Railyard from above

Pick a direction
Toronto, ON
July 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some days the path is obvious.

Others it is not.

Yet still, we go.

#toronto #ontario #canada #unionstation #viarail #train #perspective #downtown #monochrome #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

Pick your peppers

All the bright colours
London, ON
March 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As children, we were always told to eat our vegetables.

What we weren’t told was to appreciate them, as well.

To marvel in the sheer biological magic of their existence.

To give some thought to how they got to us.

To thank total strangers who tended their fields for months to will them out of the fertile ground.

To look beyond the obvious and realize that everything, even a simple red pepper, had a back story.

And to express a little gratitude for the things we could not see.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #metro #red #peppers #vegetables #stilllife #photography #fruitography #thankafarmer #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Before the forest comes to life

Hug a tree today
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: our dog is leading the way as we head home from a walk. A warm breeze blows under a gently cloud-flecked blue sky, an ideal spring evening to be out and about.

We come across a path leading into a small woodlot carved out of the otherwise concrete-encased suburb. Calli the Wonderschnauzer quietly pulls to the right, as if she wants a moment among the trees before we get home. Since I’m not one to disagree, we soon find ourselves padding along the soft path, guarded by giant, bare branches overhead.

Some of the canopy has begun to sprout springtime buds, but most of it is still bare. I lean against a particularly craggy trunk and watch her sniff its roots, the rough texture of the bark making its presence felt through the back of my shirt.

A squirrel leaps from one branch to another, fearless in the face of gravity. Calli is so entranced by whatever is going on on the forest floor that she misses the show overhead. She gets a treat for her uncharacteristic good behaviour, and I gently coax her back toward the real world.

I take a few quick photos on the way out, reminders of an unremarkable moment in the shared life of a dog when nothing matters beyond saying hello to the trees and putting everything else on pause. I should follow her lead more often.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #walnutwoods #cathedral #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Stop and smell the flowers

Life in bloom
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On a brilliantly sunny Sunday morning, I’m spinning my way through a crowded park with my cycling group when I catch a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye.

It’s just a patch of tulips, but as we continue down the path, I make a mental note to come back here when I’ve got the time.

As luck would have it, the group decides to take a rest just a few hundred metres later. It’s ostensibly for water and snacks and maybe a quick group photo, but we get to chatting about how lovely the park is, and how pretty the flowers are.

I mention I’d like to bring my camera back, then realize I already have a smartphone with me. My ever-understanding fellow cyclists nod with understanding as I pedal off for a super-quick photo shoot.

As I get back to the field of orange and start composing, two joggers stop in as well and thank me for taking the time to stop. They would have kept running past, but saw me in photo mode and didn’t want to miss out.

In the end we all manage to get our photos, but more importantly we have a moment among the Sunday morning crowds. What often seems to be an exercise in capturing pixels turns out to be something infinitely more precious.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #flowers #naturephotography #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Stormy Toronto skyline

So far away
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The storms may be threatening from above, the dark skies casting ominous shadows for as far as the eye can see.

But the city still reaches for the sky, its roots buried just as strongly in the ground that rises out of the turbulent lake, its people ready for whatever the skies decide to throw at them.

Part of it feels like a distant photo of a familiar skyline. Another part feels like a metaphor for the times we live in, a gentle reminder that no storm lasts forever.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #cntower #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #skyline #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

All (cycling) points west

Time to crank
London, ON
July 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Where do you want to go today?

The answer could be as simple as pointing the handlebars in any random direction, then pushing off.

Physics takes care of the rest. And maybe some assorted snacks.

But the ride has to start somewhere.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tvp #cycling #bicycle #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Bark, bark

Wearing the years...
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When we find ourselves barking up the right tree.

#ldnont #canada #medway #stilllife #texture

Sit, Calli, sit

Good dog
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m just going to sit here and stare into your soul until you give me those treats I know you have in your right-front pocket.

#ldnont #canada #schnauzer #callithewonderschnauzer #actofdog

Chasing birds through the sky with glass

Hey, I see you!
Sunny Isles Beach, FL
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The day’s mission was a simple one: chase birds through the sky with glass.

Not because the world especially needed another bird pic.

But because I needed a singular moment where nothing else mattered beyond this.

Where the distractions of the everyday got shut off as these wondrous creatures danced in the winds far above my head.

And stared right back at me before flying off into the unknown.

#sunnyislesbeach #florida #throwback #bird #seagull #flight #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Hingeworthy

Listen for the squeak
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everything always seems to hinge on one thing.

What that one thing is, however, is entirely up to us.

#ldnont #monochrome #abstract #architecture #growingchefs

Fenced in

Field of play
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We all grew up on some kind of playground.

Behind fences that either kept us in or kept others out.

Where we either made friends for life or learned harder lessons.

That not everyone looked out for us.

That the rules only applied to some.

That play was an analog for the life that awaited us.

So as I stare through the chain link fence at the dusty asphalt, I imagine not all of us have the same memories of what it was like to grow up in places like this.

And not all of us choose to return.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #chainlink #fence #maitland #downtown #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

What rain leaves behind

Soaked
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: our driveway.

I’ve been running errands, the usual everyday stuff that needs to get done but is just as quickly forgotten. It’s been pouring heavily for days, the rainfall and flood warnings growing more ominous by the hour.

I should probably head into the house because more everyday stuff awaits, but in between unplugging my phone and scooping up my keys, the deluge intensifies, wrapping the car in a cocoon of sound and fury that, frankly, I rather enjoy.

So I sit for a few minutes, doing nothing more than listening to the thrum against the sheetmetal and watching the ever-shifting puddles on the sunroof. It’s hypnotic.

