Defiance before the fade

One last wisp of colour
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

A month ago, fire glowed in the tones at our feet, in the remaining leaves that still held onto their last wisps of colour despite the inevitability of all that surrounded them.

If we return to that quiet spot in the woods today, the colours will have shifted to browns and greys, mere shadows of what once was. It’s easy to assume it’s all over, that nature has hit pause, that nothing happens between now and spring, when life will return with a flourish.

This simple assumption, that everything stops as winter approaches, then magically restarts in a few months, ignores all that now happens out of our sight. The life we believe is reflected exclusively in bright colours can often be even more vibrant in their absence.

I wonder if there’s a broader message in these leaves. Maybe we’ve been looking at this autumn colour thing all wrong.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #fallen #leaves #red #autumn #colour #stilllife #naturephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Three geese walk up to a sandbar...

Preflight
London, ON
September 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On an unseasonably warm September afternoon, I’m in the middle of a meandering bike ride through an unfamiliar neighbourhood when I come across this trio of Canadian Geese hanging out in a drainage pond.

The only camera I have on me is my smartphone, because stuffing an actual camera into a bike bag and then cycling the way I do - um, roughly - is probably not advisable for sensitive photographic equipment. I should have gotten the bike with suspension, I guess.

But they always say the best camera is always the one you have in your hand, so I park the bike and start composing with the iPhone.

To be charitable, “they” are spectacularly mistaken. The lens lacks reach, and I end up with this pixelated mess of a photo, and three angry birds who promptly swim away.

But I’m sharing it here, anyway, because I want it to serve as a memo of sorts to my future photographic self. I do that often, drop placeholder photos into the narrative to inspire myself for some future date when maybe the conditions will be better. Maybe I’ll have the right camera with me then. Or better lighting. Or I’ll be in a different frame of mind.

It’s a photographic game of Hansel and Gretel, except instead of finding my way home with a trail of food, I’ll be finding my way forward with a trail of really lousy pics.

But even a lousy photo tells a story - and keeps us on the path we were always meant to be on.

Now, there’s never a guarantee that we’ll even be gifted a tomorrow, so all of this is speculative at best. But it doesn’t hurt to leave little nuggets for the future, just in case.

Until then, the angry birds have time to figure out their next move.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hydepark #bird #geese #reflective #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

The colour-splattered sky

Before the switch is flipped
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The sky was in a bit of a mood last night, splattering herself with random colours and textures long after sunset.

She wasn’t at it for very long: just as soon as the chaos reached its peak, it began its just-as-rapid fade into darkness.

So I just stood there on the damp, soft grass and stared toward the west, musing in my head about how many times I’ve stood in this very spot, and seen scenes very much like this one.

It’s probably a large number. Too large, even, because how many photos of the sky does one person need? Whatever that number is, I’ve likely exceeded it.

But as the yellows and oranges shifted to pinks and salmons, then blues and greys and finally blacks, I stopped counting. Because whatever that large number is, it isn’t infinite. Not for me, nor anyone else who might see these images, or perhaps happen across me as I shoot them.

We all get a certain number of sunsets. Of everything.

So I hope you don’t mind if I keep shooting and sharing the ones I happen to see. The sunsets. The everythings.

Maybe the numbers are ridiculous. The alternative - having no numbers at all - seems even more so.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #sunset #orange #cloudspotting #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

She waits by the bedroom door

Shades of RCA Victor
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: last night. 11:44. It’s bedtime for all of us, and as Calli the Wonderschnauzer often does on her way upstairs, she sits herself down on the upper landing beside our room.

She’ll wait for us to get there before finally getting up and following us in. There’s no telling what she’s thinking, but I’d like to imagine the thoughts bouncing through her head are happy ones. Maybe scenes from the day she’s just had, or wishes for a comfy night’s sleep with her humans. Or squirrels.

Last night, she lingered just a bit longer, the shadows she cast feeling just a bit more grounded than they usually do. So I quietly grabbed this memory before we all tucked in for the night.

Every once in a while, I’m reminded that the moments we remember most seem to be the quietest ones.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callithethewonderschnauzer #dog #actofdog #schnauzersofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Iced over

It's all about the texture
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When tiny frozen miracles are playing out at our feet, the least we can do is look down.

Soon enough, the morning sun will bathe this unassuming gutter in warmth, rendering this crystallized world little more than runoff.

So out comes the camera. Because we never know when the next miracle will occur.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #gutter #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #weather #wx #onstorm #abstract #stilllife #naturephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Impressionism in still waters

Feeling reflective
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Stand on a riverbank staring into the mirror-like waters long enough and one thing eventually becomes clear: everything is temporary.

This is just a reflection. The waters may or may not continue to flow here. The trees will eventually fall. The entire valley, carved out by these same waters over millennia, will eventually morph into something very different.

Maybe it’s all just an illusion. Or a hushed message to those of us who come here to hold onto the things we see and feel.

Because soon enough, we won’t be able to stand here at all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #autumn #forest #trees #thames #river #reflective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Old parking spot

Follow the sign
London, ON
September 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The signs are everywhere. Even here, in the dusty corners of an elementary school parking lot, baking under the sun for as long as the place has been here.

No one leans in to catch the subtle streams of rust below the corroded screw, the hairline cracks in the paint, the berries growing defiantly through the twisted chain link fence.

It’s all invisible. In plain sight.

Which makes me fear the day when someone decides the cracks and the rust need to be painted over, and the berries need to go.

