Reflected sunset

Where glass meets sky
Toronto, ON
February 2017
Thematic. Reflective. Here.

May as well fess up now: I'm not the world's biggest fan of work-related travel. Of course, I love to get out and explore, and I relish that feeling of discovering new places and learning the ebb and flow of a new part of the world. Well, new to me, at least.

But sometimes all that exploring can be more strain than it's worth: The airport security gauntlet; the getting up well before dawn and not stopping until way after midnight; the business dinners and networking when I'd rather be home with my fam; the waking up in a strange place and having to run the treadmill at 11 even before I've gotten out of this strange bed in a strange hotel room; the fact that you're always "on".

Face it, I'm a whiner with a homebody complex. Guilty as charged. So when the professional calendar includes from faraway time, I try to normalize it a bit by building in some walkabout time. Because stealing an hour or two - or even a few fleeting minutes - in between all the scheduled, serious stuff gives me a much-needed mental break, an opportunity to see more than just the inside of a conference room, and think about more than the next PowerPoint slide.

On this late afternoon on my way back to the hotel after a long day of meetings preceded by an even longer pre-dawn trip just to get there, I politely declined an offer to crunch into the back of a strangers' car with a bunch of co-workers for the four-block trip back to our hotel through downtown-Toronto traffic. Instead, I slung my camera over my shoulder and pointed myself in the general direction of our common destination. I'd meet them back there well in time for dinner, but unbeknownst to them, I needed a few minutes along with my thoughts and my camera.

As you can see, it didn't take me long to get into the photographic groove before I had to put my "on" face back on and get back to the business of being in business. Besides, there was another walk in store - in the dark - after dinner was done.

Your turn: Do you travel for work? If so, what do you do to feel "normal" when you're away?

Related: This photo in Instagram

On technology, change, and survival

"Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road."
Stewart Brand

When reflections outshine the real thing

Sunrise framed in a window
London, ON
January 2017
To share your own reflective-themed Thematic, head here

The scene: I've just dropped our daughter off at school. It's a cold winter morning, and the campus is quiet as I slowly point the car toward the exit. The brightening sky grabs my attention as I idle through the largely deserted parking lot. As much as I try to focus on the drive, I can't stop staring at that sky. It's calling me.

I figure I have plenty of time to get to the office, so I find a parking spot, grab my camera and wander over to a pile of snow to get the best possible vantage point. I grab a few pics, but they all make me feel somewhat meh, as if that little flash of an idea I had in my head when I first saw the sky doesn't seem to have translated all that well through the lens.

I decide I'm done for the day - can't force blood from an artistic stone, after all - and head back to the car. As I approach, I notice the reflection in the window and think I might have been looking in the wrong direction all along.

On the impressions we leave behind

"Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill."
Jacob M. Braude

Thematic Photographic 410 - Reflections

No longer alive
London, ON
April 2017

I took a photowalk the other morning, my way of killing time while our daughter was at work. I hadn't been out in a while, and I deliberately brought the wrong equipment with me - a lovely old 85mm lens that I almost never use because it lacks that do-everything convenience of a zoom.

Looking at what I brought back, I realize I've been missing the point all along because a fixed focal length lens forces you to shoot in a completely different way. You have to use your feet and your brain to pre-compose, and soon enough you find you don't much miss being able to zoom in and out with your fingertips. Photography isn't always about taking the easy way out, and this long-overdue walk turned into a nice reminder of that.

I also forced myself to shoot monochrome - another throwback to when I used to challenge myself to look at the world differently. More of this looms in my photographic future, as well.

Your turn:  This week's Thematic theme is Reflections. Please share a pic or three (however many you wish) of something that supports this theme. Be liberal with how you interpret the theme, as that's the point of the exercise - so mirrors, bodies of water, even car windows are all fair game. Post your pic(s) to your blog or website, then leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it/them. Head here if you'd like more info on how Thematic works, and feel free to drop by again later in the week - bonus if you bring a friend. Enjoy!

On questions vs. answers

"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
James Thurber

Fitbit saves woman's life

Can a Fitbit save your life? Patricia Lauder would doubtless say it can.

The 73-year-old Connecticut resident originally bought the wearable device to help her keep track of her steps. Like millions of other people, her goal was to simply lose a bit of weight.

One day, she wasn't feeling well, and noticed that the Fitbit was showing consistently higher heart rate levels from one day to the next. After her heart rate spiked to 140 beats per minute and she felt short of breath, she decided to see her doctors. Good thing she did, as they quickly diagnosed two pulmonary embolisms - which, left untreated, could have killer her.

My $0.02: As wearables continue to (slowly) grow in popularity, we'll see more examples of how they benefit users in unexpected ways. Your mileage may vary, of course, but no one doubts that greater visibility into health-related data isn't good for us. It absolutely is. And in some cases, it can even be lifesaving.

Now please excuse me while I snap my Garmin into the bike and pedal off for home. If you're in the 'hood, you're always welcome to join me.

On liberty - and its obligatory flip side

"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."
Thomas Jefferson

The Facebook Killer: Who's responsible?

By now, everyone's familiar with the horrific story out of Cleveland, where Steve Stephens walked up to a random stranger last Sunday and shot him dead. What made the murder of 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. stand out from all others was the fact that the gunman captured it on video and shared it on Facebook. A multistate manhunt for Stephens ended two days later he was cornered just outside Erie, Pennsylvania and shot himself as police closed in.

The incident raises significant questions about streaming online video. Its exploding popularity has exposed a dark side to the technology, with escalating examples of rapes, beatings, suicides, and now murder, and growing concern over the lack of tools that can quickly shut down streams that violate the service's terms of use and give law enforcement real-time guidance to respond to crimes broadcast online.

Right now, no such tools exist, and Facebook relies on user-submitted complaints - a process that is inaccurate and slow. In the Stephens case, the video remained online for over 2 hours after the murder was committed. In other cases, it's taken days and weeks for Facebook to process takedowns.

Facebook issued a statement - as they'd be expected to do - expressing its outrage, and is working on automated tools to monitor and address such abuses in real-time. But it's a major technical challenge, and it won't happen overnight. If and when these tools ultimately roll out, they'll come too late for the victim of this unbelievable crime.

Here's my $0.02: This is what happens when technology rushes too quickly ahead of the frameworks, rules and laws that would govern it's abuse and protect its users in the process. It also begs a number of wrenching questions:

• Whether having access to Facebook Video and Facebook Live could have been an encouraging factor for the gunman.
• What role the companies that make these technologies might be playing in the spread of an entirely new form of crime.
• Whether it's time for Internet "broadcasts" to be regulated in the same way conventional ones have always been.

Your turn: What do you think? What responsibilities does Facebook have in ensuring its apps and services are used for good and not for evil?

Thematic Photographic 409 - Stuff you find in the basement

Dirty old cables
London, ON
April 2017

Some folks see basements and storage areas as icky and dirty. They may be right. But that doesn't mean they aren't worth a little photographic love, as well.

Which brings us to this week's Thematic theme, stuff you find in the basement. This theme will work nicely if you actually have a basement. But in case you don't, any old storage area will do. Or a dark, dusty place with lots of old stuff hanging around. As always, there's lots of creative room here, so have fun with it.

Your turn: Take a pic that reflects the "stuff you find in the basement" theme - or find one you may have posted online - and then leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. Repeat as often as you wish, and feel free to pull in a friend. We'll be doing this all week, so don't be shy. And if you're new to the Thematic thing, click here and all will be explained.

On art, music, and decoration

"Art is how we decorate space, Music is how we decorate time."
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Thematic Photographic 408 - Orange

Multicolored
London, ON
April 2017

This week's Thematic theme, orange, marks a return to the world of colors. My brain was having difficulty processing the scene you see above, because it never dawned on me that carrots could be anything but orange in color. I guess I need to get out more.

Your turn: Shoot something orange. Or something that suggests orange. Or makes you think of orange. Share it on your blog or website, then pop into the comments here and let everyone else know where to find it. Visit other participants and feel free to post more from your collection later in the week. For more info on how Thematic works, follow this link home. And enjoy! Because that's why we do this!

On the subtle difference between "won't" and "can't"

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."
Mark Twain

Lake Carmi, for real

My very own body of water
London, ON
April 2017

I have this thing about old t-shirts: I just can't get rid of them. Much to my incredibly patient wife's consternation, I keep them around long after they're no longer wearable. They may have yellowed with age, or simply been worn down to mere threads from overuse, but still I keep them in my drawer. I guess I do so because t-shirts can often be signposts of the lives we've lived so far, triggers to memories that would otherwise be lost to time.

Exhibit A, the Lake Carmi t-shirt you see here. I've had it for decades. I couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 when my parents detoured the car off the highway and found this out-of-the-way place that magically shared my name. As a child with an incredibly off-mainstream name, it was a mindblowing experience to get out of the car and walk across a dusty parking lot where all the signs pointed to me. Being the baby of the family, it was the one time I got something uniquely mine, not a hand-me-down.

I wasn't really a fan of my name when I was a child. It singled me out, gave bullies something to hang onto, and was even a point of contention for friends when we had our inevitable children's arguments.

As a journalist in the Age of Google, my attitude has softened somewhat. It's helped me build a brand in a way that simply wouldn't have been possible had I been given a more common name. Everyone knows who this guy Carmi is - and most of the time in my line of work, that's a pretty good thing. Except, of course, when they disagree with me. But it's a risk I'm willing to take - and it's all part of the fun of being me.

Sometimes I wonder if that moment in the parking lot marked the inflection point where I began to change my mind, where "Carmi" became more of a benefit than a liability. Either way, the t-shirt may be yellowed with time, and so small that is barely fits the teddy bear I bought my wife when we first started dating. But I just can't leave it behind.

Your turn: Got an old piece of clothing that you just can't bear to get rid of?

Related:

• Wikipedia entry
• Vermont State Parks - Lake Carmi State Park
• Lake Carmi on Google Maps

On looking at failure through a different lens

"Failure is success if we learn from it."
Malcolm Forbes

Thematic Photographic 407 - Picture of a picture

Lookin' at my shoes
March 2017
London, ON

Look really closely at the card on the wall. Our daughter took this pic of her very photogenic pair of sneakers, and this was one of four of her photos on display her school's photo exhibit last month.

Many things come to mind when I see this shot. First and foremost, she's really talented. She sees things in ways unique to her, and she has the technical and artistic chops to capture the scene and tell the story. Her portfolio is a delight, and I say that not as a biased dad, but as someone who appreciates this kind of creativity.

This is also a picture of a picture, which not all that coincidentally is this week's theme. Sometimes the context of a photo or a scene becomes the story, as it did here on this important night in the life of a young artist. I often think about where and how a given work is seen or otherwise consumed, and what goes through the minds of those doing the consuming.

For the next week, that's what we'll focus on, as well.

Your turn: Take a picture of a picture, then share it on your blog, website or social media presence. Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it, then visit other participants to share in the fun. Want to post another pic later in the week or bring a friend along for the ride? We'd love that, too. Thematic's rules, such as they are, are here. Otherwise, happy shooting, and thanks!

Related: Dahlia Levy Photography on Instagram

On the importance of maintenance

"Another flaw in the human character is that everyone wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance."
Kurt Vonnegut

The story behind these essential oils

Cook some memories with me
Thornhill, ON
March 2017

The scene: The Sobeys grocery store in Thornhill, Ontario. The store sits in an otherwise unassuming strip mall at the corner of Clark and Hilda, and it isn't exactly walking distance from our house. In fact, it's a 210 km drive. Why the hell would we drive two hours to fetch groceries? Good question. Turns out there's a story here.

See, London is a lovely town, and we love living there for a lot of reasons. The small, tightly connected Jewish community is one of them. We're not religious in the black-coat-wearing, long-bearded, memorize-every-last-prayer kind of way. By those standards, I'm a complete heathen. But the cultures and traditions of who we are? They're everything to us, and thanks to my wife, our home is filled with them.

Unfortunately, being a small Jewish community can sometimes make it difficult to find kosher food. In a small-j-Jewish-community town like London, you have to know where to look. Again, I'm never going to win awards for Most Kosher Jew of All-Time, but my wife keeps our home Kosher, and come Passover time - happens around the same time as Easter - we eat Kosher for Passover food for the duration of the holiday.

If finding regular Kosher food all year is a tough sled, then upping the Kosher game for Passover is an even more specialized art. Bottom line: some London grocers bring in Kosher for Passover stuff, but Toronto's relatively huge Jewish community means they'll have a lot more of it there.

So my wife and I have evolved an annual tradition of sorts: a few weeks before Passover starts, we drive to Toronto on a given Sunday morning and buy groceries we might not otherwise find in London later on. We make a day of it, often bumping into folks we know in the store before we load up the car and grab lunch at a beloved resto or bakery. It's one of those simple things we do that seems to feel right - mundane to the outside world, but uniquely ours.

Along the way, I take pictures, I muse openly about the strange products available here - Baby Fingers! - and I try to slow the day down so that I'll remember later on why moments like this can be so special.

I took this picture with an arguing Israeli family on one side, and a quietly-chatting middle-aged Toronto couple on the other. I figured while they were all busy with the Very Serious Business of Passover shopping, I had a few precious seconds to compose the scene and be done with it.

I wasn't fast enough. As I lined up the shot, I heard a sudden silence as they all stopped their conversations, turned toward me and stared. I guess they had never seen anyone shoot canola oil before. I finished shooting, then turned to them and smiled. "I'm from London. We take pictures there when we shop. Give it a try: You have lovely oil."

They laughed the kind of laugh that connects strangers who aren't really strangers anymore, and before I knew it, I was tucking my smartphone back into my pocket and looking for my wife. I found her a few minutes later, and by then the tone of the day was yet again fused into my long-term memory.

In the end, this photo is just another two-dimensional assembly of pixels captured by an optical sensor and stored on a memory card. But it's the story behind it - and every one like it that I've taken over the years - that reminds me why it matters so much to pay attention to the stories of our lives, and to take the time to share them afterward. Otherwise, all we're doing is looking at oil in a crowded grocery store.