I make a mental note to fish the good camera out of the house sometime soon so I can shoot the droplets overhead, but then I realize now is preferable to later, and I’d rather not have to sprint through the rain. So I lift the smartphone up and play with the angles.

It doesn’t take long to get what I envisioned, a textured scene that literally has the colour sucked out of it. Almost on cue, the skies relent and the pooled water slithers off of the glass. The moment is over.

I’ll never know if this photo may or may not have been technically better had I captured it with a more appropriate tool. But I do know I did the best that I could with what I had in the moment.

And in doing so, I realize the lesson applies to far more than simple photography.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #onstorm #weatherphotography #droplet #abstract #bokeh #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

Lost in London

Sign from above
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Not all those who wander are lost.

Not all those who are lost necessarily want to be found.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sign #tolkien #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone

The leaves that autumn forgot

Defiant
London, ON
January 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The thing that attracts our attention isn’t always spectacular or obvious.

It can be the unassuming branch swaying in the wind, the easily ignored wisp of nothingness with the thin layer of dew clinging underneath.

Most of us will miss it entirely.

Assuming we were never looking for it in the first place.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #branch #leaves #texture #stilllife #bokeh #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Staring into reflective waters

Mirrored
London, ON
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Stare into reflective water long enough and one thing eventually becomes apparent: it will never look precisely like this again.

Perhaps we’ll return here at some future point in time, and perhaps when we do the weather and the lighting conditions and even our moods might be similar. But the image in front of us will never be repeated.

We should consider ourselves lucky, then.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #winter #river #reflective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Shmear culture

The before picture
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Bagels aren’t just glorified rolls with holes in the middle. They’re culinary religion.

Anyone who’s indulged in bagel culture for long enough appreciates the simple joy of picking up a dozen from a local shop built around its own wood-fired oven. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of warmth radiating through the paper bag, followed by the inevitable debate we have with ourselves over taking just one bite before getting home.

The shmear is a critical part of the experience. I could simply call it “cream cheese”, but that would be doing it a disservice, because we’re not just talking about the confection itself. Rather, it’s what we do with it when we drop everything on the kitchen table and get ready for the most memorable shared meal of the day.

Our local bagel store is located within walking distance of our house, a simple reminder of the power of communities still served by people we know and admire. Who are always happy to banter over the different kinds of shmears they have prepared themselves and displayed under glass, and will ask on the next visit if we liked what we brought home.

On this morning, the recommendation was herb and garlic cream cheese. And when I got home and opened it up, I was struck by the texture, made not by a machine, but by someone I know. Who took the time to walk me through their various offerings before recommending the herb and garlic.

Sure, the shmeared bagel was fabulous. But I’ll remember the conversation, the texture, the moment, far longer than anything else.

#ldnont #oldbagelhouse #shoplocal #monochrome #stilllife

Where waves go to die

Washed up
Sunny Isles Beach, FL
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In the dying seconds of an ocean wave’s life, it swells up just enough to catch the rising sun’s rays and throw jagged shadows across the flattened sand.

Milliseconds later, it’s all over, streams of foamy water returning to the sea as another wave rises up right behind it.

The beach is otherwise empty in these sacred few minutes after sunrise, the drama playing out with no one around to witness it.

Yet the waves don’t seem to mind, as the forces shaping these micromoments get their start in countless unseen corners of the planet.

And they don’t much care who’s around when they finally converge on a deserted beach before disappearing forever.

#sunnyislesbeach #florida #sunrise #landscapephotography #throwback

Reading a tree stump

Read this...
London, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This is all that’s left of a tree that took around 40 years to grow, and could very well take another 40 years to be absorbed back into the earth.

The circle of life, literally and figuratively, painted in rich textures, quietly telling a timeless story in the shadows of others that now protect it.

#ldnont #medway #canada #naturephotography #texture

Leave nothing behind but a shadow

At the turnaround point
Lucan, ON
April 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I point the bike north, toward a picture perfect town called Lucan, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows as I battle the winds sweeping across the freshly plowed farmers’ fields.

It feels good to be out there, hands cold soaking on the brake hoods, legs powering up hills carved eons ago by retreating glaciers.

Nothing in this moment matters beyond keeping the wheels tracking along the white line - or carefully drifting offline when the crumbling asphalt threatens to swallow a tire. I listen for traffic and scan my rear-view mirror, pushing everything else aside as the pedals settle into a gentle rhythm, the frame rocking ever so slightly side to side.

It’s taken me a few kilometres to find the right cadence, the right gear, the right mindset. Fast enough to be efficient. Consistent enough to not burn out before the turnaround point.

But there’s no burnout today, and soon enough I roll into the achingly quaint main drag and look for a spot to park and snack on some stale granola.

I stop just long enough to send my wife this proof-of-life photo, then plot the way home. I have just enough time before sundown to take the longer route, to race the sun with the wind, finally, at my back. Logic dictates the shorter path, but I decide logic doesn’t get to make this call.

Soon enough I’m back up to speed, passing pastures filled with cows, horses, and even a seemingly lost donkey. The shadows grow longer, the air colder, the wind stronger. As if an unseen hand now pushes me toward home, without which none of this would be possible.

#lucan #ontario #canada #cycling #orange #TangerineDream #bicycle #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Liftoff toward the unknown

Transition
Sunny Isles Beach, FL
February 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It takes courage to fling yourself into the unknown, to trust your wings to carry you through the turbulence toward what may or may not be a better place.

I wonder if this bird is trying to teach us something.

#sunnyislesbeach #florida #wildlifephotography #throwback