David Lam Photography

Went on a socially distant picnic a couple weeks ago at the lakeside and experimented a little with long exposure. The sun was just starting to set and gave the water a beautiful purplish hue.

Also slowly learning how to use presets, split toning, and HSL to try to make photos look more like a set together.

Quarantine has been incredibly tiring and I wish I could go out more to take photos but, alas, safety first.

Had a 20-hour layover in Taipei on my way back to Toronto so I went on a walking day tour around the city. Taipei really has so much great and affordable food that I keep wanting to go back for. Didn’t have much time this time around but the 蛋餅 and 紅茶牛奶 I had today was to die for.

Spent a week in Cuba for the end of summer and got to see so many interesting things and learned a lot about this country. Havana’s Paseo del Prado was a stately boulevard lined with trees which, at its peak, must have been just as grand as the Champs-Élysées. Here, children played makeshift soccer matches while others zoomed past them on their roller blades, street vendors sold candy and confectionery, and couples sat on the stone benches under the trees killing time in the humid heat.

The thing I was most shocked by was the incredibly aggressive tipping culture that existed amongst the service staff that dealt with tourists. But when our tour guide told us how a month’s worth of salary from any legitimate job was barely enough for a single day’s expenses, it all started to make sense. Cuba has all the exquisite European-style façades and endless beaches with crystal clear water, but social inequities still run rampant.

Strolling through the streets of Havana, I would see so many souvenir shops selling exactly the same merchandise as each other, but none sold postcards. The only postcards I could ever find during my trip were in the museum stores run by the government, and every store had the same, very ugly postcards. It was only when I arrived at the store at the Palace of the Captains General that I realized that every single postcard in stock was from the same photo studio. Not sure what kind of scheme was happening there.

At the resort in Varadero, it was probably one of the only times I truly enjoyed a beach. The glittering water at the beach made rainbow coloured refractions dance across the ridges on the sand underneath. Further out into the sea, I dived into the water from a catamaran and was immediately surrounded by schools of multicoloured fish. It was the first time I had snorkelled, and the sight of having fish swirling around me was quite unforgettable.

The unstable wi-fi connection in our hotel made it quite difficult to keep up with the news and with friends while in Cuba, but in a sense it was also an opportunity to try to detox and stop relying on my smartphone for everything.

But, to be honest, I’m not sure what to make of my time here. It was relaxing on the one hand but also extremely shocking to see the two very different worlds that existed for people in this country.

Every spring, Torontonians flock to High Park and Trinity Bellwoods for their cherry blossom Instagrams.

You have to go pretty early if you want to be able to enjoy the cherry blossoms without fighting the person who spends 5 minutes in front of a tree taking 47 identical photos. But also go early for the soft morning sunlight.

If you’re lucky, you’ll even catch a glimpse of other wildlife like this Red Admiral enjoying the full bloom with you.

Still hoping that I’ll be able to see a beautiful leafless cherry blossom peak bloom in Toronto though.

Today was my last day of working in London. Pictured above is the courthouse that I went to almost every single day, whether it was to conduct an adjournment on my own or to just sit and watch my supervising lawyer go about his court matters.

The fact that this was the last day also meant that today I had to pack my life away yet again. It’s almost shocking how many times I’ve had to do this; moving houses, moving for undergrad, exchange, moving for law school, moving for internships. I’ve done it so many times that tonight it only took me one and a half hours to finish packing.

I’m thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had that allowed me to do so many things away from home, away from the places I’m familiar with. But at the same time, I begin to wonder, how many more times do I have to pack my life away before I have a place to stay? Or is packing my life away every now and then just going to be a part of life from now on? Who knows.

At least I’ll only get faster and faster at it.

Today at around 5pm, I set off to go to London’s famed Springbank Park, only to be thrown off by Google Maps which said that it closed at 6pm. Wary of taking an hour-long bus ride to a park that was possibly not open, I decided instead to take a leisurely walk along the North Thames River. The journey started at the campus of the University of Western Ontario.

After crossing the North Thames River, I arrived in Gibbons Park, an expansive and beautifully green park with tennis courts, a splash pad, and a bike trail running through it that leads all the way downtown.

Unfortunately for me, legions of mosquito warriors were lying in wait in this park this evening. Every second I spent with my camera to my eye was a second that I lost to mosquitoes taking a sip out of my neck, arms, and legs. My eyes and my skin were in a constant battle over convincing me whether this was heaven or hell.

After leaving the park, I followed the bike path towards downtown and discovered this gem, Blackfriars Bridge. Apparently, it’s the oldest wrought iron bridge in North America to be used for vehicular traffic. It’s currently under extensive renovations so it might not be open again for some time. Seriously though, does everything in this city have to be named after something in London, England?

My journey continues at River Forks Park where there are several plaques that explain the history of this city. This set of branching rivers that I walked along today were originally called the Askunessippi by the local Ojibwa, which aptly meant “the antlered river”. However, in 1793, John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, thought it fit to rename the river patriotically after the Thames in London. Creativity much.

So I’m in London (Ontario) for a couple of weeks to help out at a small law firm and to gain some hands-on experience. I took a quick stroll through downtown today and snapped a few shots on my phone.

Although I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity, being in London alone with no friends or family is just kind of sad. Going out for dinner and bubble tea and short photo excursions helps to keep me busy.

I’m planning to go on another short excursion next weekend if the weather permits.

I visited a friend of mine in Ottawa twice before this trip, but because he’s from there, we didn’t really do all of the touristy things that Ottawa has to offer. This time, I went with my family, and we even brought along our cat.

Ottawa, along with Gatineau just across the border, is a culturally rich city with a large collection of beautiful architecture and interesting museums. Most of the points of interest are within walking distance of each other so we didn’t even need to worry about transit.

Pictured here is the interior of the Canadian War Museum during a heavy rainstorm. It seemed slightly odd to me that a country known for its peacefulness would have such a huge museum dedicated to the topic of war in its capital, but the exhibitions were very interesting nonetheless.

The city also has an impressive collection of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada. The intricate skylight of the grand hall designed by Moshe Safdie is pictured here. Last time I came here, I didn’t actually enter the Gallery but I did see the impressive colonnade linking the entrance to the grand hall. Unfortunately, that was under renovations this time around.

My friend highly recommended that we take a short trip across the border into Gatineau Park, an oasis of greenery where Canada’s elite used to take their vacations from the capital. Pictured above is flora growing in Pink Lake, a lake that is most certainly not pink but was named after the Pink family. In fact, the lake is usually green in the summer due to large algae populations.

The interesting thing about this lake is that because of the cliffs surrounding it, water at the bottom of the lake is sheltered from wind and is unable to circulate. As a result, the water near the bottom has not been in contact with air in 10,000 years and thus contains no oxygen whatsoever.

Back on the Ottawa side, we visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, a remarkable piece of architecture with twin bell towers covered in shining tin and an interior that would fool anyone into thinking it was made of marble. In fact, the interiors were created by master woodworkers who created the intricate designs completely out of wood.

And that concluded our short family vacation to Ottawa. Hopefully I’ll have another chance at visiting during Winterlude to do some iceskating on the Rideau Canal before it all melts!

The Aga Khan Museum offers not only a wonderful collection of Islamic art and artifacts but is also surrounded by a beautiful garden.

The collection is housed in a clean, modern piece of architecture designed by Fumihiko Maki. The combination of white granite and glass along with intricate geometric patterns makes it irresistible.

The Russian Sage with its purple flowers complements the black stone pools and white granite excellently.