Rolling into Parkhill

Flowers on main street
Parkhill, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The road beckoned, so I listened.

I’ve been ranging ever further from home on the bright orange machine, and it was time to stretch my legs just a little further. #Parkhill popped into my head the other morning as I got ready to head out, and I couldn’t come up with any rational reason to say no.

This picture-perfect town 40-ish kilometres northwest of home has long been a place we drive through, not to. The road to the beach at Grand Bend rolls right through the center of this historic place, and for years I’ve been telling myself I need to stop in someday.

This Saturday became my someday. And soon enough I was pedalling into a stiff headwind, the tall corn stalks singing loudly in the fields on either side of the arrow-straight regional highway that connected here and there.

Kayak-topped SUVs on their way to the beach gave me ample room as they sped past. Horses and cows grazed quietly in their pastures, and every second farmhouse seemed to have its own barking dog to add to my road trip soundtrack.

Somehow, the new bike makes rides like this feel effortless - just gear down, spin, and feel the road in your fingertips - and before long, I coasted onto the tree-lined main drag and looked for a quiet place to stop and recharge for the back half.

The historic storefronts reflected the snippets of life playing out up and down the street, families fetching groceries, dogs being walked, kids taking their first steps. I couldn’t stay long before I had to turn for home, but I was here just long enough to plant the seeds for my next visit.

Some places just get into your blood that way, even when they’re far from home.

#north #middlesex #county #ontario #canada #cycling #cyclist #cycle #bicycle #bike #cyclinglife #bikelife #instabike #orange #devinci #hatchet #gravelbike #random #roadside #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Watching the storms roll in

Water, light, and energy
London, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 10:45 p.m. on a deserted street not far from home.

Severe thunderstorms have been rolling through the area all evening, and the dog and I are trying to catch a break before the next one hits. The horizon looks ominous, with fast-moving clouds barely covering the stars above, the rising winds creating their own music through the trees.

The clouds seem particularly reflective tonight, as if they sense that the world below needs an extra shot of light. So I stop to take in this unusual scene, and end up lingering on the grass for a while, feeling the wind through my hair and the gentle tug of the leash in my hand. Calli is perfectly happy to follow her nose at my feet as I stare up at the sky.

I probably shouldn't be standing in an open field while storms threaten to unload at any moment. But sometimes the planet feels a little different for reasons that may not be immediately apparent, and we owe it to ourselves to slow things down and appreciate the moment for what it is.

Indeed, when you open your eyes up amid the looming darkness, you never quite know what you'll discover.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #night #sky #clouds #light #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Windows on the Vegas Strip

So many stories yet to be told
Las Vegas, NV
November 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everything's bigger on the Las Vegas strip, even the facades.

#lasvegas #nevada #throwback #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #building #architecture #architecturephotography #facade #design #buildingporn #architectureporn #steel #lines #monochrome #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Peachy!

Bet you can't eat just one
Talbotville, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When you live in the middle of some of the most productive agricultural lands on the planet, you’ll be stopping at farmers markets alongside more rural roads than you’ll ever be able to count.

Which explains how we found these peaches on display not far from Talbotville, where they used to make Ford Pintos.

It was a hot and humid Sunday afternoon, and we needed a change of scenery. It’s been a common theme since the pandemic began, this ongoing need to bust out a little - safely, of course - and spend a bit of time somewhere else than home.

These escapes don’t last long, nor are they terribly consequential to the trajectory of Planet Earth. They aren’t remotely life-changing, either.

But they are essential in their own way. And somehow, staring at a perfect bunch of peaches, surrounded by some of my favorite people, becomes the most important thing I can do for my, and our, mental health on this sultry afternoon.

We’re witnessing history. And it is changing us. One fruit, one afternoon, one random wander through the countryside at a time.

So let’s wander.

#talbotville #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #talbotvilleberryfarm #store #farm #farmer #fruit #peaches #fruitography #shopping #retail #random #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On glory

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."

Napoleon Bonaparte

 

Patio door glass on a rainy day

From the inside looking out
London, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We can either lament the fact that it rained, or celebrate what's been left behind.

The choice is entirely ours.

I think you already know where I stand.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #patio #window #spontaneous #water #abstract #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

The deep end of the lake

Waves at the end of the day
Grand Bend, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Depending on how you look at it, the water is either crystal clear, inky black, painted by the sun, or none or all of the above.

It's all a matter of perception, then.

