Lives. Communities. Histories. Futures. Gone.

Here at home, this morning dawns bitterly cold, likely not far removed from winters in the Polish countryside. The headlines scream their own form of bitterness, signs, perhaps, that the messages left behind by this unknown child - and millions more - have been ignored.

Hatred drives this. Hatred ensures the words, never again, have become mere words. Hatred shatters us all, victims and perpetrators. Hatred, seemingly, will never end.

#toronto #ontario #canada #rom #holocaust #jewish #life #stilllife #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

What happens when we forget? May 2024

Why we must remember, January 2023

Not quite never again, January 2022

The dangers of forgetting about Auschwitz, January 2022

Never again means never again, May 2019

No, Mr. Trump, one is never too many, January 2017

They hate Jews, too, July 2016

Never forget, April 2012

On never keeping silent, July 2011

Hatred through an 8-year-old's eyes, June 2009

Kristallnacht + 70, November 2008

TikTok shuts down - temporarily

BREAKING: TikTok shuts down in the United States hours ahead of a ban.

My $0.02: Ruh roh!

Choosing the loveliest green pepper

Pick me!
London, ON
September 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We still do our own groceries. I suppose we could use a delivery service, but the notion of having a stranger pick out fresh produce for us just doesn’t feel right.

Besides, it’s an adventure. Maybe not a climb-Mount-Everest kind of adventure, but who ever said adventures needed to be 29,028 feet tall?

Sometimes adventures aren’t overtly grand or spectacular. Sometimes adventures play themselves out in the seemingly - but not really - ordinary moments. Sometimes adventures can be found right under our noses. But only if we slow down just long enough to feel the green peppers.

Which is how I end up in a local Sobeys admiring the perfectly picked veggies. Because life doesn’t guarantee us a limitless supply of vegetable aisle photo shoots, so we grab opportunities in the places most others would dismiss outright.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #sobeys #shopping #retail #green #peppers #vegetables #stilllife #photography #fruitography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Green pepper musings, January 2024

Red pepper party, April 2023

Where we stress over cauliflower, January 2023

Three kinds of peppers, September 2022

Seeking solace in green peppers, June 2022

Peppers in all colors, May 2022

Vegetarian color, April 2022

A spectrum of peppers, March 2022

You say tomato, November 2021

Orange pepper still life, May 2021

Red peppers of hope, November 2020

Eat your vegetables, will ya? December 2019

Fruitography in a strange place, March 2019

Yellow peppers. Or are they orange? May 2018

More glimpses of the grocery store, November 2004

Visiting Harry Potter's forest

Wait for the colour to show itself
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On a foggy November morning, I grab my camera and head into the woods.

Autumn’s colours have long since faded to grey, and on this day they’re further muted by the soupy air, so I don’t necessarily know if there’s anything worth seeing out there. But still, I have hope.

I soon find myself standing quietly in the middle of a clearing as the trees and scrub grasses quietly materialize out of the fog. The longer I wait, the more I see, almost as if the forest is taking its sweet time sharing its secrets with me.

I walk around the space, looking for new vantage points to better tell the story of a magical moment in a magical place. I’ve been here so many times before, but it’s never been cloaked in quite this manner.

I’m hesitant to leave, because the conditions can change in an instant, and it’ll never again look or feel like it does right now.

So I linger longer than I probably should, feeling the subtle nudges from a place that, today at least, speaks not so much in sound and light, but in intangible whispers that touch the soul.

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

Related:

A spooky morning in the woods, January 2025

Looking for order among the trees, March 2024

When trees fall... March 2024

Listening to the soundtrack of the forest, March 2024

One last look back... December 2023

Trees from Venus, October 2021

Not as scary as it seems, October 2021

When the forest disappears from view, December 2018

Looking to the trees for guidance, March 2018

Medway Valley, muted, January 2018

Foggy trees in a nearby valley, January 2018

Into the blue forest, January 2011

Talking TikTok on the CBC

As the clock ticks down to TikTok's Sunday sell-or-shut-down deadline, millions of U.S. users (and lots of Canadians, too) scramble to figure out what they'll do if their favourite video app goes dark. I'll sort through the chaos with CBC Radio stations across the country tomorrow (Friday) morning, starting at 5:30 a.m. ET.

Three generations of bricklayers

Meet me in the middle
London, ON
October 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ve never been a mason, so I’m hardly an expert at analyzing brick walls.

But looking at this one, in a quiet park not far from home, I imagine three different bricklayers working on the same building at three entirely different moments in history.

They never meet, but their work builds on the creations of those who have come before, their hands tracing the lines of what they built, adding to it as they go.

The seemingly disjointed, time-worn wall that we see here feels like a legacy of sorts, a product of countless strangers, now lost to time, their craft on eternal display to anyone who pauses in its shadow.

Maybe not all of us leave behind buildings of brick and mortar. Maybe our own traces take different forms - all meaningful to the future in their own unique way.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #brick #graffiti #architecture #buildingporn #springbank #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Let's colour outside the monochrome lines, May 2024

Brick. meet sky, April 2024

When classrooms go silent, November 2022

A loving gaze at Hussey Block, February 2022

Stories in textured brick, October 2021

Old brick wall. Many stories. January 2021

New perspective on an old wall, December 2020

Lost #Toronto alleyways: 1st in a series, June 2016

Gravity always wins

Melting point
London, ON
December 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Magic plays out just beyond the front door to our home.

