Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Like Wonka's great glass elevator

Go your own way
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Some days, it can be difficult to know which direction to take.

This one’s giving me Wonka-esque, great glass elevator kinda vibes.

Perhaps a spontaneous adventure awaits.

So long as we press the correct button.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #elevator #abstract #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Beg buttons suck, March 2020
But not for me, June 2014
You've all got mail, October 2011

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The most beautiful stairwell of all

Boring, but...
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Whenever I find myself in a multi-floor building, the first thing I do is look for the stairwells.

They aren’t exactly the prettiest places to visit. Developers don’t devote decorating resources to these rarely used concrete-and-steel necessities. Fire code says they need to be safe, not pretty.

Yet pretty isn’t necessarily a collection of lovely art on the walls and soft lighting overhead. Pretty can also be the ability to get to safety. Or a daily floor-challenge climb to maintain heart health. Or a quiet place to go when life feels overwhelming.

I’ve been looking for stairwells for as long as I can remember, often skipping the elevator entirely so I can make my own way up the dimly lit stairs, instead. These overlooked spaces have their own beauty, I suppose, their own structure and story.

Pretty, then, by another definition.

Perhaps we’re not just talking about stairs.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #geometry #stairs #geometry #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Watch your step, January 2022
Please tread carefully, February 2018
Tread carefully, August 2010

Monday, March 25, 2024

Frozen berries by the road

That springtime glow
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Winter stole some time from spring the other night. By morning, she had painted this impossibly intricate scene in the shadows beside our neighbour’s driveway.

Calli the Wonderschnauzer gently sniffed the snowy grass while I played still-life photographer, a scene she’s been a part of countless times since we first brought her home. She seems to instinctively know when it’s time for a spontaneous photo shoot, and will patiently stand by until I tuck the camera away once more.

We don’t have many mornings like this left. Warming temperatures into spring mean no more fleetingly temporary ice in the margins. Maybe winter will gift us with more when she returns. Or not. Perhaps summer will steal some of that time back.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, after all. So we stop what we’re doing and enjoy it while we can. Before it’s gone for good.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #onstorm #water #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #actofdog #nature #naturephotography #abstract #stilllife #blue #monochrome #photography #apple #iPhone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Sunday, March 24, 2024

Cagey moment in a Costco

Industrial disease
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Scene from a Costco: we’ve come to this overwhelmingly crowded big box store to fill up on the minutiae of everyday life.

Chaotically twisted lines of people pushing overloaded carts and overtired children snake their way back from the exits, the overworked attendants checking everyone’s receipts at the door.

We pull over to the side to wait for our son to catch up with us, and as we wait, I alternate between watching the endless flow of people - like salmon spawning up the stream - and taking in the massive concrete warehouse architectural masterpiece that serves as the stage for this never-ending performance.

Maybe masterpiece is an overstatement. But it still fascinates me.

So I pull the smartphone out of my pocket and start to size up the chain link fencing that borders the floor-to-ceiling shelves that dominate this monotonously grey landscape. I’ve never played with light and angles in this part of this store before, and I now see what I’ve been missing.

My ever-understanding wife smiles gently. She’s watched this scene play out countless times over the years, and magically she’s always understood the why. I smile gently back at her as I finish shooting and show her the initial results. I’m an insanely lucky human.

Soon enough, our son finds us again and we’re on our way, the grey warehouse aesthetic tucked back into our memories, at least until our next visit here.

This may not have been a place or a moment normally worthy of its own narrative. But I’m starting to believe that in a world where things feel less than normal by the day, where we draw those lines is entirely up to us.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #bigbox #store #costco #shopping #retail #architecture #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Structure in the trees

Held up
London, ON
February 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Never let it be said that there’s no structure in nature.

The proof is all around us.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #forest #tree #trees #branches #optimist #park #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #texture #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Friday, March 22, 2024

The things we see in the waves

Everything eventually ends
Port Stanley, ON
September 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


We see many things in the few seconds when a wave rolls up on shore, then disappears.

Order.

Chaos.

Transparency.

Mystery.

Power.

Vulnerability.

Life.

Endings.

Maybe we see what we want to see.

#portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #throwback #great #lake #erie #water #waves #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Splat goes the ocean, January 2018
Do the wave, January 2010
Thanks, Bill, August 2009
Where sand meets sea, January 2008
Endless waves, January 2007

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Window to the sky

Pull up for the show
Winnipeg, MB
August 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


It does the soul good to look out the window and wonder about what’s out there.

Some of it may be visible. Much of it won’t be. All of it will be remarkable.

#ldnont #london #ontario #yxu #winnipeg #manitoba #canada #ywg #throwback #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #flair #flight #flying #aviation #boeing #boeing737 #avgeek #plane #planes #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Winging it, August 2023

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

A futile search for frozen chicken

The view from the inside
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Either there was a serious run on frozen chicken strips last week, or the truck that delivers them was delayed when the driver had a hankering for an A&W Mama Burger combo.

Whatever the reason, it meant the display case had a rare stretch of open space not seen since the Great Early-Pandemic Shortages of 2020.

Which meant it was time to get to work.

Now, this particular photo was taken one row over from my now-infamous run-in with store security years ago. In that earlier case, they weren’t too pleased when I pulled out a DSLR with a long-ish lens near the milk fridge.

Thankfully this shoot was uneventful. I composed the scene from inside the very chilly display case before anyone knew what I was up to. Stealthy smartphone photography is a thing. Who knew?

I’ll add this one to my growing pile of strange-meets-everyday pics. I never know when the little wheels will start turning in my head, but the fact that they turn at all is the only thing that matters.

Now, go let your own wheels turn. Maybe I’ll see you near the frozen chicken section. #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #walmart #frozen #chicken #shopping #retail #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The things we find in gutters

Frozen in the abstract
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I call it gutter ice, and we came close to having none of it over the course of this bizarrely warm, El Niño-fed, climate-change-tinged winter.

It takes a very specific set of conditions for gutter ice to develop: some kind of wet precipitation, just enough - but not too much - water accumulation, followed by a fast overnight freeze.

Then, there’s a tiny sliver of time in the morning to shoot the impossibly thin ice before it either melts or gets crushed by traffic.

It never got cold enough for long enough this year. Until yesterday, when winter decided on a late-season brush of wind and white. I found this one around the corner from the house just before it disappeared in a puddle.

It seems weird to seek random sheets of ice in the dusty corners of crumbling streets. Conventional wisdom, after all, dictates that great photography and great stories don’t take root on dirty asphalt.

I suppose that might be true, but I’ve never really subscribed to conventional wisdom, anyway. And I’d rather choose my own subjects and stories, too.

Even if I have to chase them across dusty, near-frozen streets.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #onstorm #water #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #actofdog #nature #naturephotography #abstract #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iPhone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Monday, March 18, 2024

Looking for hope beyond the storm

There's always light
London, ON
February 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Beyond every storm, there’s a slash of light that holds hope for a better future.

Maybe it’s hard to see or appreciate, but it’s there. It’s little more than a matter of perspective, really, simply because of where we happen to be standing at any given moment.

Like the skies here, where angry clouds do their best to hide the brilliance behind and above. Soon enough, though, the winds will come along and sweep the fear away.

We simply have to trust forces so often feel beyond our control. That time always seems to find a way to brighten the skies above us.

Feels like a reasonable thought to hold onto on a Monday, doesn’t it?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sun #sunset #sky #tree #trees #cloud #clouds #cloudspotting #weather #wx #optimistpark #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Gloomy, desolate beauty

Monochrome landscape
London, ON
January 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


We’re days away from winter giving way to spring, and we’d be forgiven for thinking we didn’t have much of a winter at all this year.

So I’m sharing this image, taken on a gloomy January morning, as a reminder that in between the record-shattering warmth and lack of snow, we had a few fleeting moments where things looked and felt somewhat normal.

All of this begs the question: what’s normal, anyway?

I don’t think that question can ever be answered.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwcack #tree #trees #fog #weather #wx #onstorm #monochrome #highbury #walkabout #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded


Saturday, March 16, 2024

The things we find in the gutter

Halfsies
London, ON
January 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The world can be a pretty ugly place, and proof of that is often as close as the ground beneath our feet.

I found this on a Saturday morning while out with the dog for her first walk of the day. She was happily sniffing the dirt in the gutter - a dog thing, apparently - so I stood beside her, transfixed by the discarded half-smoked cigarette.

It wasn’t so much the singular image that caught my attention. Rather, it was the story behind it, and the things I could not see.

I wondered who tossed it aside as it slowly burned down its length, and concluded this was but one more countless others. Because someone who would mindlessly toss one butt away like this certainly wouldn’t stop at one.

Whoever this stranger may have been, I’m reasonably certain they never gave their actions a second thought.

But I did. Over something I should have been able to quickly set aside, but couldn’t.

The world is indeed ugly. So are some of the folks who call it home.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #street #streetphotography #cigarette #smoking #belmont #stilllife #roadside #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Friday, March 15, 2024

Ronald McDonald would approve

Friendly arches
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


It’s 10 minutes before midnight as I step back into my car and head home with our very late, unplanned fast food dinner.

It was a day when life’s script was set aside, when we learned yet again why health is the only thing that truly matters. And as is often the case when ERs are visited and entire days are spent waiting in one plasticky chair after another, we eat where and when we can.

And so I found myself looking for an open McDonald’s in the middle of the night. Because I’m silly, I didn’t bother looking anything up when I left the house: just jumped in the car in my flustered rush and assumed everything would be open.

Um, no. Which is how I pulled up to our local McD’s, only to realize it had been closed for hours. So I parked beside the darkened windows and frantically searched on my phone for the nearest open outlet, only to realize the only one still serving was nowhere near home. Which meant it was time for an unplanned cruise through the darkened streets.

This isn’t just any McDonald’s. When it opened its doors in 1968, it was the first restaurant for the iconic brand in Eastern Canada. It has since undergone a careful rebuild that somehow managed to respect the spirit of the original.

I stood in the parking lot and thought about the countless stories that must have played out here over the ensuing decades. The pit stops after the game. The tiny moments marked with ice cream. The family meetings after a hospital visit. All I could do was imagine the history, the echoes pinging through my head amid the pale yellow glow.

I appreciate the prevailing opinion of a place like this, that it’s little more than a stupid fast food joint, hardly worthy of a second look let alone a soft-focus tour of our shared history. But that’s the thing: pieces of almost everyone’s life play out here, or in places just like it. Not every backdrop to every story is storybook.

And I felt that trigger as I carefully walked under the shadowy lights, appreciating the silent fact that I was adding another unplanned chapter to my family’s story in a place we had all come to strangely appreciate.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #architecture #shadows #lines #light #pools #oasis #geometry #streetphotography #night #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Geodesic, May 2006

Thursday, March 14, 2024

When trees fall...

The friends who carry us
London, ON
March 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


When this tree fell in the forest, there was no way of knowing if anyone heard it.

Probably not. But that was never the point anyway.

Because a tree’s worth is hardly determined by the single moment when it falls to earth. It remains vital long after its roots are pulled unceremoniously from the ground by the cruel forces of time and gravity. Suspended in mid-air by its onetime neighbours, it decays slowly above the flowing creek, gently nourishing the water and the land that once fed its growth.

The circle of life tends to whisper its presence rather than shout it. So when it does, we might want to stop what we’re doing to appreciate it. The lessons we learn in the woods may indeed be silent, but we still owe it to ourselves to listen.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #heritage #forest #tree #trees #cathedral #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded