Standing under the cathedral

Collaborative life overhead
London, ON
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Not much to see here. Just a bunch of trees growing silently, largely ignored, in a valley far removed from the city that threatens to pave it over.

Every few years, developers make noise about pushing another road through here. Better traffic flow, they say. Shorter commute. Good for business, apparently. More tax dollars for the city. More revenue for them.

Thankfully saner heads have prevailed to-date, but we know how cities grow. Like water and a cracked dike, eventually the protections get worn down. Eventually the relentless forces of so-called progress will have their way.

But for now, the trees stand as one, seemingly working together to keep each other healthy and alive, to keep this place special. Eventually some will fall, but others will grow in their place, taking their spot among the crowd.

It's collaboration, nature-style, and it feels like the right way to start the week.

Because if they can work together to build community, stay vibrant, and ensure some kind of future - for themselves and for us - then so can we.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #valley #forest #tree #trees #weather #wx #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Polytechnique at 31

Where life had a chance
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

December 6, 1989. 31 years ago today, 14 women were murdered at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique because a single man couldn't, wouldn't accept women succeeding as engineers.

I remember the night like it was yesterday, remember the stories of journalism school and newsroom colleagues who covered the massacre. How so many lives were ended, and so many others altered forever.

I'd like to think that misogyny has been resolved in the ensuing decades, but I'd be wrong. The stifling patriarchy that normalized the anti-women behaviors at the root of this tragedy took root long before one failure of a human being picked up a high-powered rifle and singled out his victims because of their gender.

We haven't learned a thing. And saying nothing ensures it will continue to happen. In headline-grabbing mass murders like this, or in individual cases that don't necessarily merit annual reflection. But should.

Why the tree? Because 14 brilliant lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to unfold on their own. Because so many stories failed to play out as they should have. Because the branches of life were cut before the canopy could even be formed.

To think what should have been. To think how our continued inaction dishonors their lives.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #forest #tree #trees #walkabout #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #stilllife #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Newtown, Connecticut Shooting - No Words, Many Words, December 2012

Dawson College - shots fired, September 2006

Grapefruit League Moment

The ideal in-store display
London, ON
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Good design is everywhere.

Exhibit A: the humble grapefruit. Comes with its own eco-friendly packaging. Stacks up nicely - almost as if it was waiting for its Instagram moment - and looks rather fetching when the light is just so.

Oh, and it’s rather healthy. At least for those of us who aren’t allergic.

We just have to know enough to appreciate it when we see it.

It’s out there. Look harder.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sunripe #grocery #store #fruit #grapefruit #fruitography #shopping #retail #random #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Gone wild in the grocery store, March 2020

Spontaneous in-store potato shoot, June 2018

Please don't cry, May 2018

Fruitography revisited, May 2014

Obscene fruitography? July 2007

Fruitography (where all this insanity began), November 2004

Finding vegetables among the morons

Quality produce
London, ON
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Let’s not mince words: shopping sucks these days.

While online shopping can reduce our exposure, the occasional visit to the grocery store is still a necessary evil when nothing else will do.

That means crossing paths with idiots who rudely challenge retail workers about lineups and safety protocols, wear masks below their noses, and walk right up to others because heaven forbid they have to wait a second longer for that jar of dill pickles.

So here’s my remedy: kindness. Kind words to underpaid retail workers who literally risk their lives for the unruly, pickle-seeking morons who put their needs ahead of others. Kind moments for folks who deserve them. And even for the doofuses who don’t.

Because unkindness comes from somewhere. And if I were inclined to be a gambler, I’d bet big that the guy bullying the door attendant at the front of the store over the need to line up for all of 45 seconds was likely bullied himself somewhere along the way. I suggest we add some empathy to the pandemic survival toolkit, then, as well.

And along the way, in between channeling whatever kindness and empathy I can muster, I’ll take random photos of whatever beauty happens to slap me in the face. Vegetables, after all, don’t talk back, they don’t move around, and they look rather lovely in the right light. If it makes others smile, so much the better.

Pandemic notwithstanding, this kindness thing is entirely up to us. Please feel free to share your own stories of kindness here.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sunripe #grocery #store #vegetables #fruitography #shopping #retail #random #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Do you scream for ice cream?

Waiting for sweetness
St. Thomas, ON
October 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This is where ice cream is sold.

Well, when it's warm outside. Which it decidedly is not as I write this.

Memories can be powerful things, then, transporting us back to times and places that mattered to us then. And still do now.

Whatever memory you've got, I hope you're holding onto it tightly. And I hope it tastes as good as the ice cream that was once shared through these windows, and will hopefully be shared again when the warmth and light eventually return.

#stthomas #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #shaws #icecream #concrete #building #architecture #architecturephotography #design #buildingporn #architectureporn #lines #geometry #texture #perspective #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Concrete apartment monolith

Touch the sky
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This must be my week to be looking up at buildings.

Unlike the last one I shared, this 70s-ish example of uninspired architecture isn't raining bricks down on the sidewalk below. But from the looks of it the concrete has clearly seen better days.

Either way, it's good for the soul to peer more closely at the things that would otherwise be ignored.

There's no shame, after all, in spending time with the ordinary. Sometimes we may find ourselves pleasantly surprised by what we see.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #architecture #design #architecturephotography #concrete #building #buildingporn #perspective #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Standing under crumbling brick

Building turned on its ear
London, ON
September 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Today’s mission: walk up to an abandoned building in #LdnONT’s downtown core.

Stand by the corner and stare straight up.

Take a picture of what you see.

Pretend to ignore the stares of passers-by.

But secretly smile to yourself because connecting with others via photography is such a kick.

Look down.

Observe a small pile of smashed bricks on the ground by your feet.

Realize this probably isn’t the safest place to be.

Resolve to never do this, here, again.

Think about other weird everyday - and hopefully safer - scenes for next time.

#london #ontario #canada #throwback #random #urban #downtown #king #street #photography #building #buildingporn #ruinporn #architecture #design #architecturepgotography #brick #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Where waves speak to birds

Water, air, life
Cocoa Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 7:08 a.m. on this final morning of 2019. A lonely bird swoops low over the surf, tracking a single wave as the swell in the water below rolls silently toward its inevitable end in the sand.

How many times has this scene played out here before? How many birds have swooped low here? How many waves have crashed ashore? How many souls have stood here in the sand and wondered about it all?

As is often the case in places like this, the questions outnumber the answers. Which, as my bare feet sink deeper into the still-cool sand, I realize is entirely the point. Because we don't come here to get answers. Or to fill columns and rows with definitive facts and figures.

Rather, we're here to break the spreadsheet entirely. To close our eyes, breathe in the windy, salty air, and listen for sounds that are more felt than heard. To simply absorb.

It was true last December, and it'll be true whenever we get back to this place, where rockets leave the planet, where birds master the skies no matter who may or may not be watching from shore.

Until then, we have other beaches closer to home. The water may be fresh, and the sand may be too cold to walk barefoot. But they're calling me still.

I think an adventure awaits. I wonder what we'll see when we get there.

#cocoa #beach #cocoabeach #florida #atlantic #ocean #throwback #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #sunrise #waves #water #birds #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #zoom #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Shadowy selfie

Playing with late-afternoon light
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I'm generally not one for selfies.

I specifically took up photography because I don't particularly enjoy being on the receiving end of a lens, and hiding behind the camera gives me the perfect excuse to stay out of the picture.

But as digital photography has become an increasingly pervasive part of everyday life, taking random photos of ourselves here and there has become a nice, if somewhat narcissistic, way of keeping in touch and of placeholding our journey through this thing called life.

I'm not sure if a shadowy projection on a crumbling wall counts, but I promised my wife I'd take one of myself, so this will have to do.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #mall #selfie #shadow #architecture #design #architecturephotography #concrete #building #buildingporn #brown #brick #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

New perspective on an old wall

Leading lines
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Same wall, different perspective.

Funny how that works. You can look at the same thing from a different spot, and see it in a completely new light.

We're talking about bricks here, nondescript building blocks of our modern urban environment. But the truth is we could be talking about anything and everything. And anyone.

Just what could that anything and everything - or anyone - be? And how many different perspectives are there?

Well, that's entirely up to you?

Go...

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #mall #architecture #design #architecturephotography #concrete #building #buildingporn #brown #brick #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Still stuck in a parking lot, November 2020

Fading retail against a blue sky, November 2020

Green buggies in a row

Stuck together
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

No one pays much attention to shopping carts - or buggies, if you will - unless they've been stolen and left to rust on a nearby street corner.

But they do indeed make a fascinating scene when you come across a bunch of them in a sun-splashed parking lot. Especially if they've been painted a natty shade of green and are lined up just so.

Weird, I know. But who defines what "weird" is in the first place?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #mall #green #grocery #shopping #carts #design #architecturephotography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Supermarket carts? Or jail? April 2008

Wheelies, June 2007

Interlocked, February 2006

When winter returns

Dog's eye view
London, ON
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everyone leaves traces behind, and we’re mistaken if we believe they’re only temporary.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #weather #wx #winter #snow #storm #onstorm #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Still stuck in a parking lot

Where no one wants to go
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Here's another view of the tired old mall I explored over the weekend. The EXIF data tells an interesting, if somewhat trivial, story:

• Blue brick photo: DSC_3652 - 5:05 p.m.
• This brown brick photo: DSC_3663 - 5:09 p.m.

So 11 frames and 4 minutes separate the two. I can probably retrace the steps I took to move from the westward-facing blue wall in the first shot to the southward-positioned brown wall in the second. And in doing so tell you what I was thinking as I made the short trek and set up the second batch of shots from the crumbling concrete at the edge of the lot.

Why the hell am I sharing this? Because a photo isn't just a collection of pixels. It's the story that leads to the moment those pixels were recorded, the meta-story, if you will, that explains the context of the moment. I shoot not only because I like pretty pictures, but because the stories that surround them can matter as much as they do.

Sometimes - okay, often - I'll look back at what I shot and what I wrote, and I'll escape right back to the moments in time when I was shooting them. The people I was with. What we may have been chatting about. How I felt. Maybe about the lines of bricks and mortar. Or the unseen hands that laid them down all those years ago.

So, yeah, this is a stupid brick wall overlooking some busted shipping pallets in the corner of a ratty old building that probably should have been torn down years ago. I wouldn't want to be alone here at night, and even during the day it isn't a place I'd recommend visiting.

Yet here I am, drawing an indelible few moments in pixels. That's got to mean something to someone, even if that someone is just me.

I'm hoping, though, that you've got your own ridiculously weird places to explore, and your own unique stories to tell and retell, even if only to yourself.

It's how we navigate life. Or so I think I'm starting to figure out.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #mall #architecture #design #architecturephotography #concrete #building #buildingporn #brown #brick #blue #sky #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everythıng

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - I am (not) the egg man

I'm a sucker for longform journalism, feature stories that stick themselves into your mind and never let go. And sometimes, I'll share them as part of our #IfYouReadOneThingToday series.

I was lucky to visit Las Vegas a couple of times over the past couple of years. While the work schedule kept me and my team busy for much of the day, every once in a while we'd be able to sneak some time, usually late at night, for a quick walk or visit to the admittedly indescribable world outside.

On our last trip there, a year ago November though it feels like yesterday, we were able to grab a few hours exploring the part of Las Vegas that time seems to have forgotten. We left the strip and got a glimpse of this town the way it used to be.

This article made me wish I could be walking those streets again. Maybe soon. Enjoy the read.

The Egg Men: How breakfast gets served at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas.

By Burkhard Bilger

New Yorker

August 2005

Related:

A blinding light in the Nevada desert, November 2019

Po takes on Vegas, November 2018

Fading retail against a blue sky

Look up, anyway
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If you haven't photo-walked around the outside of a fading local mall lately, I highly recommend it.

The architecture may seem forgettable. No one ever wrote effusively worded magazine articles when this place was built, and time hasn't done it any favors. The dollar store shoppers illegally parked in the fire lane to save themselves four steps can hardly be bothered to take in the concrete-block design as they rush inside in search of plastic wreaths and off-brand toothpaste.

Yet there's something to be said for being out here among the madding crowds, trying to coax something, anything from a haphazardly designed and built structure that's never been asked to tell its story.

I wonder if I should be here at all. So do the dollar store shoppers, who have now returned to their selfishly parked pickups and are staring at the weird guy wandering around the lot with a camera in his hand.

If they weren't so busy texting and driving, they'd be welcome to join me - safely distanced, of course - to explore a place that doesn't seem to invite exploration.

Or maybe it does, but we've convinced ourselves we're too busy to notice.

Maybe there's virtue in otherwise humble slivers of the local landscspe, going about their lives quietly, asking nothing from those who unwittingly rely on them more than they'd ever admit.

Maybe we'd all do well to wander the parking lot every once in a while and wonder about the places that shape our day-to-day lives.

#ldnont #london #whitehills #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #mall #architecture #design #architecturephotography #concrete #building #buildingporn #blue #sky #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #health #everything

Losing the cone of shame - for now

What if I said, "Please"?
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I can't thank everyone enough for your kind wishes re. our pup, Calli, this week.

In the overall scheme of things - especially this year - a dog's injured ear probably doesn't rank as a major deal. But when you weigh all of 15 pounds and lack discernible language skills and opposable thumbs, a bloody boo-boo is still a pretty lousy speed bump in an otherwise charmed life.

She's been in her cone of shame for the entire week, and we took it off for a bit today to eyeball the injury and give her a bit of a break. She hates it, and all the explaining in the world won't make those sad eyes any happier or quiet the near-constant whimpering.

So she gets extra treats, lots of cuddles, and near-constant attention. The ear seems to be slowly trending in the right direction, and the hope is another few days in her snazzy cone will hopefully be enough.

As cones go, it's a keeper, with green paw prints and a lovely textured finish that magically doesn't get stuck on the trees and roots she inevitably goes after on her walks. We take small victories wherever we can find them.

We know all too well that this little chapter in a little life may not merit headlines. But given how much she already has on her shoulders, we nevertheless need her back at full strength.

Something tells me she understands this with absolute clarity.

Feel better soon, little one.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #dogs #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Bulrushes, part 3

Magic is everywhere
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some folks see faces in clouds. Others see them elsewhere.

Can you see one here?

Where else have you seen faces in unusual places?

#ldnont #hyde #park #london #ontario #canada #forest #tree #trees #walkabout #stilllife #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Bulrushes, part 2

Start of the breakdown
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Nothing lasts forever, not even rushes growing wild in the shadows of a city too busy to notice.

So today's lesson, then, is a simple one.

Notice.

#ldnont #hyde #park #london #ontario #canada #forest #tree #trees #walkabout #stilllife #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Childhood bulrush memories

Welcome to the swamp
London, ON
November 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Bulrushes dominated the landscape of the suburb where I grew up.

Back then, #Chomedey, just north of #Montreal, was a newly developed area of tract housing surrounded by forests, fields, and swamp areas. Over time, developers beat the land into submission and paved over the lovely spots. But when I was a kid, we had limitless places to explore.

Swamps being swamps, bulrushes like these were everywhere, and they made a delightful mess when we used them as makeshift swords. Yes, it was a very different era.

Fast forward to adulthood and we live in a city surrounded by wetlands and woodlots. Which means lots of bulrushes to shoot, and countless foggy memories to ponder as I compose the shot.

I guess that makes this somewhat more significant than a mere photo of a wildly growing plant. I guess photography is less about taking photos than it is a way to connect with yourself. I like how that works.

More to come...

#ldnont #hyde #park #london #ontario #canada #forest #tree #trees #walkabout #stilllife #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #d750 #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

As the rush comes, October 2006

This used to be my playground, August 2013

A crumbling icon fades to black, May 2016

Reflections from a speeding train, August 2019

#InfoTechBrief Video - The EU gets serious

I'm stoked to share the latest #InfoTechBrief video from Info-Tech Research Group (link here, embed below), and hope you enjoy watching it as much as we've enjoyed creating it.

This week, we zoom in on some pending regulatory changes from the EU that will rock our world no matter where we may live.

I'll leave it to you to find the Easter egg.

 

Related: Info-Tech Research Group YouTube Channel