Snow dusted

Ready for the season
London, ON
November 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The forest shrugs off an early dusting of snow.

Soon enough, there will be more.

Much more.

Can't wait.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #gibbons #park #tvp #thames #river #walkabout #nature #forest #tree #trees #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #photooftheday #picoftheday #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

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Trees from Venus, October 2021

Not as scary as it seems, October 2021

Remembering the first time I shot monochrome, October 2021

Same trees, slightly different perspective, October 2021

It all started with greyscale, May 2021

The things we see in wintry parking lots, December 2020

Staring at trees beside the Walmart parking lot, September 2019

Trees stand sentinel, November 2017

Thematic Photographic 291 - Chaotic, April 2014

Rotting in plain sight, March 2012

Thematic Photographic 95 - In memory of trees, March 2010

Waiting to pay for my groceries

Automation for all
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m still taking pictures that say “pandemic” to me.

Because someday we’re going to look back at this overly long moment in history, and strange as it may sound now, we’re going to want to remember what it looked and felt like.

So photos like this - of changed landscapes, and maybe even changed people, or both - end up littering the archives. Mine, specifically, and I’m guessing if you think about it, yours, too.

When the first lockdowns were first implemented in March of 2020, our local Loblaws grocery store set up a velvet-rope area where shoppers would line up and wait for an employee to direct them to the next available cashier.

Eventually they replaced the traffic-cop employee with this automated system. Which saddened me then and continues to sadden me whenever I return.

I’m all for technology, after all, but replacing a human with a talking screen, especially now, just feels wrong. It’s a sign that somehow we’ve lost something along the way, an opportunity to connect in some tangible manner with someone at a time where we could all use a little more (safe) connection.

In the bean counter-driven pursuit of bottom-line efficiency, they made the experience less human.

So on a quiet Friday night in an almost empty store, I felt the need to shoot this scene. Because it’ll probably change yet again without warning. And it seems wrong to not do more to freeze it as it currently is, mundane as it might seem at first glance.

On further reflection, nothing is mundane anymore.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #loblaws #shopping #retail #random #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:

Sour cream down! June 2021

Losing the sun at Loblaws, March 2021

Goodbye, Aunt Jemima & Mrs. Butterworth, July 2020

Loblaws from above, May 2020

Grocery Shopping 101 for the Pandemic, April 2020

Scene from a (wet) parking lot, September 2019

Up, up and away, September 2006

Get your ducks in a row

No goose here
London, ON
November 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The Gibbons Park Council of Ducks is now in session.

On today’s agenda: lunch.

Then, maybe we take a swim.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #gibbons #park #tvp #thames #river #walkabout #birds #ducks #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #photooftheday #picoftheday #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

The PlayPlace falls silent

No kids ever?
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every parent has been here: a McDonald's PlayPlace or its more generic counterpart. Wendy and the Burger so-called King who isn't really a king, I'm looking at you.

Our kids long ago outgrew indoor playgrounds. All playgrounds, really. So it's been a while since I sat in the spine-killing plastic fantastic chairs around the edge, and squeezed myself into the slide when one of our munchkins needed a little extra attention.

I used to good-naturedly mock these places for being filled with germs and other people's bratty kids. But on reflection, they fulfilled a critical role in our growing kids' lives, and they still prompt smiles and memories whenever we come across one.

So when I ended up beside this pandemic-shuttered example one morning last week, I found myself drawn to the glass.

It feels abnormal for places like this to be empty and silent, and I wonder where kids these days blow off steam through vigorous play.

The pandemic is messing with all of us in ways that'll take decades to fully understand. And as trivial as a fast food joint playground might seem, kids not being able to be kids is hardly trivial.

Just add it to the list of things we wish we could fix, but can’t.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #mcdonalds #fastfood #restaurant #parenthood #random #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:

An unplanned evening, November 2005

Babies don't turn 5, do they? July 2005

Balls of color, September 2004

A face in the bark

Magic in nature
London, ON
November 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Ever look at something and think you see something weird? I think this may be one of those photos.

Perhaps the universe is messing with my head. Or maybe I just need to lay off the guacamole.

Anyway, please let me know if you see something here.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #gibbons #park #tvp #thames #river #walkabout #nature #forest #tree #trees #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #photooftheday #picoftheday #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:

Barking up the right tree, May 2021

The not-so-dead tree stump, January 2021

More warts. More wonder, November 2020

Visiting the Wart Tree, October 2020

Craggy bark deep in the woods, November 2017

History written in a tree trunk, October 2017

Aged wood, August 2006

Winter gets its first blanket

First light of the new year
London, ON
January 2022
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The first major snow event of the new year means different things to different people.

Many will grumble at the prospect of digging the car out and clearing the driveway. Or wearing parkas and hats and mitts and whatever else keeps the cold at bay. Or the inevitable melting mess in the vestibule as we return home and try to avoid soaking our socks in an unseen puddle.

Others will welcome it, embrace it, even.

I’m generally in the latter camp. Sure, I resent the shovel as must as anyone, but there’s something resonant about those early hours of a snowfall, when there’s just enough of the white stuff on the ground to mute out the usual sounds of everyday city life, where everything seems to slow down as the planet and its people adjust to the freshly repainted landscape.

Don’t get me wrong: I could live without the melting, slushy mess, the dressup dance we must endure every time we step outside, and the same thing in reverse whenever we return. Or the added dangers on the road. Or the extra time added to ordinarily simple tasks. This winter thing can be exhausting.

But when it’s just you and the dog under a dark grey sky, when you can both hear and feel the driving snow slowly covering the neighborhood, where the snap of the cold on your cheeks makes them feel both numb and alive at the same time, you begin to wonder why anyone wouldn’t want to experience a moment like this at least once.

Maybe I’m a little too Canadian for my own good, and perhaps I wear my optimism a little too proudly on my sleeve. I’m sure I’ll be grumbling soon enough as the brownish sludge soaks through my socks for the third time that day.

But for now, amid the near-silence of the falling snow, it’s enough to stare down the middle of the seemingly endless tire track and wonder about the path that we’re all on, and ask whether we’re doing enough to extract whatever little bits of joy we possibly can.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #random #street #night #snow #winter #weather #wx #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:

Chasing snow at night, November 2021

Winter still sucks, February 2020

Snowy parking lot in the pre-dawn cold, November 2019

Fly away home (again), February 2019

Hashtag parking lot, April 2018

Happy girl in the snow, March 2018

Winter arrives. Deal with it. November 2013

The morning after, December 2006

When maple leaves fade

Still here
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Long after its color blazed with glory.

Long after it fell off the tree.

Long after it faded into a crinkly, forgotten mess.

It still had a story to tell.

I keep thinking this singular leaf holds a broader lesson for us.

I keep thinking we need to shift our understanding of what is and is not beautiful.

I keep thinking this is the year we’ll finally figure it out.

Perhaps not.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #random #suburban #sidewalk #street #brown #leaf #texture #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Look to the light

The origins of life
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Always look to the light.

It’ll show us the way.

Inspire us.

Keep us safe.

Keep us alive, even.

As much as this feels like the right way to start the new year, a little voice inside me says it’ll be just as relevant tomorrow, and every other day that follows.

See you out there.

#london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #sky #weather #wx #tree #trees #silhouette #ross #park #tvp #walkabout #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #random #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Two minutes to midnight...

2021

-30-

Related:

Original tweet

Wikipedia

Cinderella's house gets lit

It sure looked different back then
Orlando, FL
December 31, 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m generally not one to celebrate arbitrary dates on calendars, because I believe every day is worthy of celebration.

But as 2021 fades into 2022, I’d be remiss if I ignored it completely. Because we’re living through an extraordinary moment in history, and it can’t hurt to put a stamp on our second such celebration under the shadow of an invisible-to-the-naked-eye virus.

What you see here is the fireworks show at Disney’s Magic Kingdom just before we rang in 2020.

What you can’t see is the scene on the ground, with crowds packed so tightly that I literally had strangers standing in my face, and I could barely move my feet on the ground lest I step on theirs.

We had been hearing stories about something called coronavirus coming out of China, but like so many headlines of any given day, we had no clue it would ultimately become a generation-defining global event.

Still, I tossed the headlines around my head as I stood still enough to maintain my personal space amid the tightest crowd I had ever been a part of. And despite the insanity, our little family made indelible memories that night.

Two years later, this photo, along with the moment it represents, seems as if it came from another lifetime. And returning to the so-called way it was seems like such a hopelessly quaint notion.

And so we won’t.

As we prepare for 2022, we don’t know any more about what tomorrow might offer than when we were preparing for 2020, or 2021, or any other arbitrarily defined milestone.

Every day is a mystery. Whatever that calendar says, we’re blessed to have it at all.

Maybe that’s the so-called resolution we all need. Just be thankful.

I know I am.

#orlando #florida #fla #canada #throwback #newyearseve #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #magickingdom #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #fireworks #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Betty White dies

I don’t normally comment on celebrity passings, but Betty White was special.

May we all learn from her example.

May her memory be a blessing to everyone who was inspired by her.

Related:

Betty White Dies: The Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore Show Star Was 99, People

Betty White, beloved and trailblazing actress, dies at 99, CNN

Betty White, TV’s Golden Girl, dies at 99, AP

'He stays': Betty White refused to remove Black dancer from her show in 1954, USA Today

IMDB

Wikipedia

Twitter

Playing in an icy gutter

Tiny. Temporary.
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some things never change.

As a child, I played in gutters and other unmentionable places of hidden wonder. I don’t seem to have changed much in adulthood.

This tiny frozen world formed at the end of our driveway, and the dog and I discovered it as we set off on our first walk of the day.

I’m learning to look for joy wherever it presents itself. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, you’re probably not following me.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #forest #water #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #nature #naturephotography #stilllife #photography #apple #iPhone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

French (feathered) flag

Celebrate
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
October 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Vive la France!

Seriously, I'm reasonably certain the unnamed and invisible retail employee who set up the feather boa display wasn't harboring subconscious thoughts about the French flag.

But there was something about the sequencing here that made me linger over the feathers.

I don’t know why. I’ve learned to stop asking.

#saultstemarie #ontario #canada #roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #retail #store #michaels #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #instagood #photooftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

The third of three trees

Singular
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It was a lousy day for photography.

Cold, windy, grey, with a flat light that reminded me of Soviet-era street scenes where everyone’s huddled against the seen and the unseen and no one cracks a smile.

I probably should have headed home as soon as I started to lose feeling in my fingertips five minutes after first setting out. The ideas just weren’t percolating in my head, and Planet Earth wasn’t cooperating.

But something told me to keep at it, to wander further and keep looking. For what I had no idea. But this is the pandemic…what else is there to do?

This photo is the third of three trees I came across on this initially ill starred walk. The more time I spent here, the more I saw, the more reasons I had to stay out.

Perhaps I’ve been looking at it all wrong. Maybe the cold, windy, grey days are the ones that offer up the most. Maybe they encourage us to look at things a little differently. Maybe the results feel better when we have to struggle a bit more in the process.

Or maybe we should just shoot the damn trees whenever we can carve out the time to do so.

Because they may not look like this the next time we’re here.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #walkabout #forest #tree #trees #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:

Shutter therapy among the craggy trees, December 2021

Struck by lightning? December 2021

One tree among many, February 2021

We found Scooby-Doo's tree, December 2020

An unforgettable day in a bitterly cold park, December 2013

One bright tree in the middle of the afternoon, December 2012

White wisps on blue

Ever changing
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Someone painted the sky again while we were sleeping.

Whoever it was, good job.

And thanks.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #weather #wx #blue #sky #clouds #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On being me

"I am a clown … and I collect moments."
Heinrich Böll

The Clown

1963

 

Struck by lightning?

All that's left
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everything has its time.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #walkabout #forest #tree #trees #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Finding joy in a storm

Snowdog
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Do Schnauzers like being outside in the driving snow?

The photographic evidence suggests they do.

Well, ours does, at least.

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

Shutter therapy among the craggy trees

It stands alone
London, ON
December 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I call it shutter therapy: throw the camera in a bag, head out the door, and take random photos of whatever interests you.

This craggy old tree interested me, just one of countless craggy trees in an impossibly peaceful forest.

Yet something made it stand out enough for me to keep coming back to it until I took this shot. The final one of the day. The one that made me happy.

Funny how that works. Therapeutic indeed.

What should I shoot during my next round of shutter therapy? It won’t be long before I’ll need another round of it.

#PandemicPics #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #walkabout #forest #tree #trees #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Water always wins

Infinite patience
Las Vegas, NV
November 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Planet Earth is a never-ending study in contrasts.

Like this one, which reinforces my airplane-window observation that the greatest beauty can often be found in the most desolate of landscapes.

For what it’s worth, water always wins the geologic tug-of-war. All it needs is time.

#PandemicPics #las #vegas #lasvegas #throwback #roadtrip #air #flight #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #nevada #desert #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #aircanada @aircanada #flying #aviation #avgeek #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins