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

Of selfies and noses made for radio

Rarely seen
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There are countless reasons why I don’t share many pictures of myself.

I figure the world has enough photos of me. And video. And audio. Too much, really.

I also have quite the face for radio. Complete with an asymmetric nose, baggy eyes, and a strangely shaped forehead.

Despite spending large amounts of my adult life staring down the barrel of a lens, I never know what to do with myself when someone is taking my picture. Smile? Smirk? Frown? Look serious? It feels, just, odd. Like a pony in a petting zoo.

And lord knows how irritated I get when I happen upon social media accounts that are, quite literally, all selfies all the time. I’m not one to judge, but I’ll never understand how anyone thinks that isn’t all kinds of weird. As if there isn’t anything better to focus on than…yourself.

Wait, maybe I’m judgy after all. Sorry.

But I also do this thing with my wife that I like to call the proof-of-life photo. Whenever I’m out and about, at some point I’ll take a selfie and send it home so she’ll know I’m safe and sound and happy.

The photos almost never go anywhere, because they’re an us thing, a tiny moment of connection that started the day I almost bled out on a bike ride far from home. So we share photos now, just because.

But sometimes I take a picture that I sorta like, that reminds me it’s okay to turn the lens inward on occasion.

Because I’m still here, and I still get to be out and about. And that’s something worth recording in some way. Celebrating, even.

Even if my nose is still all kinds of wonky.

#ldnont #canada #winter #photowalk #selfie

A dog in a coat in the snow

Only love
London, ON
January 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

While the planet burns and everyone else rage-posts about it, I’m just going to leave this right here.

Because the notion of a dog whose only goal in the moment is to frolic in the snow and make sure she isn’t alone is something I think we can all appreciate.

This is all she cares about. She has no concept of the things that weigh the rest of us down. She doesn’t watch the news, and even when she does, the headlines just wash over her. She gives kisses without being asked. No one hates her because she’s an 8-year-old girl who happens to have a beard. There is no such thing as Anti-Schnauzerism.

I’m under no illusion that the charmed life of a dog doesn’t somehow exist in some broader context. It absolutely does. And a single photo of a frozen-faced pup doesn’t magically repair the world.

But maybe it starts simply. Maybe everyone needs a moment with a dog to get back in touch with what makes us human. Maybe it’s how we begin to heal the planet and each other.

Woof.

#ldnont #canada #callithewonderschnauzer #actofdog