Of where we choose to stand. When we choose to stand there. Which way we choose to look. What lens we choose to look through.

Hmm, maybe this is more than a simple Lake Huron sunset photo, after all.

Maybe I need to stop thinking so much and just enjoy the view.

#grand #bend #grandbend #ontario #canada #beach #great #lake #huron #sun #sunset #summer #nature #waves #water #landscape #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

The grid

It's all about perspective
Lambeth, ON
Jule 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You can find something to play with wherever you happen to be, even on a Sunday morning outside an otherwise ordinary-looking arena/community centre tucked away at the edge of a sleepy hamlet.

I use the word "play" deliberately.

Because that's what photography is. Or, at least, should be. Play. Creative, colorful, always-at-the-back-of-your-mind play.

Because what is life if we can't allow ourselves the luxury of a little playtime whenever the inspiration strikes?

#ldnont #lambeth #ontario #canada #throwback #community #centre #public #architecture #tile #square #geometry #straight #lines #early #sunday #morning #monochrome #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On the speed of life

Sometimes you come across a piece of writing that reads like poetry, that seems to reach out and not so much touch your soul as gently graze it.

This is one such piece, a first-person perspective by New York Times contributing opinion writer Margaret Renkl on the speed of life, and how we might want to reframe how we choose to navigate it.

It's an easy five-minute read, but for some reason it sticks with you long after you've finished it and moved on to something else.

Some writers are just gifted that way, I guess.

Enjoy.

I Don’t Want to Spend the Rest of My Days Grieving

By Margaret Renkl

The New York Times

August 9, 2021

Alternate link here.

Indeed you are loved

When strangers care
London, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There's a valley that winds its way through our neighborhood, kind of like a natural spine that turns city into country for anyone looking to unplug for a little while.

At the bottom of one of the stairways that connects this magical, quiet gift to the real, noisy world, someone decided to leave a little message in the shadowy concrete that's usually covered by random fallen leaves.

It's a simple message, really: "You are loved." But on this day, it stopped me in my tracks.

I'll never know who decided to leave this behind, but whoever they are, I hope they know their random act of publicly messaged kindness wasn't in vain.

It rippled out to me, and I'm certain to the countless other folks who pass by here on any given day. For I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt the weight of these words that are designed to heal.

We are indeed loved. It's up to us to believe in the power of that simple phrase, to allow it to drown out whatever other noise we may hear at the top of those literal or figurative steps. Back in the real world.

Small things. Significant impact.

Where else should we be looking for them? What other messages should we be leaving behind for strangers to randomly come across?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #signs #messages #random #suburban #street #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On pragmatic necessity

"Necessity dispenseth with decorum."

Thomas Carlyle

 

She's pawriffic

Beans
London, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I have a strange admission: I find our dog’s paws fascinating.

Frankly, everything about Calli the Wonderschnauzer is fascinating. Indeed, every dog is fascinating, a uniquely complex package of behaviors that magically complement any family lucky enough to have them. If they’re lucky enough to have the right family, of course.

But this one’s ours. And she is, to put it bluntly, insane. Delightfully insane, but insane all the same.

And when she sleeps - which is often, because dogs who play hard need lots of recharge time - I’ll often just stare at her. No real reason why.

But no one ever said reason ever had anything to do with owning a dog. Random moments like this one are more than enough for me.

#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

Rest stop at the old rail crossing

Eastbound
Komoka, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The rail line serves as a border between a sleepy exurb subdivision and pristine farmland, a steel dividing line between quiet lives far from the city and the fields that conceivably feed them.

I've stopped here because it's hot, and I need to refuel before I turn the bike toward home way too many kilometres thataway. I carry my own water and snacks, and as I munch away next to the crossing signals, I take note of the tracks beside my front tire.

They're old, their weathered, splintered ties disappearing into a mess of grit, gravel, and weeds. This is not a glittering high-speed rail line - just a tired stretch of track in the countryside that seems like an ideal analog to Canada's historic ignorance of its railway heritage.

Yet I still find myself drawn to places like this.

Maybe they echo what it took to pull this geographically-vast land into an economically feasible network of communities.

Maybe they reflect the small communities from coast to coast to coast that still rely on them to keep the lights on.

Maybe the romance of life on the rails still flickers amid the crushed railbed and rusting spikes that anchor the track.

As is often the case, I have no real answers to the silent questions posed by this too-often-overlooked place as my mind firms up the route for the ride home. And soon enough, it's time to get back on the pedals.

