Monday, March 31, 2025

Fun with curved glass

Wonderland for carnivores
Thornhill, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

More often than I dare admit, I’ll take a time-out from the everyday and take weird photos.

Why? Because life can be hard, and weird photos can be quite the antidote.

And here’s the thing: it doesn’t just work for me, because I can see total strangers crack the occasional smile when they think I’m not looking.

Today’s example comes to us from the meat department of the Sobeys store in Thornhill, just north of Toronto. This particular display feels like an amusement park funhouse, a riot of angles and reflections that present themselves only if we look inside the glass in just the right way.

Maybe it’s a simple escape from the more serious pressures of Planet Earth, or maybe it’s a broader metaphor for life. Or maybe it’s just a strange composition that marks a moment that I want to hold onto.

It can even be all or none of them. It’s the not knowing before the image is even created that makes us pick the camera up in the first place.

#thornhill #toronto #ontario #canada #grocery #store #sobeys #shopping #retail #random #glass #perspective #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone


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Sunday, March 30, 2025

Step aboard

Follow the light
London, ON
April 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Trains will never not be magical.

That is all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #viarail #stainless #steel #train #track #perspective #downtown #travel #redlight #reflective #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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Saturday, March 29, 2025

Ethereal rays from the heavens

Angled
London, ON
July 2012
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Storms will come, skies will threaten, fear will descend on us all from above.

I’m guessing this is as true in everyday life as it is in everyday photography, which likely explains why I stand transfixed as the threatening clouds move toward me from the horizon.

It’s a moment born more out of curiosity than fear as the formations dance in the sky, leaving ample room for the sun to fight its way through, stubborn rays reaching down to the earth below.

If the skies were less chaotic, they probably wouldn’t be as memorable.

Skies. Life. They’re more similar than we might have once thought. So I take a few more frames before turning for home under the first fat drops of the coming storm.

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

Related:
Be. The. Light. September 2023
Smoke and light, July 2022
Muted landscape, November 2011
Crack the sky, February 2009

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Friday, March 28, 2025

It only looks frozen

Time, stopped
London, ON
October 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Most kids will happily play in the dancing waters of the neighbourhood splash pad.

Some kids will never really grow up, and will bring their cameras back when they’re older.

It’s how we remember moments that slip by too quickly.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #water #fountain #frozen #gibbonspark #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Play ball again

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

I’ll admit I’m not the world’s most ardent sports fan.

I don’t religiously watch every game, mourn every loss, or debate every unfair call.

I don’t wear the merch, or hold my breath as teams either battle for a playoff spot or fade into mediocrity.

I don’t dissect each game in excruciating detail, or follow statistics with religious zeal.

I find the notion that “we” won somewhat amusing given “we” weren’t on the field or the ice.

I’m such a non-fan that I often jokingly refer to the entire exercise as sportsing. Because it’s a game, not life and death.

Despite my relative antipathy toward professional team sports that are more business than sport, anyway, I appreciate why so many folks get it.

The mere act of walking into an arena or a stadium is as resonant as an adult as it was when we were kids. These places are beautifully and massively scaled temples of civic life, where countless stories will inevitably play out, and indelible memories will be shaped in the crucible of competition.

And as Toronto’s Blue Jays return to the Rogers Centre for their season opener later today, I’m taken back to my most recent visit there as their last, forgettable and regrettable season wound down.

It was magical then, and it’ll be magical again, regardless of any game’s result or where the team ends up in the standings. You don’t have to be a superfan to appreciate what makes the entire exercise as special as it is.

Maybe none of this is life and death, but it’s still worth holding on to in its own way.

Maybe something as seemingly simple as a game can bring light to the lives of those who watch.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who still believes.

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

Related:
No fans here, January 2021
Expensive blue seats, October 2017
Done deal, September 2004
'Spos - almost done, September 2004

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Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Talking about 23andMe with the CBC

 As 23andMe seeks bankruptcy protection, millions of customers wonder what happens next. I’ll be joining CBC Radio stations across Canada this afternoon to discuss the risks - and what can be done to minimize them.

UPDATE:


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Meeting the one-eyed fish

Chicken or fish?
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: Costco, Friday afternoon.

I’ve come here to pick up some fixins for dinner, including one of their legendary BBQ chickens that mercifully haven’t been price adjusted since the second Bush Administration.

I arrive at the chicken counter only to find it empty. Fresh chickens spin hypnotically in the high-tech ovens behind the display, but it’ll clearly be a while before they’re cooked and ready.

In typical Costco fashion, other shoppers are already lining up. Since I have a natural aversion to random lineups - and they’re roasting enough chickens in those ovens to feed a small nation - I decide a spontaneous smartphone photo shoot would be a better use of my time.

The fish freezers are mercifully devoid of people, so soon enough I’m peering at frozen sea bass and attempting to avoid the reflections off the clear plastic. The struggle is real.

I get a few stares along the way, which makes me smile, because photographic joy deserves to be shared, even in concrete suburban warehouses.

Eventually the chickens are ready, and the line-standers snap up their $7.99 bags almost as quickly as staffers can place them under the warming lights. I slowly circle back, looking for more spontaneous moments along the way.

There’s always another chicken to take home. Moments we get to hold onto - however strange they may seem - are an entirely different matter.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #costco #shopping #retail #frozen #fish #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Not-quite-forgotten fish, September 2024
An icy fish tale, January 2023
Fish. Stacked. November 2021
Octopus on ice, May 2021

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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Don't look up

Prehistorically atmospheric
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Predators are everywhere, even in the skies above.

But if we wait them out, soon enough they’ll be replaced by something else.

And, inevitably, by darkness, then a fresh morning sky.

I’d like to imagine all of this is an analog for hope, both in the sky and anywhere else.

And as threatening as things might look in the moment, everything is temporary, and all skies eventually clear themselves out.

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


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Monday, March 24, 2025

The setting sun burns the stagnant water

Before it evaporates...
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s just a filthy puddle in the middle of a muddy baseball field, a common and easily overlooked scene as winter gives way to spring.

But show up at just the right moment and look at it just so - maybe through a squinted eye or two - and it’s a different story.

The sun can make even the ugliest things look magical. But I’m guessing we have to get out there if we’re going to see anything more than a filthy puddle in the middle of a muddy baseball field.

Otherwise it’s as if it never happened in the first place.

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


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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Stared down by a white goose

It's not polite to stare
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

So I’m walking through the park with my camera when I come across a gaggle of geese in a clearing by the river.

Most of them are Canadian geese, and they’re being their typically ornery, oh-so-un-Canadian selves, pecking at each other for no apparent reason, and hissing to reinforce their point - whatever that point may be.

Among the crowd is a single outlier, a brilliantly white domestic goose. She isn’t so much angry as she is stern, using her piercing stare to keep all the other geese in line. Even the tiny ducks mixing into the crowd seem afraid of her, and stand quietly beside the water, obediently waiting for her next move.

At one point she stops what she’s doing and looks directly into my soul. Perhaps it’s a warning, or a promise, and I’ll admit she kinda frightens me. So I rack off a few frames through my thankfully long lens before I decide no photo is worth the perpetual scorn of an obviously angry bird.

As I slowly walk back to the human-shaped world, I scan the photos on my screen and stop at this one. That stare. I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but I decide it doesn’t matter.

I’ll never know her mood or intention. But for a fleeting second on a muddy riverbank, we strangely connected. I looked into her world and she looked back into mine. We didn’t speak the same language, but I still felt like she was trying to say something to me.

As I put the camera back in its bag, I muse to myself that perhaps this moment has echoes for the human world, too. Maybe we should be looking for moments with those we know will never understand a word we say.

Indeed, maybe communication doesn’t simply involve words.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #bird #goose #flight #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Geese aplenty, August 2023
Flight into the wind, September 2018
Your goose is cooked, October 2011
Wounded bird, December 2006

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Saturday, March 22, 2025

Icicles melt in only one direction

No going back
London, ON
February 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some things become obvious after watching a melting icicle for a long enough period of time:
  1. Gravity moves in only one direction.
  2. It is the law.
  3. Eventually it will claim the entire icicle.
There is likely a greater truth to this, or some kind of broader meaning well beyond the physics of a melting icicle. But it’s too early in the day to ponder such things, and the dog is waiting patiently by the front door.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #icicle #droplet #winter #weather #wx #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

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Friday, March 21, 2025

Go on, I dare you

Who, me?
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Strike a pose. Get treats. Repeat.

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

Related:
Sleeping ball of fur, December 2022
Sleepy puppy stare, November 2022
She sleeps, March 2020
A dog's nose knows, March 2020
Dog at rest, for now, December 2018

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Thursday, March 20, 2025

Tracing lines high above

We were here
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

35,000 feet up, a KLM 787-10 paints the evening sky as it makes its way from Chicago to Amsterdam.

It’s barely a half-hour into its planned 7-hour flight, a seemingly routine passage that a diminishing number of people still call magical.

Count me among the magical group. Because nothing about this can ever be routine or mundane.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #blue #sky #weather #wx #contrail #aviation #flight #flying #aviation #avgeek #plane #planes #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Chaotic sky, June 2024
Shadows in the sky, December 2012

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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Running in the sky

Bare under the fading light
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Bare branches sway in the frigid winter wind under the very last light of the day.

What seems lifeless at first glance is, in fact, merely the universe hitting the pause button for a bit.

For soon enough spring’s warmth will fuel riotous growth on these now-bare trees. And the cycle will continue as it always has.

It’s a reality that seems to hold so much more meaning these days as I return to this very spot and watch carefully for any signs of new life.

For those buds will signify more than new leaves. They’ll represent hope that better tomorrows lay ahead for us all if we’re lucky enough to make it that far.

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

Related:

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Tuesday, March 18, 2025

A decidedly shadowy crossing

The light we leave behind
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Late on a brilliantly sunny afternoon in the river valley, our dog leads the way deeper into the woods.

The bare trees cast ever longer shadows across the path, a subtle nudge to turn for home before we lose the light.

But it’s been a while since we’ve been this way, and Calli the Wonderschnauzer is letting her nose decide where we go next.

I draw my coat a little tighter to ward off the chill as I gently tug on her leash and bribe her with a treat or three to turn around. It takes a few tries before she relents, only to stop once again in the middle of the bridge as she admires the geometric shadows that now paint the concrete.

Dogs don’t normally get much credit for having a curious eye, but ours seems to know what she likes. So we plop ourselves down at one end of the deserted span for some spontaneous play time. I imagine it’s the pattern that first grabbed her attention, so I snap this scene before we continue on our way.

I’ll have to follow her lead more often.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #bridge #shadows #geometry #perspective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
A bridge (not) too far, December 2021
Sun-striped bridge, October 2021

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Monday, March 17, 2025

I've got your six

Partners in the sky
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You lead, I’ll follow. Always.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #bird #ducks #unlimited #flight #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Them's fighting birds, November 2017
One duck. No goose. September 2015
Ducks unlimited, September 2013
Duck, duck, GOOSE... September 2008
Duck, duck... August 2006

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Sunday, March 16, 2025

The herd approaches

Curious cows
Arva, ON
May 2016
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When you’re pedalling your way through the countryside, never miss an opportunity to stop in and say hello to the cows.

Inevitably, they’ll say hello to you, as well.

Thanks for the spontaneous happy, sweet moo-moos.

#ldnont #london #arva #ontario #canada #throwback #cycling #cyclinglife #instabike #farm #cows #farmersfeedcities #naturephotography #landscapephotography #medway #blackberry

Related:
Found the cows, November 2004

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Saturday, March 15, 2025

Miniature mountain range

After the plows have gone
London, ON
February 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It wasn’t so long ago in the Great White North (aka Canada, not the 51st state, not now, not ever) that we were covered with snow.

And on this particular evening, brutal, bone-chilling winds had further shaped the alien landscape.

The sun had already set, leaving fast-fading light under deepening cloud cover. So I shifted my focus to the surreal sight of a hip-deep snowbank doing its best mountain range impression, perhaps with a little tilt-shift optics thrown in for good measure.

This wasn’t the plan when I set out that day with my camera. The original mission was to capture the sunset. But photography - and indeed, life - is what happens when you’re busy making plans. And somewhere along the way, G-d is probably having a good laugh.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #snow #frozen #winter #weather #wx #onstorm #abstract #street #stilllife #streetphotography #texture #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Waves in the snow, February 2025
Winter still sucks, February 2020
Zoomed in snowdrift, February 2020

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Friday, March 14, 2025

Not just for picnics

Where steel meets wood
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On an ordinary walk through an ordinary park on an ordinary afternoon, I come across an ordinary picnic table.

It’s an ideal spot for a quick sit-down, and before long I’m enjoying a quiet break in the middle of a deserted clearing surrounded by tall trees.

Inevitably my attention turns to the picnic table itself, because it’s made of powder coated steel and I can’t ever recall seeing one like it.

The lines somehow speak to me, and without giving it much thought I reach for the camera and start composing.

It doesn’t take long for this strange perspective to present itself to me, an angled juxtaposition of hard-edged modern humanity backstopped by a timeless stand of trees. I can’t quite figure out if it means anything, but I’m happy with it all the same.

Indeed, maybe it doesn’t need to be figured out at all.

Maybe it’s enough if we simply allow ourselves to play with the ordinary instead of passing it by as somehow unworthy of our attention. Because I’m guessing nothing is ever really ordinary at all if we choose to look at it through a different lens.

As I leave this idyllic spot behind, it occurs to me that maybe none of this has anything to do with picnic tables at all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #geometry #perspective #abstract #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Boardwalk this way, March 2025
Window shades, June 2006

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Thursday, March 13, 2025

Reflective sunset

Fire and ice
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Dear Sky,

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for putting on a show last night.

The clouds were threatening to scuttle the whole thing, but you persisted and found a way to get your light through to those of us watching from below.

Now that I read those words back, I realize this may be something of a broader lesson. But for now let’s leave it at simple gratitude.

We’ll figure out the other stuff another day. I’ll be the guy standing alone by the maple trees at the edge of the park.

Best,

Carmi

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sunset #cloudspotting #weather #wx #optimistpark #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:


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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Reflecting over a puddle

Life itself
London, ON
February 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As kids, we were told to stay away from puddles.

As adults, though, we get to make the rules.

And in my own rulebook, puddles are entirely fair game. Particularly when the Sun long ago slipped from view and the winds have picked up amid the deepening gloom. When you’re about to head into the house but catch a random reflection out of the corner of your eye. When the universe beckons for just a bit more fun before calling it a night.

So you stand in the street and point a lens toward the abstract scene.

Because the only rule that matters is that there are no rules.

Because we all, adults and kids alike, deserve to spend a few minutes playing with light and water every once in a while.

Because play is play. And rules were made to be broken.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #abstract #water #reflective #stilllife #streetphotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Just a puddle? January 2007

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Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Sniffing out the remaining ice

On frozen ground
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I follow our dog deep into the woods, her magical nose pointing the way.

Eventually she stops in the shade of a massive tree and spends some quality time sniffing it out. It’s a Saturday afternoon, so I’m just as happy to let her have her fun for as long as she wishes.

She seems really interested in a tiny patch of ice. It’s a sunny day, and melt-off is already beginning all around us. But here, shielded from the piercing glare of our nearest star, it’s still deep freeze city, and Calli has decided this is magical.

I’m never quite sure what’s going on in her head, but I imagine it must be a fun place to be. And she seems outwardly happy in this tiny spot under a giant tree beside a fast-flowing river.

Soon enough, I crouch down beside her for a closer look, and I begin to understand her fascination. Earth, leaves, and rocks peek through the cracked ice in a riot of muted colors and textures, a spontaneous display of randomly formed art playing out under our noses. It’s as surprising as it is mesmerizing.

All this will be gone tomorrow as temperatures soar into the double-digits, but for now the show is too good to pass up. So while she sniffs away, I pull out the smartphone and try to remember the moment.

I’m conscious of the fact that magical things happen everywhere, and we probably need to seek them out now more than ever. I’m also conscious of the fact that these moments - with her, and in general - are limited in number.

A reminder, perhaps, that I should follow Calli’s nose into the forest more often. Maybe we all should.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #gutter #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #weather #wx #onstorm #abstract #stilllife #naturephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Frozen, a new season, December 2021
Half-frozen river, February 2021
Ice amid flowing water, December 2020
Rooted to the ground, December 2019

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Monday, March 10, 2025

Rubber once again meets road - and sun

Racing the setting sun
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’ve had this running joke with my wife for much of the winter: I’ll look out the snow- and ice-covered window first thing in the morning and sardonically tell her, “Today will not be a cycling day.”

I have huge admiration for the community of frost bikers who ride through the winter, and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m not among them. I’m good through the other three seasons, but winter frightens me.

So yesterday was a big day in our little corner of the world as I rolled the bike back out and took my first ride of the year.

It wasn’t a long one, and I promise you no speed records were set. But that’s not why I ride, anyway.

I ride for moments like this one, where a dozen angry Canadian Geese are screaming to my right as I race the setting sun home. So I stop on the muddy shoulder and watch them do their thing. Of course the moment calls for some spontaneous photography because moments like that are always calling to me.

Soon enough the geese fly away - never mess with Canadians - and I get back to spinning the pedals, my cheeks turning near-numb in the deepening cold.

As I roll into our driveway, my wife is watching from the front door. She smiles as I tell her my streak of not-a-cycling-day days has finally come to an end.

If I’m lucky, there will be more cycling days ahead, moments where the only things that matter are sunsets, squawking geese, and the basic laws of physics that make temporary escapes from a difficult world possible.

To the outside world it looks like a simple bike ride. I promise it’s much more than that.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hydepark #sunset #cycling #firstride #pink #bicycle #instabike #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
The first ride, April 2019

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Sunday, March 09, 2025

Two shadows

Forever friends
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I hope she knows how much I enjoy getting out there with her.

For such a small dog, she casts a remarkably long shadow.

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

Related:
My shadowy sidekick, October 2024
Let's chase the sun, Dad, July 2019

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Saturday, March 08, 2025

Who turned the lights off?


Oops!

#ldnont⁦‬⁩ #poweroutage #londonhydro

UPDATE: Power restored as of 11:50 a.m. Eastern. We may now all return to our previously ordinary lives.

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Silence descends on the snowy valley

Dusted
London, ON
November 2022
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I stand in the snow-dusted valley and listen intently to the silence.

The outside world can wait.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #medwayvalley #forest #tree #snow #winter #weather #wx #onstorm #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Related:
That winter look, November 2020

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Friday, March 07, 2025

Power is everywhere

Plugged in
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m just weird enough that I stop what I’m doing to look more closely at electrical outlets.

In fact, I sat down on the floor for this one.

It was an older building, with delightfully imperfect stucco-clad walls, lit by the kind of light that seems to paint surfaces in monochrome.

It’s the kind of scene we usually walk past on our way from here to there - or ignore in favour of everything else competing for our attention.

I get it: we’re busy. So ordinary things fade into the background. There’s only so much time and energy to appreciate it all, and a standard electrical outlet hardly rates.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t shift our gaze every once in a while.

Because we get to decide what does and does not rate.

Because there’s beauty not only in the obvious, but in the subtle.

Told you I was weird.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #electric #power #texture #design #abstract #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Electric sky, November 2020
Caption This 16, April 2007

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Thursday, March 06, 2025

There's a message in the skies tonight

Are you reading down there?
London, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

After the storms had passed, the evening sky put on a show that few would forget.

It felt like some kind of broader lesson, a message from the universe, even.

That there are forces above that are far more powerful than the ones that seem to govern everyday life below.

That we can’t measure brightness until after we’ve experienced darkness.

That the greatest power often presents itself in whispers.

That hope is the one thing we can hold onto until the rains give way to calmer skies.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sunset #cloudspotting #weather #wx #optimistpark #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Chaotic sky, June 2024

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Wednesday, March 05, 2025

Talking about Skype with the CBC

Following Microsoft's announcement that Skype will go dark on May 5, 2025, it's safe to say an era in digital communications is drawing to a close. But what does it all mean? And what should we all be taking away from this milestone in tech history?

I'll be joining CBC Radio stations across the country later today - between 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. Eastern - to shine the light on a technology many of us will miss when it's gone.

Related:

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When water has nowhere to go

When downspouts freeze
London, ON
February 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Please don’t mind if I duck out of the circus for a bit. I’ll be over here, in my driveway, looking for abstract things that bring me joy.

Like the icicles that seem to tumble out of the downspout just above the pavement, frozen in place by winter’s relentless grip.

It isn’t something that normally grabs anyone’s attention, but if you happen to catch the late afternoon light just so, it’s worth a closer look.

It’s another example of spontaneous wonder playing out in the most unexpected of places. And another validation of why we need scenes like this now more than ever.

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

Related:
Icicles writ large, December 2017
Water frozen from above, January 2017 
Here today, April 2007
More icy goodness, February 2007

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Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Look to the sky for refuge

There's always light
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Canada wakes up this morning to the cold economic reality of massive tariffs imposed by a nation we once thought was our best friend. The threat has been hanging over us for weeks, and now it’s here.

The next few chapters promise to be ugly, particularly as our leaders fight back with every tool they’ve got, and the damage will pile up on both sides of the border.

So last night I stood on a snowpile and stared at the sky as the fading sunlight danced among the shifting clouds. I come here often, and as much as I enjoy the photography, it’s the quiet reflection that sticks with me.

And as I stood in the late winter cold and waited for something pretty to look at, I pondered the orbital and atmospheric mechanics playing out far above my head. And it occurred to me that they’ve been doing their thing for as long as our planet has been around, and they’ll continue to do so long after we’re gone.

I hovered over that thought as I read the sky through the viewfinder and my cold-fingers worked the controls as if they had a mind of their own. The sky simply doesn’t care what we may or may not do down here. It’ll keep on keeping on.

And while we can’t quite afford to disconnect ourselves from realities closer to home, we do retain the power to take the occasional break from the fear and remind ourselves that there are forces more powerful than politics. Life remains beautiful for those who choose to walk away and look up every once in a while.

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

Related:
One jet in a big sky, September 2024
Jupiter comes to Earth, September 2024

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Monday, March 03, 2025

Boardwalk this way

Where's my ruler?
Boynton Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In a world rocked by chaos, there is order in lines, where the predictable rules of geometry make it easy to know where we stand, where we’re going, and how we’ll get there.

There’s a certain sense of comfort in the ruler-straight, an honesty to it, a feeling that someone cared enough to build it right the first time, a trust in all that plays out before us.

That word, trust. We could all use more of it, no?

#boyntonbeach #florida #greencay #wetlands #throwback #travel ##naturephotography #landscapephotography #boardwalk #geometry #perspective #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Related:
Green heron at rest, February 2023

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