A tiny reminder from the universe that sometimes good things happen to those who look for them.

At least as long as the outside temperature remains below freezing.

P.S. Tap the photo for a tiny surprise.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #ice #icicle #drip #winter #weather #wx #nature #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #doorstep #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Icy trapeze artist, February 2023 

Driveway icicle works, February 2023

Pretty frozen, February 2022

When icicles melt... February 2022

Winter meets the downspout, February 2022

Ice cubed, January 2022

The ice person cometh, January 2022

The lonely icicle, January 2022

Returning to the icy scene of the crime, February 2021

Beware of dripping water, January 2021

Frozen solid to the ground, December 2019

The icicle works, revisited, February 2019

Icicles writ large, December 2017

Water frozen from above, January 2017

Icicles - and everything else - are temporary, December 2016

Thematic Photographic 86 - Water in any form, January 2010

Thematic Photographic 28 - Bright, December 2008

Here today... April 2007

More icy goodness, February 2007

Icy spine, February 2007

Ice and sun, February 2007

Snowbirds reach retirement age. Sort of.

Magic
London, ON
September 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Canada’s famed Snowbirds fly the Canadair CT-114 Tutor aircraft - and yesterday marked 65 years since the type’s first flight.

That’s right, kids: they’ve officially reached retirement age.

For all the bellyaching around our air force’s demo team flying planes the current pilots’ grandparents might have flown, the very fact that they aren’t front-line fighters is yet another one of those quirky traits that makes them as beloved as they are.

Because when you don’t have huge thrust-to-weight ratios and digital fly-by-wire systems at your disposal, you have to get creative both on the ground and in the air.

Here’s to decades more of making Canadians - the country, never a state - proud. Fly safe, Snowbirds.

#airshowlondon @airshowlondon #ldnont #london #airport #ontario #canada #skydrive #rcaf #snowbirds #canadair #rcaf #ct114 #cl41 #tutor #avgeek #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Airshow photobomber, September 2024

Bombs bursting in air, January 2022

Return of the Snowbirds, September 2021

Crashed dreams, May 2020

When Snowbirds fly, December 2017

Airshow! September 2017

Can you ever have too many planes? September 2022

Blue Angels, white lines, blue sky, September 2021

Her first sunset

Day one
London, ON
December 13, 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Dear Claira,

One month ago today, you found your way into the world.

Because you come from a family of storytellers, I gave a lot of thought to how I would begin to tell the story of you. And as the sun moved across the sky on that milestone day, I thought the days’s sunset would be an appropriate place to start.

See, you may not know this about your Zaida, but I like to take pictures so that I’ll remember what certain moments not only looked like, but felt like. And because I’ve been staring at skies and clouds since I was not much older than you, lots of those photos are of sunrises and sunsets.

So I thought the first sunset of your life would be a good place for us to start.

As I stood here 1,800 or so kilometres away from you, I stared at the deepening blue knowing you’d soon be able to share your own stories of the sky with me.

And we’d always have this one scene to hold onto, the one that started it all.

Happy first-month-birthday, little one. Always know that when you’re looking up at the sky, I am, too.

Love you forever,

Zaida

#family #everything

Related:

Claira joins the family, December 2024

2 years of Lilly, June 2024

A year of Lilly, June 2023

Lilly at 6 months, December 2022

Welcome to the world, Lilly! June 2022

Raindrops on my window

Stormy afternoon
Pointe Claire, QC
August 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Planet Earth’s week starts off stormy, so it seems appropriate to reflect the mood with a view out the window.

Sometimes we can see the way through, and other times we can’t. Often, as is the case with this image, the outcome depends on how we choose to view the scene.

In this case, I deliberately opened up the aperture to minimize the depth of field and throw the background out of focus. I could have gone the other way, but chose not to.

That visibility thing, then. It can be a choice if we allow it.

And if we’re lucky, it applies beyond photography, too.

#pointeclaire #montreal #quebec #canada #throwback #thunderstorm #storm #weatherphotography #sky #clouds #cloudspotting #weather #wx #window #droplet #nature #abstract #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Abstraction at the airport, January 2024

Wet parked car window, September 2021

A single drop, May 2020

Scene from a (wet) parking lot, September 2019

Droplets on a table, March 2011

Splattered window, May 2010

After the rain falls, January 2010

Stare out the window, October 2006

Water, light and shadow, January 2006

A spooky morning in the woods

Protection from the unknown
London, ON
December 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On an early winter’s morning, I peer deeply into the foggy woods and see what I think is spookiness.

At first glance, it isn’t hard to appreciate how a scene like this might make a great horror movie poster background. But that initial sense of foreboding seems to soften the longer I stand there.

There’s a sense of peaceful quiet here that stands as an antidote to the four lanes of traffic that border it. The craggy trees, now devoid of their leafy cover, still manage to embrace the sky above the forest floor, protective of everything underneath.

