On listening to your inner voice

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway."
Eleanor Roosevelt

If a tree falls in the forest...

No passage
London, ON
February 2017
Thematic. Yellow. Here.

Like most of the rest of the planet, we've been getting some seriously weird weather here in Ontario. While the calendar says this is supposed to be a Canadian winter, record-high temperatures for much of the last week had many of us wandering the city in shorts and t-shirts.

Until Friday, that is, when a cold front swept into the city around rush hour and unleashed a violent thunderstorm that left intersections flooded and wind-tossed debris all over the place. Never a dull moment around here.

I came across this sad sight the next morning, on a bike path through campus that I'd normally be crossing at speed on my pink wondermachine. I'm glad I was walking on this morning, because the combination of blind, hilly curve and large, downed tree trunk would have made for a panic-induced emergency braking session had I been approaching from the opposite direction. My heart skipped a beat just thinking about it.

As I sized up the scene, the skies opened up and brought my photo walk to a premature end. Mother Nature has a schedule of her own, and all the whining in the world won't change a thing. May as well enjoy what we can, when we can.

Related:

• Original photo on Instagram (follow my feed here.)
• Take the long way home (November 2016)
• Chasing the sun home (November 2016)

On putting away the damn smartphone

"Wherever you are - be all there."
Jim Elliot

The man responsible for these words may have died in 1956, but the sentiment resonates especially strongly in this mobile age, where we're often so buried in our devices that we fail to appreciate the in-real-life world around us.

I was talking about this on-air yesterday, and the subject of my own walking-and-texting addiction came up. See, I often wander the halls of the office with my head buried in my smartphone. It's how I catch up on reading as I head from here to there.

That's all well and good - productivity is a positive, after all - but it also makes me a slow-moving obstacle to my colleagues who may be zipping in and out of offices and studios and don't much appreciate having to deke left and right to avoid me.

Which is my way of saying my name is Carmi and I have a smartphone addiction. Maybe this "all there" think is a decent place to start as I figure out how to wean myself off.

Your turn: Are you smartphone-addicted? How would you suggest I break this addiction?

4 years...

Then...
Laval, QC
July 2011

My wife lost her mom four years ago today. It's as hard to believe the stark black-font words on a white screen as it is to write them in the first place - and it's no more believable to write, read or think today than it was on Feb. 22, 2013.

Time constantly increases the distance between then and now, but it does little to erase the feeling that your world has been irrevocably redrawn. You don't recover from loss as much as you figure out how to go on in a very different manner. And you don't return to life's routine, either, because there's no such thing as life's routine in the first place. You get changed, and you have no choice in the matter.

As many of you know, I shoot a lot of pictures. In our family, I'm the guy sticking his lens into everyone's face, at times and in places that normally wouldn't be considered appropriate for picture-taking. At the table, in the kitchen, even before everyone gets out of or into the car, there I am, clicking away.

My mother-in-law used to complain to my wife about it, asking her why I took so many pictures. Like many of us, she didn't like having her picture taken, especially by a photographically-insane son-in-law who seemed to pop out of every corner of the house with little notice. I'm pretty sure it annoyed her a bit, but I shot, anyway, because I felt the need to freeze time, to capture moments that I knew, deep down, weren't permanent. It became a yin-and-yang thing between us, and somehow despite her external annoyance, I think she somehow enjoyed it and was glad I took the time to tell the family's story in my, ah, unique way.

Like my father, my mother-in-law spent the last few years of her life facing a growing mountain of health-related challenges. And as they each got sicker, I found myself reaching for my camera more often. I took it into places I probably shouldn't have, like the hospital, but I wanted a visual record because I thought it would do all of us some good.

I still believe that, because four years later I can't take any new pictures. I couldn't freeze time then, and I sure can't freeze it now. But at the very least I can look back at those frozen images and remember to be glad I crossed her path in the first place. Looking at a photo lost to time doesn't change much, but at least it gives you a place to go when you're still feeling adrift from loss long after the rest of the world says you should have gotten over it.

The rest of the world is wrong. And I'll keep carrying my camera into places where it probably doesn't belong. Because telling the story is how we honour the lives of those who have helped shape us, and I'm glad I got to tell at least part of my mother-in-law's story.

Related:

My wife's Facebook post today
There are no words (Feb 23, 2013)
Even the skies know (February 27, 2013)
Temporarily dormant (March 7, 2013)

Let there be light

So much brightness
London, ON
January 2017
For more yellow-themed Thematic, head here

Sometimes when I'm bored, I stop what I'm doing and stare around the room. I look for the tiniest details - the color of a wall, the texture of a fixture, or even the feel of the light coming off of a bulb. It almost doesn't matter what it is: Simply being able to drink it in in all its mundane glory is more than enough to satisfy the itch.