But part of me wonders what it might be like to ride a freight train back to the city at the other end of the line.

Part of me wonders what the future of rail travel will look like in places like this.

Part of me wonders why I wonder about things like this at all.

#ldnont #london #komoka #middlesex #centre #ontario #canada #rail #railroad #train #history #landscape #landscapephotography #cycling #cyclist #cycle #bicycle #bike #cyclinglife #random #roadside #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:

The orange machine heads west, July 2021

The protectors around us, May 2014

Rolling out, rolling on, April 2014

Salt, pepper, or both? April 2013

Grey path to nowhere, March 2013

After the fall, January 2013

Tractor beam, September 2011

Where Po craves ice cream

Someone's got an ice cream headache
St. Thomas, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We discovered something this weekend: Po the Teletubby* likes ice cream.

And cherry milkshakes. Specifically from Shaw’s Ice Cream, that magical place between the cornfield and the farmhouse that I strangely insist on photographing every time we’re here.

We had no idea she was fan of frozen confections, either. Now we know.

* Po has always been my favorite Teletubby, likely because she's the smallest and the youngest one. I have a thing for the underdog.

I’ve had her for a very long time. Decades. She was a Happy Meal toy when our kids were young enough for Happy Meals. Our son soon tired of Po, so she migrated to my camera bag, my backpack, whatever I was carrying at the time. She’s been everywhere, always up for a new adventure.

She’s become rather frayed over the years, but every one of those random strings of worn fabric represents a smile, a spontaneous conversation, a moment of connection with a stranger. I can’t imagine hitting the road without her.

Joy from a tattered castaway child’s toy. It’s a thing.

#stthomas #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #po #teletubby #shaws #icecream #milkshake #food #foodie #foodporn #random #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Tracking a Talon

Smooth history
London, ON
September 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Behold the T-38 Talon, the primary (for now) jet trainer for the U.S. Air Force.

It's the plane that teaches pilots how to fly supersonic jets, and it's also how NASA astronauts get around when they don't want to fly commercial with the rest of us proles.

I've loved this plane since I was a kid, primarily because its design is so insanely clean, and it telegraphs perfectly what it is. It first flew in 1959, yet for some reason it still looks like the future.

I captured this one during its demo at last year's airshow, and while I don't think it'll be back on this year's manifest, I hope the future-fighter-pilots who fly them stay safe wherever they may be.

#ldnont #london #airport #ontario #canada #throwback #SkyDrive #AirShowLondon #aviation #northrop #t38 #talon #flight #aircraft #avgeek #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #Nikon #nikonphotography #photography #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A Raptor generates its own clouds

Corner velocity, visualized
London, ON
September 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some folks just like to make their own weather. And when they do, the least we can do is take their photo.

Thanks, @f22demoteam, for painting the #ldnont skies with vapor last year. Fly safe.

#london #airport #ontario #canada #throwback #SkyDrive #AirShowLondon #aviation #lockheedmartin #f22a #raptor #stealth #fighter #flight #aircraft #avgeek #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #Nikon #nikonphotography #photography #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Viper over London

Demo day
London, ON
September 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Since we're in a plane-ish mood*, here's a throwback to the day last September when we sat beside our cars alongside the runway and watched a very special Viper do its thing.

Pay extra close attention to the red-and-white sticker on the side of the engine intake, just behind the anti-collision light.

It pays tribute to Capt. Jenn Casey, the public affairs officer of Canada's Snowbirds team, who died the previous May when her plane crashed just after takeoff from Kamloops, B.C.

Mad respect to the good folks from @viperdemoteam for this touching gesture.

* The air show is coming back to London at the end of the month. COVID being COVID, we'll once again be parked in our cars, properly socially distanced from other attendees, as the aircraft do their flyby displays. Nothing on static for a second straight year.

The blessing is we get to have this event in any form. So as I gear up for another photographically epic day, I thought I'd share a few fun snippets from last year's show. Hope you enjoy.

#ldnont #london #airport #ontario #canada #SkyDrive #AirShowLondon #aviation #lockheedmartin #f16 #fighting #falcon #viper #fighter #flight #aircraft #avgeek #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #Nikon #nikonphotography #photography #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On Humboldt

It's a tragedy that continues to resonate among Canadians: on April 6, 2018, a transport truck blew through a stop sign and obliterated a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos minor hockey team.

16 members of the team died, and a country whose very identity often seems to revolve around hockey, particularly the long, dark journey through the minors to the big leagues, mourned them.

