History, nature, the great outdoors, birds and birding, wildflowers, geography, family history, architectural history, The Great War.

These collections reflect a motley assortment of natural and human distractions. I am a nature nut and like to photograph natural landscapes, wildflowers and – whenever they pause long enough to allow it – birds. There is little in this world I like better than a day rambling in the wild with one or more close friends. Such days proceed slowly because I stop often to look at the macro and the micro and take pictures of what I like.

History interests me too, both local – such as the architectural history of my own home town, Victoria BC – and ‘bigger’ history. A very influential person in my youth was a great-uncle who survived the Great War of 1914-18. Several of his relatives – cousins and a beloved brother – did not. His accounts of his experiences in Flanders and France were mesmerising and unforgettable: one collection reflects my uncle’s war history and that of his Cape Breton, Nova Scotia relatives. I have traveled the Western Front three times and crossed and re-crossed Canada to see and photograph war memorials, particularly those featuring soldier statues.

In 2016 Heritage House published my book about Canadian war memorial figures, Remembered in Bronze and Stone. Heritage published my second book, From Rinks to Regiments: Hockey Hall-of-Famers and the Great War, in 2018. A third book came along in October, 2021: Capitals, Aristocrats, and Cougars: Victoria's Hockey Professionals, 1911-1926.

Other collections here reflect my enthusiasm for travel, especially travel on foot or by bicycle.

I usually take a camera, frequently two, wherever I go. The DSLR I use is a Canon 7D but I rely on two point-and-shoot cameras, a Nikon Coolpix P340, particularly for close-in wildflower photography, and a Sony RX10M4 for birds and distant shooting.

For travel blog go to: leotaj.blogspot.com/