And if you close your eyes and just listen, the soft soundtrack of the forest soon begins to play its subtle tune. It’s there. We just have to lean in a little.

Indeed, as I cover my lens and head for home, I smile at the notion that I was once scared of the woods, but no longer am. The walk home, among streets overrun with traffic, will be infinitely more dangerous than anything I might have encountered under the trees.

Why, again, am I not hanging out here more often?

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

Related:

Looking for order among the trees, March 2024

When trees fall... March 2024

Listening to the soundtrack of the forest, March 2024

One last look back... December 2023

Trees from Venus, October 2021

Not as scary as it seems, October 2021

When the forest disappears from view, December 2018

Looking to the trees for guidance, March 2018

Medway Valley, muted, January 2018

Foggy trees in a nearby valley, January 2018

Into the blue forest, January 2011

Scene from a frozen electron microscope

Brrr
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Canadian winter coping mechanism:

1. Go for a wander just after sunrise.
2. Look for frozen puddles in the dim shadows.
3. Stare at them.
4. Take particular care to avoid being mowed down by smartphone-addicted motorists.

Maybe you’re not Canadian and maybe the notion of things freezing in winter is foreign to you. No matter, because tiny, short-lived wonders are happening everywhere, usually in the shadowy margins where nobody bothers to look.

So look. We could all use more opportunities to have our eyebrows raised and our spirits lifted.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #water #gutter #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #weather #wx #onstorm #abstract #street #stilllife #streetphotography #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Back to the gutter, December 2024

A simple map on a frozen street, April 2024

The things we find in the gutter, March 2024

The first freeze, December 2023

It's almost gutter-ice season, December 2023

Memories of icy mornings, May 2023

One last round of gutter ice, April 2023

Frozen X-ray, March 2023

Shoot now or forever hold your peace, March 2023

Magical. Miniature. Frozen. March 2023

Icy duality, February 2023

When puddles freeze, January 2023

Leaf frozen in ice, March 2022

The ice in the gutter, March 2022

Light from a buried car

That night-time glow
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: a long-lasting lake effect storm has left a thick blanket of snow along a narrow band of communities downwind from Lake Huron. Ours is one of them.

On the street near our house, my wife’s car sits covered with an obscenely thick amount of the white stuff. My mission is to clean it off and move it into the driveway. Sounds pretty straightforward.

But nothing is ever completely linear when I’m involved. And as I approach the car and ponder how I’ll fetch the snow brush out of the car without becoming a snowman in the process, I hit the button on the key fob to unlock the doors. This turns on the car’s lights, which now shine a friendly yellow and white glow through the thick snow.

I stop myself and just stare at the soft, diffused light. After a few seconds, the lights time out and shut down. I hit the fob again, and slowly walk around the vehicle looking for a fun angle.

I keep at this for a while, turning the lights on, then composing in my mind in the few seconds before the timer turns them off once more. Eventually, my phone buzzes, as Debbie is in the house wondering if there’s something wrong with her car.

So I shoot quickly before cleaning the car and moving it into the driveway, as I should have done first thing. But as my long suffering family knows, I can get hit by what I call a photographic vision virtually anytime. Which means everything gets put on hold while I ponder the possibilities. Eyes are rolled, sighs are heard, and every once in a long while I’ll end up with a photo that freezes the moment and seals the memory.

It’s a ridiculous way to live, but it’s become a bit of a refuge from a planet that isn’t always so clean and pretty. If taking abstract pics in the snow - or wherever else - brings moments of calm, I’m in.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #onstorm #night #stilllife #abstract #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Frozen berries by the road, March 2024

Quiet walks on cold nights, November 2023

Brake for snow, January 2023

Red zoom zoom under the harsh lights, November 2021

Aquatics, life, and that friendly glow, February 2021

All by myself, January 2015

Scenes from a snowy night, December 2006

Winter beats fire any day

A cold, comforting blanket
London, ON
January 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I don’t have it in me to complain about the weather, not while parts of Los Angeles are burning.

Because someone else always has it worse than we do.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #walkabout #weather #wx #onstorm #stilllife #streetphotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Walking through the snow at night, December 2024

Dirty tracks in the snow, December 2024

Snow kidding, February 2022

Textured snow across the street, February 2022

Winter gets its first blanket, January 2022

When winter returns, December 2020

Revisiting the mountains of my childhood, February 2019

The things we see in vapour

Lie back and look up
London, ON
July 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram
 

I’m sharing this as a reminder to myself to step off the treadmill of life every once in a while and stare up at the clouds.

Sometimes we’ll see something in them and sometimes we won’t, but that was never really the point, anyway. No one keeps score.

What matters is that we take the time at all. And maybe this applies to more than clouds. I’ll have to ponder that one a bit more.

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

Related:

Temporary lines in the sky, September 2020

Puffy white clouds against a perfect blue sky, July 2019

A face in the clouds, September 2017

Storm's coming, January 2014

Get your head out of the clouds, October 2012

Thematic Photographic 16 - Nature, September 2008

Look up in the sky, June 2007

A face in the clouds, July 2006