Jaskirat Sidhu was driving that truck. After pleading guilty to 16 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and 13 counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily injury, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison, where he currently remains.

The story of how the families have engaged with him in the three years since serves as a poignant commentary on the benefits - and limits - of forgiveness.

It's not an easy story to read. But it's an important one.

Forgiving Jaskirat Sidhu

By Aaron Hutchins

Macleans

August 4, 2021

No car for you

Empty
London, ON
August 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I seem to have a strange habit of shooting plain-looking buildings straight-on. I offer no explanations for why this is so.

This particular structure, captured in an especially challenged stretch of #ldnont's downtown core, has a borderline-apocalyptic feel that reminds me I'm overdue for my next downtown ruinporn walkabout.

You're welcome to join me if you're around. I've been double-vaxxed and everything.

#london #ontario #canada #throwback #random #urban #downtown #york #street #old #building #architecture #ruinporn #hertz #streetphotography #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On actual happiness

"Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit."

Hosea Ballou

 

Night falls on an IHOP in Georgia

Pancakes for dinner
Dalton, GA
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: a parking lot just outside an IHOP restaurant near the I-75 in Dalton, Georgia. It’s 8:59 p.m., December 21, 2019.

We’ve been in the car since long before the sun came up. Over 1,200 km, one province and five states later, we’re back in darkness and very much in need of a break.

It isn’t much, this place, an everyday eatery among countless others. But it sits like a beacon in the darkness, a welcoming reminder of home for those who find themselves impossibly far from it.

It’ll do, despite the fact that the supposed International House of Pancakes is neither international, nor is it a house. I clearly have a lot of time while driving to toss around silliness like this.

Naming convention aside, I feel strangely compelled to take a picture from the outside looking in.

Maybe I don’t want to forget this place - seemingly forgettable to so many, but oh so indelible to us. Maybe I need to remind myself that as we race from there to here and then onward to there, we owe it to ourselves to hold onto the tiny-yet-significant stories that play out along the way, in the little towns that soon fade out of the rearview.

Soon enough, the Dalton IHOP indeed fades out behind us as we accelerate back up to speed, back into the inky night.

We were only here for a blink, but somehow it sticks with us no matter how far away we now find ourselves.

#dalton #georgia #ga #throwback #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #i75 #ihop #restaurant #parking #lot #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Once there was life here, October 2020

Life in an old cemetery, August 2020

Seeing the road through my wife's eyes, December 2018

The strangers we meet, May 2016

Thematic Photographic 33 - Surprise, January 2009

Crack the sky, February 2009

Vacancy at the Economy Inn, July 2008

Bleak outlook, March 2008

Kentucky trucker, March 2008

Caption This 34, September 2007

Vacation images - Jellico cliff, May 2005

Vacation images - a little girl colors, January 2005

Vacation images - Day 1 drive, January 2005

Vacation images - future's so bright, January 2005

Vacation images - a society's priorities, January 2005

Vacation images - reflecting on a trip, January 2005

Notes from the Road - Day 1, January 2005

Notes from the Road - Day 2, January 2005

Notes from the Road - Day 3, January 2005

Eight years on...

Where life took a turn
Middlesex Centre, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This is the intersection of Wonderland and Nine Mile roads, and this is where my life took a serious tangent 8 years ago today.

Nine Mile stretches to the east to frame left, while Wonderland heads south to the right. To the right of the street sign lies the spot where, as I turned for home on my bike, I encountered an impassable construction zone.

As I looked over my left shoulder to turn back, I accidentally tore my left carotid artery.

The sudden-onset headache was so severe that I stopped on the eastbound shoulder to text my wife, grab some water, and try to regroup. I was hot, in pain, and ticked at the prospect of a long ride home.

I was seeing floaters by the time I got home, but still thought it was just a lousy headache. I showered, tried to nap, and a couple of hours later tried to make chicken on the BBQ out back.

That's when I collapsed from an ischemic stroke after clots from the injury to my artery broke free and went into my brain.

As I awoke to my wife talking to me, I realized I couldn't speak, and my right side was paralyzed. I was locked in, unable to respond in anything more than monosyllables. Yet I totally understood what was going on.

I'm here today thanks to miracle-working docs and nurses and a dear, brilliant neurologist friend who dropped everything to take on my case. Not a moment goes by that I don't reflect on that day, at this intersection.

I'm incredibly lucky, and I'll often get on the bike and ride past here to remind myself of that.

And as much as I wish I didn't have to live with the residual effects of this single motion - I feel a low-level dizziness, like I'm perpetually tipsy, and my balance disqualifies me from the Olympic gymnastics trials - I realize, perversely, that it made me a better person.

Because before this happened, I'm not sure I was cherishing life and my family as much as I should have been. Every moment since, however, has been a very different story.

Sometimes all it takes is a small change in direction.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #stroke #awareness #cycling #life #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #health #everything

Related:

So, about that stroke - August 2014

When even "thank you" seems lame - August 2014

More stroke stuff... - August 2014

Stroke survivor shares his story, London Free Press, Aug 14, 2014

Coming up on Canada AM - Lookahead to February 2015 interview

Winding down the day that was - February 2015 - incl link to Canada AM/Heart/Stroke Month segment

Life at the crossroads - April 2015

Two years on... - August 2015

Three bonus years - August 2016

Four years later - August 2017

Five years on - August 2018

Luke Perry could have been me - or any of us - March 2019

The day everything changed - August 2019

Seven years on, August 2020

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - DogShow!

We're going to break with convention today, as our latest #IfYouReadOneThingToday entry isn't about an article. Rather, it's about a video.

It's called Talking Dogs, and in just under 5 minutes, Brooklyn filmmaker Mat Cascella manages to reinforce what it is about dogs that dog people love.

Here's the link.

If you're a dog person, you'll get it. If you aren't a dog person, hopefully you'll be swayed.

Because dogs are remarkable, and little vignettes like this, that celebrate them, deserve to be seen.

Enjoy!

Talking Dogs

By Max Cascella

Big Shins

July 2021

Cool glass of water

Drink up
London, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Most of us were taught from an early age to not play with our food.

My memories of childhood are fuzzy at best, but I’m reasonably sure the no-play warning didn’t apply to glasses of water. Because in my convoluted world, water isn’t technically food, and I was always a challenging child looking for a loophole.

And apparently a challenging adult, too, from the looks of this photo.

The light was just so. The condensation had a texture all its own. And while the rest of my fam chatted away, I quietly composed the scene on my phone and snagged a few frames before anyone noticed what I was up to.

I didn’t end up playing with my food, which I’m guessing won’t make up for all the hell I raised at - and beyond - the dinner table as I was growing up.

But I got the photo I set out to get. And in the process managed to freeze-in-time the memory of a moment that mattered to my family.

If it meant breaking a meaningless rule from long ago along the way, I’m fine with it. Photography isn’t about following the rules, anyway.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #dinner #table #spontaneous #water #glass #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On (im)perfection

"Perfection itself is imperfection."

Vladimir Horowitz

 

Reflection from a rural parking lot

After the sun has gone
Elginfield, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I call this a context photo. Or a meta photo. The kind of picture you take when you want to remember what it felt like to be in a certain place, at a certain time.

Like this fast, reflective shot of Henrietta 2.0 after I finished shooting the sunset with the Nikon and prepared to head home.

It’s a hastily captured smartphone pic, and I took it to remember what it felt like to be there as the sun slipped below the ridge to the west and the sky gradually faded into night.

Like the test shot I shared last week, this meta photo tells a different, yet no less important, part of the story.

Is it remotely artistic or frameworthy? Nah. But it’s just as central to capturing more than mere pixels. I can almost smell the farms that bordered this busy restaurant parking lot.

Photography as trigger. Hmm, maybe this deserves further exploration.

If you’ve got a smartphone, how are you using it to tell more of the story?

#elginfield #london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #red #honda #reflection #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Red-tinged reflection in a parking lot, April 2019

Henrietta 2.0 gets wet, July 2018

Blue. Shiny. Handled. July 2018

Thematic Photographic 132 - Curves, January 2011

Stop and freeze the sky, January 2011

Roadside reflection, August 2007

A car, personified, June 2005

Hyde Park Balconville

    So. Many. Lives.
London, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The design principles of modern apartment buildings may not garner the same acclaim as, say, something from the Art Deco era.

But that doesn't mean examples aren't worthy of attention in some other way.

Like this fairly new addition to the #ldnont skyline. From the street, the balconies almost felt like an invitation to take a quick peek into how people who live in the sky actually live.

I don't have any better answers after tripping the shutter than I did beforehand, but I do like the result.

That's more or less all that really matters, isn't it?

#london #hyde #park #ontario #canada #architecture #design #architecturephotography #geometry #balconville #building #street #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Green Spark in a parking lot

Glamor shot
London, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Today's photo exercise: wander through a parking lot, seek out the most everyday-looking, ordinary vehicles you can find, then try to take workable photos of them.

You'll have to work fast, because no one likes strangers taking unsolicited pictures of their vehicles (someone once told me this.)

When you're done, share your pics in your feed. Let's make this a movement.

Maybe that's too ambitious. Let's call it a temporary distraction. Something to keep us occupied while the planet burns.

Or something.

Maybe a hashtag. How does #plainparkedcars sound?

The irony that we're trying to find loveliness in the very vehicles that are causing the planet to burn isn't lost on me.

I never said any of this has to make any sense.

Happy shooting.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #chevrolet #chevy #spark #green #car #carporn #automotive #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

#OldParkedCars, diesel edition, June 2021

It's a Jeep thing, May 2021

It's another Jeep thing, May 2021

Yet another Jeep thing - in purple, May 2021

A TR7 decays in silence, May 2021

Homemade pickup truck, April 2020

Carporn, Chapter 672, June 2018

#SubaruDrive heads-up, December 2012

The eyes have it, June 2012

Thematic Photographic 156 - Red, August 2011

My little pony, May 2011

Thematic Photographic 145 - Vehicular, May 2011

Corvette summer, July 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Yaris by Toyota, June 2008

Parked curves, August 2007

Finding life at the crossroads

Life happens here
Elginfield, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Elginfield is a tiny crossroads around 20 minutes north of #LdnONT. There isn't much here beyond a fabulous roadside restaurant, a church, a school, a place that'll sell you an RV, and another place that'll weld that RV when it inevitably breaks.

There used to be a gas station here, but it closed up years ago, only to be replaced by a place that sold garden sheds. It, too, has now disappeared, leaving behind little more than disappointed gardeners, crumbling asphalt, and windblown weeds in its wake. And while you occasionally have to look a little harder for signs of life, you're rewarded with hauntingly beautiful scenes when you take the time to do so.

We often pass through here on our way somewhere else, and sometimes I'll stop in the restaurant's parking lot and shoot the landscape. On this visit, the timing works out nicely, as it's almost sunset when I pull in.

The farm that stretches across the rolling landscape in the distance almost seems to hide its stories in this silhouetted ridge, two-dimensional snippets of lives that play out far more richly than the average passer-by would likely ever appreciate.

Soon enough, it's time to head home. But this barely-visible place has a hold on me that I can't quite explain, and I'm sure it won't be long before I return here in search of other ways to tell its story.

#elginfield #london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #sky #country #farm #rural #roadside #tree #trees #silhouette #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Countryside at night, August 2020

Staring out from a detoured train, March 2020

Waiting for life to return, February 2018

The sun sets over Elginfield, October 2017

Muted landscape, November 2011

Under a blood red sky, November 2009

Sunrise in Westminster, Colorado, November 2006

An idyllic peek, October 2004

Returning to the sun-drenched grasses

Backlit and tall
London, ON
October 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Almost 15 years ago, I stood beside a steep ditch in farmland north of #LdnONT taking pictures of the tall grasses. In my hot little hands was my then-brand-new Nikon, and this was its first outing.

You know where this is going: I was so engrossed in the scene playing out in the viewfinder that I neglected to watch my step - and ended up falling down the slope.

Thankfully the camera was OK, but I'm pretty sure I bruised a rib in the process. But the photos were decent, and based on that experience I added bulrushes and tall grasses to an ever-lengthening list of things I like to shoot.

Years later, I found myself in the woods on the other side of town, with a new Nikon in my hot little hands. This time I didn't fall like an idiot, and the tall grasses were even lovelier than I had remembered.

Learning from earlier mistakes. Not a bad way to up my photo game. Or to stay out of the ditch. Or to live.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #forest #westminster #fall #autumn #color #colors #grass #grasses #bulrushes #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Childhood bulrush memories, November 2020

Bulrushes, part 2, November 2020

Bulrushes, part 3, November 2020

Green grass in a strong breeze, September 2020

Lake Huron peeks through the grass, September 2017

Thematic Photographic 195 - Bushes and Trees, May 2012

As the rush comes, October 2006

Mom looks back at 21 years

On knowing when to ask

"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."

James Thurber

The orange machine heads west

Ironically, there was no water to be had
Komoka, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

She got a little dirty today.

Which is as it should be.

#ldnont #london #komoka #middlesex #centre #ontario #canada #cycling #cyclist #cycle #bicycle #bike #cyclinglife #bikelife #instabike #orange #devinci #hatchet #gravelbike #random #roadside #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Little Man is now legal. Everywhere.

Too fast
London, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It feels like he was born yesterday, but today our youngest, Noah, celebrates his 21st birthday.

Time flies for him because he packs so much into what he’s been given. Up early and out the door before the sun is up, he fills every day with hard work and stories of who he’s touched along the way.

The coming year will surely bring new opportunities and adventures, and all because he’s never been content to sit around and wait for the world to come to him.

Happy birthday to our no-longer-so-little man. We love you limitlessly and can’t wait to see what you do next.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #parenthood #birthday #boy #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Date night with my favorite human

 

Same building, again, painted by the sun

That friendly glow
Stratford, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The setting sun reflects lovingly across the old white paint that barely covers this worn-out concrete-block building, its orange glow splaying out for a few fleeting seconds before fading out for good.

But you have to stand just so to see it. Otherwise, it’s just another relic nearly lost to time, another forgettable piece of barely qualified architecture, easily ignored by all who pass by.

There’s a lesson here. That how a thing - a building, an anything, an anyone - looks depends almost entirely on where we stand, on what lens we choose to look through, on how we feel at that particular moment.

There are no absolutes here. Two people can stand next to each other and absorb whatever is in front of them in radically different ways. Or the same person can come back another day, and tell an entirely different story. Or maybe just blink and feel the same scene in a new manner.

The universe paints us all in different ways - just as it paints this old structure in countless tones that can’t be predicted before we open our eyes to take in the show.

Which is why I resolve to return here another time. To tell another story, perhaps. Or to remind myself, again, that we owe it to ourselves - and to each other - to look at inanimate objects and people alike from more than one perspective.

#stratford #ontario #canada #landscape #concrete #glass #building #architecture #architecturephotography #design #buildingporn #architectureporn #ruinporn #streetphotography #urban #street #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Old building in the fading sun, July 2021

Stratford test shot, July 2021

Same building, now in monochrome, July 2021

Reflecting on life by the still water, May 2020

Staring across the still water, May 2020

Almost vanished history, November 2012

Thematic Photographic 209 - From behind, August 2012

Same building, now in monochrome

Weathered corner
Stratford, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If you look at the same thing - like this building - from a slightly different angle or perspective, you may as well be looking at another building.

Funny how that works, no?

(Keep your eye on this feed. I've got more on the way.)

#stratford #ontario #canada #landscape #concrete #glass #building #architecture #architecturephotography #design #buildingporn #architectureporn #ruinporn #streetphotography #urban #street #monochrome #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Stratford test shot, July 2021

Old building in the fading sun, July 2021

On a better definition of experience

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

Oscar Wilde

Stratford test shot

Angles and reflections
Stratford, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This is a test shot.

Some background: whenever I take pictures with the camera-camera - aka the real camera, my Nikon, the one I shlep around in a giant bag over my shoulder that annoys the daylights out of strangers I bump into at the supermarket - I also tote along my smartphone.

Clarification: my smartphone goes everywhere with me regardless, but when I'm shooting for reals, I like to use its built-in camera as a bit of a backup.

Not that my tiny iPhone with the tiny lens and tiny sensor will outshoot the Nikon. But it's 2021, and any smartphone camera is now generally good enough to capture good enough results that hold their own in a feed.

Good enough. Let's remember those two words.

Having the phone in my pocket has changed my photography. It helps me think through a scene differently, as it lets me take a quick shot or three just to feel out the composition and get my head in the game before I pull out the bigger piece of glass.

I often scan the results to further refine how I'll shoot it with the bigger machine, maybe tweak the settings or otherwise try something different.

Shooting on the phone also gives me more options if I decide to share something directly to social media - because a bizarro roadside photo sesh needs to be shared.

Sometimes, a test shot jumps right out. And it pulls you even more profoundly into the moment where you want to use every photographic tool at your disposal - in your pocket, in your hand, over your shoulder, wherever - to paint the most thorough picture possible of what it feels like to be there.

Which brings me to this one, a hastily composed angled shot of that lovely old concrete building on the edge of Stratford. The one that helped me discover how this building needed to have its story told. At least this time.

Sometimes all it takes is having the right tool in your hand.

#stratford #ontario #canada #landscape #concrete #glass #building #architecture #architecturephotography #design #buildingporn #architectureporn #ruinporn #streetphotography #urban #street #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:

Old building in the fading sun, July 2021

Reflecting on life by the still water, May 2020

Staring across the still water, May 2020

Almost vanished history, November 2012

Thematic Photographic 209 - From behind, August 2012

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On mothers and daughters

Sometimes you come across an article that is so fluidly written, so achingly real that it sticks with you long after your eyes have grazed over the final word.

This piece qualifies in spades. It initially presents itself as a single mother's ode to her daughter's graduation experience amid the pandemic, but it's so much more than just that.

Anyone who's parented a child will feel this piece. And even if you haven't, there should be more than enough here to move you.

Road Grad

By Jill Talbot

Longreads

June 2021

Numbers, farms, and perspectives

Now don't get lost...
Ilderton, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Look familiar?

I thought the farm with the pretty little red outbuilding deserved more than a single photo. So I wandered around the ditch and tried to shoot it from a few different perspectives.

These address numbers on the hydro pole beside the road intrigued me, for some reason. You don’t see them much within the city limits, but they seem to be everywhere in farm country.

They feel like a relic from another age, a signature of a time that no longer exists, but they offer up tantalizing glimpses here and there for anyone who bothers to take a closer look. They also make a perfect frame for this quietly reverent place in the shadows of the still-growing corn stalks.

I wonder what other fresh perspectives I’ll find on my next ride into the countryside.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #cycling #cyclist #cycle #bicycle #bike #cyclinglife #bikelife #instabike #middlesex #county #farm #red #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #health #everything

Related:

The things we see in farm country, July 2021

Bright lights among the stalks, July 2021

Riding my bike to see the corn, July 2021

Different cows in a different place, July 2021

Follow the tracks home, June 2021

Follow the tracks home - part 2, June 2021

When cows become cyclists. Next Geraldo. June 2021

Today was a day... June 2021

Golden hour by the side of the road, June 2021

Hanging out with the cows, June 2021

Early morning rides through the countryside, June 2021

Cycling from pink to orange, June 2021

On brightening the room

"The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed."

Bennett Cerf

The things we see in farm country

Someone likes red
Ilderton, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You can see some lovely scenes out in farm country. This particular one spoke to me as I pedalled past on a humid afternoon, so I just had to pull over.

And while stopping here and there to take in places like this - and maybe snap a photo or eight - doesn't do much to boost the workout data, it sure does wonders for the soul.

Which is my way of saying I probably won't be bringing home any Strava, Garmin, or Apple Fitness virtual trophies anytime soon. Somehow, I'll deal.

Besides, some rewards may be less tangible than others, but are no less worthy. I'm not much for trophies, anyway.

So if you see some guy parking an orange machine in the grass so he can take strange photos along the way, that would be me.

Maybe I'll see you out there.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #cycling #cyclist #cycle #bicycle #bike #cyclinglife #bikelife #instabike #middlesex #county #farm #red #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #health #everything

Related:

Standing in the very middle of the country, July 2022

They abandon horses here, too

Ride on forever
London, ON
April 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

People leave strange things on the side of the road the night before garbage pickup.

Exhibit A: a wooden rocking horse that may or may not have taken its last ride. The dog and I recently came across this sad sight on our final walk of the night. Its positioning was odd: on a shadowy corner nowhere near anyone’s home, as if it was dropped off by someone who didn’t want anyone to know it was there.

There’s an entire sub-economy in London of folks who scour the streets before garbage/recycling day in search of anything remotely sellable. If you’re up late - or early - enough, you’ll hear their pickups, or bikes, or shopping carts, all rattling through the night.

I hope one of them picked up this forgotten piece of history. It wasn’t there the next morning, and I’d like to think it somehow escaped a one-way trip to the landfill.

Come to think of it, I seem to hope a lot of things as I wander through the night with my trusty little friend. Hope, for a beloved-but-forgotten old toy, or for anything else, really, seems like the right thing to hold onto these days.

Neigh. #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #walkabout #streetphotography #horse #stilllife #night #photography #apple #iPhone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Ominous sign at the garden centre

This way
London, ON
July 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This may sound like a silly question, but should I be kneeling before this sign?

Sorry...couldn't help myself.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #random #urban #store #retail #building #lowes #sod #kneelbeforesod #photography #apple #iphone #iphone11 #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

On truly living

"I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

Euripides