Photos

Every CoolOps post has a featured photo, which usually has nothing to do with the topic. All photos are my own, most taken with a smartphone. I am drawn to pattern, colour, shadow, and composition.

2019

Sep 28, Spitfire Pub, Windsor, NS (2019); Sep 29, Medici on 57th, Chicago, IL (2019); Oct 2, trail at Avondale Sky Winery, Avondale, NS (2019); Oct 5, “house owl” (2019); Oct 7, Taylor Head Provincial Park, NS (2019); Oct 9, Lane’s Privateer Inn, Liverpool, NS (2019); Oct 13, Bryant Park, New York, NY (2018); Oct 14, Tidal Basin, Washington DC (2019); Oct 16, Taylor Head Provincial Park, NS (2019); Oct 21, Sandy Cove, NS; Oct 22 (2019), Sandy Cove, NS (2019); Oct 27, The High Line, New York, NY (2018); Oct 28, Daniels’ U-Pick, Windsor, NS (2019); Oct 30, dike walk at Grand Pré, NS (2019); Nov 4, New York, NY (2018); Nov 14, Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, NS (2019); Nov 16, Chestnut House, Sandy Cove, NS (2018); Nov 20, Chestnut House, Sandy Cove, NS (2017); Nov 24, Windsor, NS (2017); Nov 25, Judique Intervale, NS (2017); Nov 26, Bedford, NS (2017); Dec 1, Windsor, NS (2019); Dec 8, Calgary, AB (2017); Dec 15, Robie House, Chicago, IL (2019); Dec 19, Taylor Head Provincial Park, NS (2019)

2020

I say the photos have nothing to do with the content. And yet. My wife and I used to live around the corner from a grocery store, so it was convenient to pop in whenever we needed a thing or two. One day I brought a roll of duct tape and head of lettuce (something like that) to the cash to purchase. The cashier said, “Huh — funny combo.” We are compelled to make links between unlike things. We create the world out of language, which is all metaphor.

Jan 15, Judique, NS (2017); Jan 19, Janet Pope’s bonfire, Hantsport, NS (2018); Jan 22, puddle ice, Windsor, NS (2019); Jan 23, Judique, NS (2017); Jan 25, Bryant Park, New York, NY (2018); Jan 27, Windsor, NS (2019); Jan 29, Shelburne, NS (2017); Feb 1, Harold Meagher’s car, Judique, NS (2017); Feb 7, Judique, NS (2019); Feb 16, Vienna, Austria (2013); Feb 23, Wolfville, NS (2019); Feb 25, Tantallon, NS area (2018); Mar 5, Taylor Head Provincial Park, NS (2019); Mar 12, Barcelona, Spain (2014); Mar 14, Liverpool, NS (2018); Mar 18, Sandy Cove, NS (2017); Mar 28, Falmouth, NS (2019); Apr 5, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS (2018); Apr 6, Havre Boucher, NS (2009); Apr 24, Paper Mill Lake, Bedford, NS (2020); Jun 10, Sandy Cove, NS (2019); Jun 16, Judique, NS (2017); Jun 24, Sandy Cove, NS (2017); Jun 28, Robie House, Chicago, IL (2019); Jul 2, New York, NY (2018); Jul 8, Windsor, NS (2017); Jul 10, Halifax, NS (2013); Jul 14, Taylor Head Provincial Park, NS (2019); Sep 14, near Wolfville, NS (2017)

2021

Some years ago our leadership team held a strategic planning retreat in a tiny boardroom in a downtown hotel. Toward the end of the day, as final remarks were being delivered, I lowered my tired head and my gaze fell on one of the hotel’s paper coasters. Around the edge of the white paper circle was a quote from Martin Buber: “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.”

Feb 8, Windsor, NS (2019); Feb 11, somewhere over the Annapolis Valley, NS (2013); Feb 15, Montreal (2019); Feb 16, Wolfville, NS (2019); Feb 23, Sandy Cove, NS (2019); Mar 23, Bedford, NS (2020); Mar 25, Bedford, NS (2020); May 1, Digby Neck, NS (2020); May 2, Cape d’Or, near Advocate Harbour, NS (2020); May 2, Sandy Cove, NS (2020); May 9, Judique Intervale, NS (2020); Oct 21, Fox Point, between Parrsboro and Advocate Harbour, NS (2020); Nov 16, in my home office (2021)