Because the scars we pick up along the way tell stories that don’t deserve to be erased.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #visitor #sign #stilllife #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Walk the red carpet

Here for now
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

A lot can change in four weeks.

This patch of grass beneath a nearby maple tree was once covered with red leaves. Today it’s a snowy mess, and whatever leaves are left have long since shrivelled to brown.

But on that unseasonably warm October day, autumn’s colours flared brilliantly one last time, and the winds held off just long enough so we could enjoy the scene before winter repainted it.

I’m under no illusion that any of this is materially important to any of us. They’re just leaves on grass, after all, another milestone in a planetary cycle that never seems to end.

But for a brief moment on an otherwise ordinary day, an almost-bare tree painted a vibrant carpet of red on a perfectly shaded stretch of grass. I thought it was worth remembering.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #autumn #colours #red #tree #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Related:

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Taking a moment to remember, November 2023

Red on grey on a windy day, October 2023

Don't stand so close to me, October 2020

Can you handle this pepper?

Red and green forever
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We live on a decidedly noisy planet. So on occasion I’ll look for tiny blinkered moments where the noise gets shut out and is replaced by something much simpler.

In this case, it’s one red pepper among many in the produce section of the local Farm Boy store. It’s late on a grey Sunday afternoon, and as soon as I round the corner and see this perfectly lit display, I know it’s time for some spontaneous vegetable photography.

As my immensely patient and understanding wife heads to the bread section, I lean in and try to figure out the ideal way to capture the scene and the moment. The noise of the surrounding store seems to disappear as I figure out angles and composition. I’m only shooting with a smartphone, but the equipment seems to be beside the point, anyway.

It doesn’t take long to get what I want, and soon enough I’m back in the bread aisle figuring out sourdough options with a particularly lovely human. She gets why I need to hit pause every once in a while - and why a little quiet amid all the noise can be good for the soul.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #farmboy #shopping #retail #red #peppers #vegetables #stilllife #photography #fruitography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Related:

A peck of perfectly imperfect peppers, February 2024

Green pepper musings, January 2024

Red pepper party, April 2023

Where we stress over cauliflower, January 2023

Three kinds of peppers, September 2022

Seeking solace in green peppers, June 2022

Peppers in all colors, May 2022

Thunderbird and jelly

Dangerous physics
London, ON
September 2022
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There are days when you just want to mash the throttles and join your friends in the skies for some death-defying moments.

Bonus points if you make a ton of noise and leave some reality-distorting jelly behind.

Because having a bit of fun with your besties is a lot more worthwhile if you change the landscape in the process.

#throwback #airshowlondon #ldnont #london #airport #ontario #canada #usaf #thunderbirds #lockheedmartin #f16 #falcon #viper #fighter #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography @airshowlondon @flyyxu

All that's left...

The view below
London, ON
November 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The leaves have lost their brilliance and fallen to the floor, forgotten by all.

We’re way past autumn’s peak, long after everyone else has returned home and tucked their cameras back in until next year.

The remnants will soon be blown away. Or swept up. Or maybe they’ll just disappear on their own, wispy memories of a now-lost point in time.

Or maybe they won’t be memories at all. Because no one consciously remembers a leaf. Or a collection of them. Or the mess they leave after they’ve seemingly served their purpose.

Which gets me thinking: they’re still serving a purpose, even if we aren’t equipped to appreciate just what that purpose is.

And the trees that now stand bare over the chaotic forest floor will eventually be nourished once more.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #fallen #leaves #autumn #colour #stilllife #naturephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone17 #shotoniphone

Before the fire in the sky is extinguished

Burning water
London, ON
July 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Fires in the sky never last as long as we wish they would.

Nothing beautiful ever does. The things that move us often disappear just as quickly as they appear in the first place.

Perhaps there’s a lesson in there. Or a message to our future selves.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #sunset #orange #cloudspotting #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Listen to the quiet waters

Quietly reflective
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some days don’t call for words.

Some days, nothing we can say or write will fix the ills of the world, or the people who live in it.

Some days the words need to be set aside.

Some days the only answer is to stand beside the slowly flowing waters.

Some days it makes more sense to say nothing and listen more.

Some days it feels right to wonder what was and what may still be.

In a place like this.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #autumn #forest #trees #thames #river #reflective #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

One red tree

All alone
London, ON
October 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Everything happens in cycles.

Leaves that just a few months ago burst from tiny buds in shades of fresh green now flash brilliant red before falling one last time to their inevitable shrivelled fate.

Some hold on a little longer than others, desperate for a few more hours or days. But nature’s script is a strict master, and time eventually runs out for them all, leaving only a bare framework to whisper in winter’s winds.

I tell myself it’s just a tree. That the seeds of renewal are already being planted. That life continues on beneath the surface. That what we can’t see is often more vibrant than the things we can.

But I’ll still miss the red. The quiet endings of leaves floating to the ground one last time, gathering in the grass, scattering in the wind. The long wait for vibrancy to return, nurtured by the remnants of the past. The defiance of a single young tree fighting to survive in a wide open plain.

We’re all touched by our own forms of cycles, playing out somewhat endlessly in ways both visible and not. If we’re watching the trees, who, then, watches us?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #autumn #forest #tree #gameoftones #red #leaf #texture #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Whole lotta red, November 2025

Trees on the horizon, June 2025

Weeds in name only, June 2025

A single tree stands guard, March 2025

Two weeks later..., April 2022

Finding life at the crossroads, August 2021

One tree hill, June 2009