This explains the otherwise strange-looking photo you see here. I noticed this spotlight lurking in the rafters of Budweiser Gardens. Far below, the London Knights were busy winning another game. While everyone else's eyes focused downward, mine were in a decidedly different place. I'll likely never understand my need to diverge from the crowd, but you won't find me fighting the urge, either. Some of us were meant to follow a different path.

Your turn: What do you do when you're bored?

On finding enough room to live

"Time and space - time to be alone, space to move about - these may well become the great scarcities of tomorrow."
Edwin Way Teale

Thematic Photographic 401 - Yellow

Butterballs
Toronto, ON
February 2017

It's been a while since I chose a particular color for a Thematic theme, and given our collective need to find brightness amid all the greys, I thought I'd start with yellow.

This particular yellow-themed shot would be a happy pic under any circumstances. But it's the context that makes me smile almost a week after I took it. I was at a conference, and a colleague and I arrived a bit early to the breakfast buffet in the brightly lit hotel corridor just outside the actual conference room where the event was about to be held. I'm pretty sure we were too early, and in retrospect I think the hotel staff members weren't anywhere near finished setting up by the time we walked into the nearly empty area.

But the carefully scooped balls of butter were beckoning my lens, even if I shouldn't have been there in the first place. One staffer, in particular, stood just across and watched quietly as I composed and took the shot. He smiled knowingly at me as I put the phone away and reached for the fruit plate. Sometimes, rules were made to be broken.

Your turn: Take a picture of something yellow. Or something that suggests yellow. Or simply evokes this week's theme, yellow. Post it to your blog, your social media page, or wherever you hang out online. Leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it, and visit other participants to spread the yellowy happiness far and wide. We'll be celebrating yellow all week, so feel free to play again - or even bring a friend - if you're so inclined. For more info on how Thematic works, head here. Happy shooting and sharing!

On making the first move

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity"
Amelia Earhart

Blue morning in Brantford

Trackside, 7:22 a.m.
Brantford, ON
February 2017

Using a smartphone to shoot first light through the smudged windows of an early-morning train isn't exactly a recipe for photographic perfection. But photography - and life, come to think of it - isn't as much about perfection as it is doing the best with what you've got.

So as I stared out the window and wondered what it must be like to live beside such a busy railyard in a southern Ontario town best known as the birthplace of both the telephone and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, I thought less about the photography thing and more about the feel of this place. And in the blue-ish early morning light, I realized this was the photo I was supposed to take all along.

Your turn: Who lives here?

On fear of living

"Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live."
Henry van Dyke

Waiting for her train to arrive

Catching up
Toronto, ON
February 2017
Thematic. Favorites. Here.

The scene: Toronto's Union Station. We're in the waiting room of this sprawling, crowded, chaotic place. At least I think it's the waiting room, because the station has been under construction forever and you're never quite sure where they'll stick you as you wait for your train to arrive.

I've come here with some colleagues, and we're all on our way back to London after a work thing. While the rest of my team quietly sits and waits for our boarding call - aka normal behavior - I restlessly pace the area, looking for things to record with my smartphone's camera. Why the smartphone? For all its limitations - no zoom, the horrors! - I figure it's a lot less obtrusive to shoot in a public place than the full-on, "real" camera I have in my backpack. So smartphone it is. Gotta love spontaneous shooting.

I can't help but notice the people around us. Each one has a story, and I try to avoid capturing their attention as I stare around the area and try to read the scene. I keep coming back to this woman with the large-ish headphones on her head and the time-worn, taped-up laptop perched expertly on her lap. What's she listening to? Death metal? Post-punk? Hip hop/jazz fusion? What's she doing on that laptop? Emailing her board of directors? Setting up lunch for her team? Breaking into the White House email server?

Whatever she's up to, she's clearly got this Via Rail/road warrior thing down, and as much as I risk crossing the line by surreptitiously pointing my tiny lens toward her, I can't resist. This is the signature memory of the 15 minutes spent here with my colleagues, so I line up the shot and take it.

She never even knew I was there.

Your turn: A photo that pushed your personal comfort zone. Aaaaaand...go!

Related:
This same photo in my Instagram feed....here.
Two ladies chat (January 2007)
A stranger's sojourn by the sea (January 2007)
Strangers among us (December 2011)
A conversation among friends (August 2014)

On remembering to laugh

"The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed."
Nicolas Chamfort

So let's laugh, shall we?

Thematic Photographic 400 - Favourites

Soaked, for now
London, ON
July 2015

This entry marks the 400th Thematic Photographic since it all began right here, on June 4, 2008. We've covered a lot of photographic ground in the ensuing 3,172 days (or, if you will, 8 years, 8 months, and 5 days) but one thing has remained fundamentally clear - why we do it in the first place.

Thematic isn't a competition. It isn't formal. It isn't rigid. It's a simple excuse to get out into the world and shoot stuff we wouldn't otherwise have shot, then share it with others. It's designed to help us push our own photographic bounds, to encourage others to do the same, and to have some fun along the way. Life is serious enough as it is, so a little pixellated fun makes as much sense today as it did then.

Thank you for coming along for the ride: I can't wait to see what everyone has in store for the next 400 weeks.

Your turn: This week's very special Thematic theme is favorites. Or, if you're Canadian, favourites with a u. However you spell it, I hope we'll use the coming week to share our favorite pictures. Comment here letting everyone know where to find your work, and drop by other participants to share your own thoughts. If this is all new to you, here's a primer on how Thematic works. Otherwise, have at it, and thanks again.

On the difference between opinion and fact

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Jammed again

Scraping the bottom of the jar
London, ON
February 2017

We all have comfort foods, and one of mine is, strangely, jam or jelly. I think it derives from when I was a munchkin in the hospital and they served it in those plastic-and-foil disposable packets at mealtime. I especially liked the marmalade, and for some reason these little packets became something to look forward to every time the food cart rattled it way across the overwaxed floors into the 6th floor paeds ward.

Strange what we remember, no?

So to this day, I seem to linger over jars of jam at breakfast. I'll often take a couple of jars out of the fridge and plop them on the kitchen table, only to ultimately choose to shmear something else on my bagel. But eating it isn't necessarily the point: Somehow, the mere act of having it nearby is enough to bring comfort before I finish off and head out into the world.

Eventually, however, every jar reaches the bottom. A photo before it hits the recycling bin is a lovely reminder of why a seemingly innocuous breakfast treat deserves to be remembered in the first place.

Your turn: What's your comfort food? Why?

Related:

• Jammed (October 2006)
• Jammed redux (November 2006)
• Jammed, encore (April 2007)
• Jammed Up (May 2010)

On understanding the early riser

"I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be so it's easier to remember who I am.'
Brian Andreas

Maybe this helps explain why I wake up before sunrise as often as I do.

Thematic Photographic 399 - Hat trick

Mannequin challenge
London, ON
January 2017

Since we focused on the things we wear on our feet last time, I wanted to shift to the very opposite this week and point our cameras a little higher. This week's theme, hat trick, celebrates the things we wear on our head. Or, in this case, the thing's we'd like to wear on our heads, but can't, because there's a pane of glass between here and there.

The perils of shopping mall display case photography. And the challenge of shooting fast and spare before store employees figure out what you're up to.

Your turn: Take a pic that reflects this week's "hat trick" theme - or find one you may have posted online - and then leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. If it's got a hat in it, or even suggests the very possibility of a hat, we want to see it. We'll be doing this all week, so repeat as often as you wish and feel free to pull in a friend. And if you're new to the Thematic thing, click here and all will be explained.

But wait, there's more: Next week marks a very special Thematic milestone - our 400th since we first started this craziness all those years ago. Because I'm a fan of big, even numbers, I'd like to share our favorite photographic moments. Just wanted to get it out there a bit early so we could all start thinking about what our favorites have been. It's going to be fun!

On making ourselves just a little squirmy

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."
Neale Donald Walsch

Costco on a snowy night

Getting to the meat of the matter
London, ON
January 2017

The scene: I've stopped into the Costco gas bar on my way home from work to feed some dino juice to my somewhat beloved Henrietta (I name my cars. I'm odd that way.) As I'm filling the tank, I notice one of my tires is a little low, so I ask the attendant (they still employ humans here, bless them) if there's an air pump nearby. No, she answers, but the folks at the auto and tire centre in the Costco store next door should be able to help me out.

So once I'm done with the fuel thing, I pop into the store, explain my plight, and hand over my keys so they can take a closer look at the tire to figure out why it isn't holding air. The friendly mechanic says it'll take around 45 minutes. I thank him and head into the abnormally quiet store. As we've just done a grocery order, I have nothing to do and nothing to buy. I ask myself - silently, of course - how much trouble I think I can get into with the camera on my smartphone. Plenty, I figure.

So with a sly smile and a spring in my snow-covered-boot's step, I pull the smartphone out of my pocket as my eyes begin searching for anything of interest.

At first glance, it might seem like there's nothing worth capturing in a place dominated by concrete floors, steel shelving, institutional lighting and piled-to-the-ceiling merchandise. Then there's the fact that this particular store looks a lot like any other Costco in any other town. It's easy to see why most folks would leave their cameras at home.

But as my brain processes the target-rich world around me, I find myself wishing more folks would grab their cameras alongside me. For anyone who takes the time to slow down and ponder the possibilities, there's good stuff beckoning at every turn, the kind of everyday-ordinary that we see all the time but never really think about.

On the surface, this is a simple picture of packaged meat. On further reflection, it's a glimpse into 45 minutes on a cold, snowy night I wouldn't trade for anything.

Your turn: Where's your next adventure going to be?

On looking out for others

"Watch carefully, the magic that occurs, when you give a person just enough comfort, to be themselves."
Harper Lee (Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird)