Dundas Street comes to life (hopefully)

Reflecting on downtown's future
London, ON
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

#LdnONT isn't unique: As in so many other cities, the downtown core here has been on its heels for so long that the only happy memories are found in gauzy monochrome pictures from decades ago.

Dundas Street runs east-west through the heart of downtown, and has long epitomized the slow, ugly decline of the area. Dundas Place is nothing less than the city's Hail Mary pass to save the very soul of of this neighborhood. It's a major reconstruction program designed to fully replace crumbling, century-old infrastructure below ground, and rebuild a flexible streetscape on top of it.

So-called flex streets have been built elsewhere, and the theory is they allow the road to serve as a conventional thoroughfare most of the time, and a pedestrian-only area for active civic programming at other times.

After two hard years of construction, the city finally declared the street open this week. A few hours after our mayor installed the ceremonial final brick, I found myself on Dundas as I headed home.

I wasn't alone, but the throngs of shoppers who would conceivably save the businesses on this street were nowhere to be seen. A few pedestrians rushed, like me, to be somewhere else. If you looked hard enough into alleys and papered-over storefronts, London's burgeoning homeless population snapped into focus.

This street, already pockmarked with empty stores before construction began, suffered even more as a number of stalwarts simply couldn't survive. The fancy brickwork and stainless steel fixtures didn't come soon enough for them.

Civic renewal is never easy. No one solution appeals to all. And not everyone will survive the transition. But for now, at least, there's a flicker of hope in a place that, for as long as I can remember, hasn't had much reason to cheer.

I can't wait to see who comes back to this storied place, and what they plan to offer up when they do.

#london #ontario #canada #downtown #retail #shopping #urban #dundas #place #street #night #photography #city #walkabout #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Murals belong everywhere

Hungry for pizza and inspiration
London, ON
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Unassuming pizza shops on unassuming downtown streets shouldn’t normally stop us in our tracks, especially when it’s cold, gray, and raining, and a mountain of writing awaits at the office.

But this one is different.

Someone painted a mural on its time-worn stucco-covered corner, a tiny act of defiance against the numbing sameness that seems to define this time-challenged neighborhood. So I pause my walk to the office and look around the rain-speckled block.

I see empty trees, a rust-flecked apartment building, a soaked sleeping bag abandoned in the gutter, and a blocked sewer grate at the centre of a growing not-so-mini lake of muddy water, an indescribable mess of floating garbage edging out haphazardly into the street.

There is no beauty here. At least there isn’t supposed to be any. And yet, there’s this wall. Two walls, really, as the mural that greets customers on the street also extends back into the otherwise forgettable parking lot.

None of this changes the sad reality of a sad stretch of town. But it doesn’t have to. And that’s not the point, anyway.

What really matters is that we look for these slivers of light at all, that there are those among us who would share the light with others, that we haven’t given up all hope of something better, even in a place that seems to offer none of it.

There’s always hope, especially when - and where - we least expect it. And I bet the pizza’s pretty good, too.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #building #mural #art #color #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #waterloo #walkabout #weather #wx #pizza #restaurant #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Someone painted the sky again

Blue and white
London, ON
October 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wonder is happening over our very heads, at any given moment of the day.

Just look up.

I promise you it'll be worth your time.

Happy new work week, y'all. Make it count.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #clouds #cloudspotting #blue #sky #weather #wx #nature #google #pixel2 #teampixel #instagood #photooftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #life #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Stare into the reflective waters

Ephemeral
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Stare at the waves long enough and eventually a few things become clear:

1. Chaos is all around us.
2. There's nothing we can do to materially change it.
3. Chaos isn't, by definition, positive or negative.
4. It is how you choose to see it.
5. In other words, by perception, not by definition.
6. Everything changes in a blink.
7. That thing that matters so much to you in this moment is barely a memory in the next.
8. We miss a whole lot of moments if we don't pay attention.
9. These moments may seem trivial. They aren't.
10. We never seem to get enough of them.
11. So we'd best make the ones we get matter a little more.
12. It's good for the soul to simply sit and take it all in.
13. If you really pay attention, you don't just see things.
14. You hear them, too.
15. And even feel them.

I'm guessing this means I have more waterside moments ahead of me. Neat.

#cancun #mexico #road #trip #vacation #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #pool #water #swim #reflect #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Dawn breaks by the sea

Got another day
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wherever you happen to find yourself when you wake up and greet the new day, take a moment to look out the window. There's a whole world out there just waiting for you to dig in.

#cancun #mexico #road #trip #vacation #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #silhouette #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

What bugs you?

Look, but don't touch
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Mexican bugs sure are different than Canadian ones.

Here's Exhibit A, which thanks to some very basic Googling I now know to be an Oleander Caterpillar. For the record, I did not smuggle this one - or any other tropical insect, for that matter - home in my suitcase. For the record, I did ask if I could. For the record, my wise wife said no. Emphatically.

Is my new fuzzy orange friend a bit on the creepy side? Of course. A little frightening? Likely. But fascinating all the same, and given the fact that we had flown thousands of kilometres to be here, absolutely worth a few megapixels.

A little voice in me says there's a bigger lesson here, and it probably has something to do with learning about things that are different from our usual norms. Or might frighten us a little. Or seem strange.

A little voice in me says we can't hold back simply because something might be a bit - or a lot - outside our comfort zone. And we can't judge or dismiss simply because we've never encountered them before.

A little voice in me says maybe we aren't just talking about insects.

#cancun #mexico #bug #insect #caterpillar #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

London welcomes you home

Community in an airport corridor
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This is what awaits arriving passengers in #ldnont's London International Airport when they first get into the terminal.

The kind-hearted folks who run this place thought it would be a good idea to line the walls of the main corridor with life-sized photos of employees and community members holding various welcome signs. It makes me smile every time I come home, not only because it's a lovely piece of design, but because it speaks volumes about the community we call home, and the way it chooses to present itself to others.

You can tell a lot about people by the small things they do when they're around others. Tiny slivers of politeness and warmth always seem to have an outsized influence, and this seemingly small decision by the airport tells a remarkable story about the people who live here.

We've come to love our adopted city as our own, to the point that we can't imagine living anywhere else. Small touches like this reaffirm why - and how - this place has wormed its way into our souls. Even when I stagger jet-lagged into the terminal, and all I want to do is get home and collapse into a heap, the 20-second walk through this corridor serves as a reminder that we're surrounded by good people who creatively look out for others.

As I collect my luggage from the carousel, I promise myself I'll find some way to return the favor. But first, there's sleep.

#london #yul #ontario #canada #international #airport #flight #airplane #aviation #photography #city #travel #travelphotography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Color your morning

Breakfast of Champions, to Start
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The world outside my window has returned to its annual wintry shade of grey.

Now, grey is a color like any other. It deserves to be appreciated for its own merits rather than dismissed for what it is not. That, and monochrome photography is a pretty neat way to record the world around us.

But some days I wake up amid the grey murk of another snowy day in the Great White North and decide the perfect way to jumpstart my soul would be with a shot of color. And hopefully that color - or series of colors - will be slightly more effusive than something pulled from the dirty wall of an expressway.

And so we come to this simple row of fruit on an equally simple white plate. Sure, it makes for a healthy breakfast, but it also makes me smile. The colors are lovely, of course, but the fact that these were grown from the earth, and can keep us healthy and productive if we eat enough of them, is nothing short of miraculous.

Yes, I'm marvelling at a pile of fruit. Please don't judge.

My weirdness notwithstanding, I hope this scene makes you smile, as well, and I hope you find a way to start your own day with a shot of well-deserved color.

#cancun #mexico #morning #breakfast #food #foodporn #foodie #instafood #foodphotography #goodmorning #foodstagram #fruit #color #stilllife #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

My father's pelican

Watching from afar
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I have an unhealthy level of affection for pelicans.

Maybe it's the crazy-huge beak, or the way they fly seemingly without effort, in absolute command of the sky. Or the fact that they always look like they're smiling.

Or the fact that my late father would often talk about them as they flew over him and his friends, in perfect formation, wings barely moving, up and down their Florida beach, seemingly all day. If I was nearby, he'd point them out in the hope that I'd be able to capture them with my camera. If I wasn't, he'd tell me about it later on, a belated retelling of a majestic moment, now lost to time.

It's almost as if the birds knew they were putting on a show for the puny humans far below. And were only too happy to oblige.

So, over a decade after we lost him, the sight of a pelican brings me back to that sunny beach, to a place that made my father feel happy and fulfilled. Strange how that works, isn't it? The least I can do is try to record the scene, and hope it's enough to sustain a memory that brings me a smile, as well.

Years after pelicans became a thing for my family, I doubt this particular bird appreciates our family history, or the connected-to-my-father sentiment that resulted in me staring at him from afar.

But I was thankful to be able to take in the magnificent sight all the same.

#cancun #mexico #pelican #bird #birds #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Mexican fly up close

Bug off
Cancun. Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Oh, to be a fly on the wall...

#cancun #mexico #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #stilllife #insect #fly #photography #shadow #texture #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Old pair of shoes in a parking lot

Abandoned in place
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Big box store #haiku:

Old shoes say goodbye
Ignored in a parking lot
Someone's feet are cold

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #poetry #519ldn #519london #random #urban #suburban #street #shoes #feet #garbage #abandoned #retail #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Committing an Act of Dog

Start the week right
London, ON
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The calendar says it's Monday, which I realize may make some folks feel a little blue. That, and the weather's been challenging in this hemisphere. So I thought we'd start the workweek with an #ActOfDog.

What is an #ActOfDog? Simply anything that includes, refers to, or even suggests doghood. Yours or anyone else's. If it's got a dog in it, we want to read it. Or know about it. Or see it. Or all of the above.

This, as many of you may know, is Calli the Wonderschnauzer. It had been a busy couple of weeks, with back-to-back trips that kept me away from home.

And as bonkers as this particular dog is, I missed her. I missed our routines. I missed talking to her while we walk. I missed the sound of her sticking her snout in places she has no business sticking it. I missed her random barking when she thinks she sees something out the window. But it was just an errant leaf.

So I thought we'd start this blue Monday (thanks, New Order) with a spontaneous dog pic.

Because everyone needs a reason to smile. Today, and indeed every day.

If you're so inclined, please share yours with the #ActOfDog hashtag. Let's start a movement, shall we?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #pets #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Frozen solid to the ground

Henrietta picks up some ice
London, ON
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We no longer need to wait for the weather report on the 6 o'clock news. Nor do we even have to look outside. Rather, a quick scroll through our social media feeds is typically all we need to know what Mother Nature is up to.

Digital weather: It's a thing.

And so it has come to pass this morning, with Facebookistan crammed to the gills with seemingly endless images - and complaints - of the ice storm that's blown into our region. Which is just as well, because our windows are coated with a thick layer of ice.

Our pup was decidedly unhappy, forced to slip and slide across the sidewalk-turned-skating-rink as the howling winds drove painful flecks of ice into her pretty pink raincoat.

I talked to her gently in the hope that the sound of my voice would calm her down. It didn't go so well, and soon enough we were headed back inside where my lovely wife was waiting with a warm towel and lots of treats.

On the way in, I noticed icicles hanging from the lower rocker panel of my car, Henrietta. Given the weather, we're not driving anywhere today, but the sight of a frozen-in-place Honda got my photographic brain spinning.

I now knew how I wanted to remember this frightening and miserable Sunday morning. So after the furry girl was safely in my wife's arms, I returned outside and took the shot.

Like all extreme bouts of weather, today's will pass soon enough. The ice will melt, and the hunkered down city will once again hum with activity. Our social feeds will leave the weather behind and return once again to the usual meme-sharing, political-battling, passive-aggressive-one-upmanship that typically defines modern digital discourse.

And in one house tucked into a quiet corner of a southern Ontario town, we'll be left with a red-tinged memory of a moment that won't return again anytime soon, if at all.

There may be other storms. But none of them will feel exactly like this.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #ice #icicle #works #storm #onstorm #weather #wx #red #honda #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Cherubs watching over breakfast

Cast in stone
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Details matter.

Like the little flourishes that fill otherwise empty spaces with wonder.

Like the thoughtful touches that weren't necessarily needed, or rational, but time has proven vital all the same.

Like the subtle cues that can't help but make us smile as long as we work a little harder to notice their presence in the first place.

Like tiny snippets of artwork that define a space and fuse it into your memory.

Because otherwise this would have just been a wall. But because some unknown designer decided to splurge a little, it's now an indelible part of an experience in an extraordinary place that we won't soon forget.

Taking the picture in the middle of the breakfast rush, however, will remain a story for another day. Even watchful cherubs must occasionally keep their secrets.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #cherub #art #sculpture #texture #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Playing peekaboo with the birds

Strike a pose
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wherever I end up, at some point I'll end up staring at whatever birds happen to be in the area.

Like so many things in my world, there's no rhyme or reason for it. On the bright side, it's a pretty harmless vice. On the down side, it annoys my family to no end.

Assuming I have a camera in my hand (do you really have to ask?) it's equally inevitable that photos will be taken. Gulls in Grand Bend. Pelicans in Florida. Cardinals in the ravine close to home.

Doesn't really matter what they are or where they happen to be: If they're flying, I'm following them wildly with glass.

So this is how I came to have this particular photo of this particular gull in this particular place so far from home.

The gulls here look a bit different than our Ontario birds, but they"re ust as fascinating to watch, right down to their mastery of the skies and rather antisocial behavior toward one another. They really are angry birds, which makes them hilariously entertaining to watch.

From the looks of this shot, I think this little one was onto me.

Like so many other photos I shot this week, or any week, for that matter, it doesn't reflect a terribly earth-shattering scene. But every photo, like every other aspect of a single person's life, has some sort of back story.

And we'd do ourselves quite the service if we slowed ourselves down long enough to learn what other people's stories are.

Or maybe even share a few of our own.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #bird #birds #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring right into the surf

Ride the wave
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every day holds the potential to take our breath away. But are we taking the time to notice?

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Paradise lost in a blink

Poolside before sunset
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Good days never last as long as we wish they would.

They seem to move faster than other days, and are behind us before we realize just how special they are.

We then wonder if we've done enough to drink them in. Or when we might get more days just like them.

We'd probably want to share them more broadly if we had the ability. Or maybe even store them in figurative boxes so we could pull them out whenever we needed them again.

Reality, though, dictates otherwise, so we're stuck with what we've got. Which, in a literal sense, could be perceived negatively.

But what if we flipped it over? What if we looked at rarity, brevity, fleetingness, perishability as the things that make days like this feel special in the first place?

What if we, instead of spending our energy wishing for what we can't have, instead redirected it toward more actively treasuring that which we already do?

And so it was that my wife and I found ourselves walking back to our room after a gauzy, perfect day, and I saw this perfect scene in the fast-fading light. She nodded that I should grab the moment.

And while that moment was over in a blink, and the only tangible leftovers I now have are in pixellated form, I do have the comfort knowing that we had this moment at all, and we've added it to the ever unfolding story of us.

Not every day is perfect, after all. But being able to have a story to tell, a life within which to tell it, and be surrounded by people who share and embrace that story, is easily the most perfect blessing imaginable.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #pool #reflective #shadow #palm #trees #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Twisting by the pool

The pause that refreshes
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's easy to sit by the pool with good friends and colleagues, talking about everything and nothing, feeling like you're one of the luckier people alive.

And you'd be absolutely correct.

The challenge is how to replicate that feeling when the crystal-blue swimming pool is a distant memory, the snow is piling up on the windowsill, a day at the office awaits, and you have no choice but to get back on the merry go round and do the things we must all do to keep the lights on.

I don't quite know how I'll pull that one off once we get back to the real world back home. But I do know that scenes like this one, captured during the fleeting in-between moments in a place that often feels more surreal than real, will help me figure it all out.

Because this is how I hold onto inspiration. What about you?

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #pool #sun #shadow #texture #waves #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Watching the waves roll in

Turbulent waters
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

"The forces of the universe may be relentless, but so am I."
C. Levy
2019

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunset #waves #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Don't look directly into the sun

Connected to the horizon
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Shooting the sunrise can often be an exercise in futility.

Once the giant gasbag clears the horizon, the optical equation more or less falls apart. It is so bright - and so much brighter than everything around it - that even with the right filters, it's a tall order to get the kind of exposure that isn't a diverse mess of blown out brightness and muddy shadows.

But shift your perspective a little and you open up a few new doors for yourself. Like this one, where I decided the sun itself didn't need to be a part of the scene at all.

Instead, I zeroed in on the reflection marching all the way from the horizon line to my feet. Not even remotely conventional, but I'm not about to start being conventional now.

As I stood on the pier and stared into the distance, that single line of light made me feel somewhat connected to the massive celestial game playing out so far away from where I was. Which got me thinking.

The day doesn't always serve up concoctions that offer up the perfect light. Or taste. Or kindness. Or whatever other ideal it is that you're hoping to receive.

So we adjust. Shift perspective. Change our expectations. Even try something new.

And somewhere along the way, we learn that life isn't necessarily about getting what we want, but making the best out of what we've been given.

Sounds like the perfect way to start the day, even if it isn't what I originally had in mind when I first set out in the darkness.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Meeting our next pet iguana

Isadore basks in the sun
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo shared originally on Instagram

You never know when life will throw tiny bits of randomness into your path. So you probably want to be at least somewhat ready when it happens.

To wit, I'd like to introduce you to my little friend, Isadore the Iguana. He showed up on the path near our room rather by happenstance, as iguanas are often known to do.

This shouldn't be a surprise: This entire area was hacked out of the tropical jungle, so it's still packed with exotic and sometimes kinda frightening wildlife. Iguana sightings are frequent here, and it's no surprise to see bunches of them hanging out on the pathways here.

Isadore is no gator, though, so I wasn't worried he'd have me for breakfast. But I still wasn't too keen to have him take a bite out of me. So I used a long-ish lens to reel him in.

In the overall scheme of things, this is a common photo of a common lizard, nothing we haven't seen before, here and elsewhere. But when the universe sends one your way, you ignore the opportunity at your peril.

Because wonder is all around us. And we owe it to ourselves and those closest to us to embrace it when we cross its path.

I think I owe Isadore a sincere thank you.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #iguana #reptile #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Relentlessness in the pre-dawn light

Always there
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There aren't a whole lot of people on the beach at 6:38 a.m. But this single man is.

His job is a thankless one: Sweep up and carry away the seaweed that relentlessly floats ashore and coats the otherwise pristine, sugar-white sand - that was obviously trucked in - with a layer of material that reminds us all who's in charge.

His job is also never-ending. Before he's completed his trip from one end of the deserted beach to the other, leaving impossibly neat mounds of the stuff at perfectly spaced intervals behind him, more seaweed is already staining the beach where he first started. He'll never win this battle. Or even catch up.

But he's got a job, and despite the obvious futility of trying to hold back a not-so-random force of nature, he's going to doggedly pursue his goal no matter what.

I watch him for a few minutes before the combination of biting bugs and sand in my camera send me scurrying back from the frontier. He's clearly a lot tougher than I'll ever be, and I silently wish him well as I turn around and walk back to terra firma.

Despite the fact that we've never exchanged a word, it's obvious this beach is in eminently capable hands.

I hope all his mornings are similarly quiet and undisturbed. He - and others who work silently and constantly - deserve no less.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Leaving on a plane. This time together.

Her. Everything.
Cancun. Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Sometimes you get lucky in life.

First, I met this beauty of a human being oh so many years ago. Second, she agreed to a second date, which led to a third, and a lifetime of us.

Then, I had the good fortune to join a company that values its staff as family, where we're given the room and the resources we need to do extraordinary work.

I was both honored and humbled to be named to Info-Tech's President's Club this year, among an incredible group of other high-achieving colleagues. We're in Mexico this week, and to say I'm thankful would be an understatement.

Experiencing this with her, after everything we've experienced together - and, to be fair, everything I've put her through - is one of those things that makes you realize sometimes good things do happen if you wish, and work, hard enough.

We'll have more pictures in the days to come, but for now I wanted to share this one. Because everything I do in my work life is made possible by the support she provides at home. We've always been a team, and this week we get to celebrate it - and us - a little.

Onward. Together.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Climbing out of Pearson

Me and my shadow
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Most people never give this particular plane much of a second thought.

It's a Dash 8, Series 400, better known as the Q400, a twin-turboprop commuter aircraft. Sometimes derisively called a puddlejumper, or a people mover, or a bus with wings. Nothing glamorous about it. Just a small-ish, short-range plane that connects smaller airports to major hubs.

But on Friday, it brought me home, as it's done so many times since we moved to London. It was an older model that first brought us to this city a lifetime ago, and later took me back to Montreal when life took one unexpected turn after another. When the universe turned tangent, this unassuming plane always got me where I needed to go.

Watching it leap into the cold, blustery sky once more, I was reminded yet again that boring and reliable beats glamorous on any given day. It's what gets the job done, and reconnects us with those who matter most, quietly and without complaint.

We can always rely on the boring and reliable things in our lives to show up, to be there, to never leave us stranded. To power through any challenges or obstacles that may be thrown in their path.

Kinda like people, right?

I guess that's why I gravitate both toward Q400s and Q400 kind of people, and why I'm the one staring out the window when everyone else has already nodded off. I wouldn't want to miss my favorite piece of flying engineering returning to the place where it does its best work. And I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to be inspired by something so capable yet unsung.

Because heroes are all around us, and they take on many forms.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #itrg #infotechlive #pearson #international #airport #dehavilland #dash8 #q400 #airplane #aviation #shadow #photography #city #travel #travelphotography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Reflections in neon light

Lighting the way
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It may not be the official City of Light, but if I had the power, it would be.

#lasvegas #nevada #strip #cosmopolitan #night #landscape #bright #lights #big #city #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Disappearing into the night

Blinding
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram 

Leaving #LasVegas. For now.

#nevada #vegas #strip #night #landscape #bright #lights #big #city #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #aviation #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring at a shiny airport floor

Pondering the trivial before the journey home
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Scene from an airport, part 82 of an apparently never-ending series.

This is the floor in the departures area of the #LasVegas airport's Terminal 3. It looks like any other airport, though if you squish your eyelids just so, you can barely divine the slot machines that seem to be everywhere here.

I don't know why I feel such a need to take pictures like this when I travel, of the minutiae I encounter along the way. I suppose I just don't want to forget anything from the journey.

Or maybe my mind seeks comfort in the mundane when I'm otherwise moving at a thousand miles an hour. Taking tiny moments here and there to steal scenes like this seems to slow things down just enough that I can breathe again.

I know what you must be thinking: It's just another airport, leading up to just another flight. And to a certain extent, you would be right. But isn't every trip special in its own right? Doesn't every journey deserve to be remembered for the unique experience that it is? Don't the "just another's" merit a piece of the spotlight, too?

Not to worry: I've got plenty of the so-called big pictures, the things you'd expect to see when you go to Vegas. But the small pics are just as important later on when we're trying to remember what it felt like to be there.

So I'll keep shooting small moments along the way. Because they actually loom much larger than we might have originally thought.

#nevada #itrg #InfoTechLive #McCarran #international #airport #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Save Ferris

Spinning toward the clouds
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, do we ever really get anywhere?

I don't have the answer to this question - or any other, for that matter. But as I stand on my hotel room balcony and watch the city come alive below me, I decide not every question needs to be answered, and sometimes it's perfectly fine if we just take in the view and reflect on where we are.

It's been non-stop action since the moment I first got here. The #InfoTechLIVE conference has been a monumental success, and as the #itrg team begins the process of packing up and heading for home, we feel like we've set the stage for even more good things - for us and for our members - in the months to come.

We're tired, but it's the good kind of tired, the reward for accomplishing great things and enjoying the journey with like-minded, driven colleagues.

It's a satisfying place to be, here in the sky, counting a few blessings and thanking the universe for the opportunity to learn, grow, and occasionally go wow.

But home is even better, and I'm already counting the hours until I'm back there, surrounded by the people who make me whole. The wheel in the sky may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but it seems to be pointing me in the right direction.

#lasvegas #nevada #building #landscape #ferris #wheel #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #streetphotography #photography ##nikon #nikonphotography #niikon_photography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A quick peek backstage

Just before showtime
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You’re looking at the backstage area area at #InfoTechLive, deep inside The Cosmopolitan in #LasVegas. If you look just so, you'll see a snippet of the stage itself.

As these kind of things go, it isn’t terribly spectacular. Then again, when are waiting areas behind stages considered spectacular? They don’t have to be. Like so many aspects of a large-scale event, they exist to simply get the job done, and that’s a good thing.

That remarkable presentation you can just make out on the stage is made possible by countless people, elements, and resources. Including this seemingly unspectacular space.

Its unspectacular nature, however, IS its appeal. Living in the margins, as I so often do, means focusing on the trivial even when you should probably be focusing on something more important at that particular moment in time.

Don’t get me wrong: In the leadup to my going onstage, I was completely in the zone, locked into what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it, and how my time up there would play out. I had visualized it in my mind so many times that I could almost feel what it would be like to hit the stage and do my thing. And this time, I wasn't going to fall on my way up.

But still, the trivial beckons. And why is that?

Here’s what I think: When the stress-meter is pinned past the limits of the instrument, I often look for ways to defuse it a little, to feel a little less freaked, a bit more normal. It’s an attempted reminder to myself that I’m still me, that no matter how big and loud and bright things are about to get, I’m still that doofus with the pink bike who likes to talk to ducks as he rides past.

Or try to remember what important moments in my never-predictable life feel like. And photos like this, strange as they may seem, accomplish just that.

I could also tell you the story about the next photo I took - of my colleague’s rapidly cooling plate of eggs - but that’ll have to wait for another day. There’s lots of trivial yet to go around.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #itrg #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Celebrating an on-stage face-plant

Drink up, responsibly
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Day 1 of #InfoTechLIVE in #LasVegas is in the books, and a little celebration is called for.

This isn't, however, my drink. I found it in the hallway near the conference site, and decided some photographic decompression was called for.

It was an action-packed day filled with learning and connecting. And my first-ever full-on face plant on-stage in front of an audience of over 500 clients, colleagues, and partners. Which I'm guessing will now indelibly fuse me into the memories of a whole lot of people.

Glass half empty thinking would have me churning the fall in my mind all night long, and quite possibly beyond. The glass half full version of Carmi says I should count my blessings that tripping onto the stage was the worst thing that happened to me today. There's always someone else - or more precisely countless other someones - who must deal with far darker realities.

So don't mind me if I choose to celebrate a successful, if somewhat unconventional, day in an extraordinary place by shooting pics of someone else's long-abandoned glass of wine.

No one ever said life needed to follow a set script, anyway.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #itrg #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #white #wine #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Retrotech in a hotel lobby

Reflective communication
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's a big day for our #itrg family here in #LasVegas, and my feed will soon be packed with scenes and snippets from #InfoTechLIVE.

Yet it's an ancient phone, sitting ignored on a table in the shadows of an endless hallway here at the hotel, that captures my attention. Why?

First, I think it's the universe sending us a reminder to slow down every once in a while and soak in the details. Otherwise we might miss the colors, tones, and textures that seem to define lives well lived.

Second, it's a subtle nod to the art of communication, and how we can never stop trying to connect more effectively. No one is on this journey alone, after all, and we can't ignore the fact that we successfully navigate our path with the gentle help of those around us.

Even when we're all alone, as I am now in a quiet 44th floor hotel room in the pre-dawn darkness far from home, I am surrounded, connected, and cared for. So are you - so please let's not allow the frenetic pace of day-to-day life to blot out that very simple, critical reality.

And about that phone? Amid whatever craziness lies ahead for you today, I hope you'll take a moment to connect with someone who matters. We always have the time for that.

Indeed, if I'm going to knock it out of the park at this week's conference - as I have every intention of doing - it'll be precisely because simple, quiet, connections like the one you see here put me right where I needed to be.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A blinding light in the Nevada desert

Bright lights, big city
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

[Insert obligatory #LasVegas skyline photo here.]

I shot this at 12:35 a.m., but thanks to the magic of time zones and sub-supersonic travel, my brain thought it was 3:35. So of course the thing to do was shoot photos off the balcony. Because, you know, priorities.

Actually, I shot this because of community. I'm here this week to participate in our company's biggest ever conference. It's called Info-Tech LIVE (follow the #itrg and #infotechlive hashtags for more) and it promises to be packed with incalculable amounts of learning, connecting, and inspiration. Many hundreds of our members are coming in from all around the continent - and even the world - and I can't wait for our team to a) showcase the brilliance that is Info-Tech, and b) learn from our community's brilliance, in return.

As my colleagues have arrived here through the weekend, they've all been sharing their own first views of this frenetic town. We're here to work, not play, but there's something incredibly inspiring about a like-minded group of dedicated professionals who routinely share moments from the road. It might seem like a small thing to an outsider, but it's yet another example of why I love what I do, and where I do it.

It's going to be a wild and memorable week, and I hope you can join us along the way.

#nevada #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #streetphotography #photography #light #darkness #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Leaving home, for now

Office Anywhere
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Scene from an airport (redux).

I'm on the move again, heading to a faraway land to work with, learn from, and be inspired by some of the smartest folks I know.

Before I get there, though, work needs to get done. Thankfully I have power, connectivity, and a bit of residual brain capacity. Airports and productivity are apparently a great combo. Who knew?

I may be sitting at the gate all by my lonesome, but I'm hardly alone. I'm lucky enough to have a family that stands both with and behind me whenever stuff needs to get done. Work travel is a team effort, even when I'm the only Levy boarding the plane.

My wife and kids will keep our house spinning on its axis while I'm gone, and for that, and so much more, I'm profoundly thankful.

More to come. Let's do this, shall we?

#toronto #ontario #canada #itrg #infotechlive #pearson #international #airport #photography #city #travel #travelphotography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Hockey Night in London

Light from within
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 6:19 on a Friday night, and I find myself on the outside looking in.

On the after-work walk back to the car, I find myself surrounded by throngs of London Knights fans, all scurrying around the Budweiser Gardens arena before the game.

Friday night matches at the Bud are a deep-rooted tradition for our minor league hockey team, and tonight the downtown core, under clear, cold, dark skies, is blanketed with a sea of green.

While debate over Don Cherry's firing continues to rage - my $0.02: He's a racist. He deserved to be fired years ago. End of story - the real story of Canadian hockey lore is playing out right here, in the shadows of century-plus-year-old buildings where this city first came to life.

The Covent Garden Market building you see here is barely 20 years-old, but the market's history stretches back to 1835, older than the city itself. And on this night, the showpiece facility buzzes with life, the bright, boisterous scenes inside spilling through the huge windows, casting their warmth onto the frozen courtyard.

I imagine this is what community should look and feel like, and rather deliberately close my eyes and drink it in before I continue my journey home.

As I hear and feel how the energy of a simple game can paint an otherwise frozen, harsh landscape with such vibrant color, I realize that this is what hockey means to Canadian towns like ours. It's not just a game. It's the glue that binds us together no matter what might surround us.

Well, if we let it.

I hope everyone on the other side of this window appreciates just how good we have it.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #coventgardenmarket #market #hockey #king #walkabout #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

That fresh laptop smell...

Pristine keys, all potential
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The laptop Santa brought me a new machine at work this week, and for that I am thankful.

I know it seems weird to celebrate the arrival of a new machine. But first, I am indeed weird. And second, I remember when these things were a big deal.

Whenever a new PC of any sort showed up, we gathered around it, marvelling at what it could do. Laptops held even more cachet, and opening one up in the middle of a meeting more often than not stopped the conversation cold.

But time eventually renders all technologies invisible as they are inevitably replaced by something newer, faster, shinier. The ThinkPad that once defined business cool is now a standard-issue device. Almost everyone has one now, and almost no one gives it much of a second thought.

For reasons that sometimes feel like a mystery, though, I do. Hence the photo.

See, it replaced another ThinkPad that had been my trusty sidekick ever since I rejoined the company. When you write for a living, your writing tools become more than mere forgettable implements. They become extensions of you, with every key, button, port eventually becoming indelibly committed to muscle memory.

My old one was battered and struggling by the end, but it still did what it could to keep me in the game, even as I leaned ever more heavily on its well-worn keys. Dare I say it had a certain personality.

The new one is lighter and faster, and it has that new-laptop smell. It still feels a bit strange to the touch, but before long it'll become just as familiar as the old one was.

The keyboard you see here will be hammered on relentlessly, without complaint, as I crank out countless new words in support of my colleagues, the clients we serve, and my family, the very reason I do any of this.

Just a machine, then? Hardly.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #laptop #lenovo #thinkpad #t490 #computer #keyboard #345ridout #infotechrg #itrg #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Redefining the meaning of temporary

Shelter from change
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There's a huge construction project a block or so away from my office, another massive condo tower for a part of downtown that's in particularly desperate need of new residents.

The builders kindly installed a covered walkway in an adjoining alley, a small nod to anyone who still needs to get around the neighborhood. As I walked past it on my way home the other day, I stopped for a closer look.

It reminded me of all the temporary things that come and go from daily life, and how we never seem to take the time to remember that they were ever there at all. I thought I should take at least one photo of this structure before it would inevitably disappear, as well.

I kept thinking of this as a temporary thing. And while that's not wrong, it skews how we view everything else. We think of the other buildings in this and other neighborhoods as permanent, yet that isn't entirely true. Perhaps longer-lived than the few months allocated to this "temporary" walkway, but they, too, will eventually disappear. We are, after all, but a blip in the overall path of time.

The timeline for the buildings that define our communities may indeed be longer than our own time here, though. Any given building is only permanent to us because we may not be around when it finally goes. Doesn't make it any less temporary. Doesn't make it any less meaningful to those whose lives it touches during the time that we have it.

We all simply have different perspectives. Which, looking at the way this photo was taken, seems like a nice way to end this vignette so we can all get on with the day.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #building #construction #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #king #walkabout #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A single abstract light

Light from above
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Abstractions are all around us. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we're doing enough to really see them. And what we lose when we don't.

#toronto #ontario #light #dark #monochrome #electric #just #look #up #abstract #abstractart #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #shotbypixel #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Someone forgot their breakfast in the subway

Half eaten
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

#Toronto subway haiku:

Yummy meal was planned
Then forgotten underground
Stranger goes hungry

#yyz #ontario #canada #urban #haiku #poetry #yonge #street #subway #ttc #food #foodie #meal #lost #someone #is #hungry #travel #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Snowy parking lot in the pre-dawn cold

Traces of travels past
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 6:08 a.m., and it's the kind of deeply cold, crisp, still Canadian-winter morning that turns the sharpness dial up to 11 on everything the eye can see.

King Street in pre-dawn downtown #LdnONT is virtually deserted, the only sound the distant thrum of a freight train moving shadow-like through the still-sleeping city.

It's ironic, then, that I'm walking to the train station, on my way to another day of non-stop coolness in the big city to the east. Like most right-thinking humans, I'd rather still be tucked into my cozy bed, but purposeful life dictates otherwise. So out into the cold I've gone.

The parking lot to my left beckons me. My brain, still shaking off the cobwebs of not enough sleep, takes it in and decides this is the scene that'll best tell the story of this moment on this day. I stare at the dirty tracks in the snow, wondering who made them, where they were headed, and what their story was.

We're all on some kind of journey, after all. I hope we all have the luxury of taking the time to soak in some memory of the things we see - and feel - along the way.

#london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #king #walkabout #train #travel #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring into the downtown abyss

The face in the stone
London, ON
October 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wandering into an alleyway off of downtown's beleaguered Dundas Street in pitch black night in search of a photo or four would usually be inadvisable.

Who am I kidding? It always is. Even in daytime, these filthy corners of an already sketchy part of town are crawling with danger. Turn off the lights and it all slides from bad to worse. I wouldn't want my kids here alone, so how does that explain my presence?

It can't. And this isn't one of my best decisions. But the texture of the wall, lit by a single flickering light from above, attracts me like a moth to a flame. I tell myself I'm only standing at the entranceway, that there's no one else around, that I'll shoot fast and then be on my way.

The excuses of the photographer: I've made them all before.

I get away with it this time. I get the shot I want - can you see the hidden image? - then I move on. No one jumps out of the darkness. This time.

I smile to myself, not because I got away with something a little edgy, but because I saw something I would have otherwise missed and I learned a thing or two about shooting spontaneous street scenes in the dark.

My comfort zone may be safe spots in daytime, but roaming beyond the usual often opens our eyes to the things we can't see.

It'll never be perfectly safe to come here at night. But who ever said life was perfectly safe to begin with? I'd hate to think what we'd miss if we always self-selected the no option, simply because we were afraid to venture into the darkness.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #downtown #urban #city #dundas #street #photography #streetphotography #monochrone #night #alley Nikon #nikonphotography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything