Richard McGuire Photo

Sadhus are Hindu holy men or ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and wander in search of moksa, or spiritual liberation. There are many of them in the Indian holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges River. (Richard McGuire Photo)

When you climb (or take the funicular) to the top of the hill where El Pipila statue stands, you’re met with a spectacular view over Guanajuato, Mexico. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Brightly painted buildings and colourful banners make for a feast of colour in Guanajuato, Mexico. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Customers enjoy a conversation over coffee at one of the coffee shops located on Plaza del Libertador in Jardin, Colombia. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Many old timers socialize outdoors on the streets near Plaza del Libertador in Jardin, Colombia. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A woman reads a paper while tending a snack stand in the old city of Cartagena, Colombia. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A man wearing an Aguadeño hat takes a smoke break outside a colourfully painted house in Guatapé, Colombia. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Guatapé is a colourfully painted town east of Medellin, Colombia. It is known for its cobbled streets and “zocalos,” icons on walls of buildings just above the sidewalks. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A family gets into the spirit of Carnaval in Mompox, Colombia. In preparation for Ash Wednesday, some people put ash on their faces. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A musician beats out a rhythm for some lively rumba music on a Sunday on Havana’s Callejon de Hamel. This alley is a colourful celebration of Afro-Cuban culture and Santeria religion. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Market day in the Cakchiquel Mayan town of Sololá, Guatemala is a colourful hive of activity. Although men are more likely than women to wear western dress, you do see a number of men in traditional clothing, like the man in the centre. Note his wonderful multi-coloured pants. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A Hindu priest performs the evening aarti ceremony with fire beside the Shipra river in the holy city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, India. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Every evening there is an aarti ceremony with fire at Har-ki-Pauri ghats on the Ganges River at Haridwar, India. (Richard McGuire Photo)

The City Palace of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India is lit with lights at night that reflect in Pichola Lake. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A camel driver leads two camels across the sand dunes at sunset near Kanoi, an hour from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Men enjoy lassi and other milk drinks at a stand at night time on Main Bazar in the Paharganj neighbourhood of New Delhi. (Richard McGuire Photo)

As the sun goes down, lights come out along the Malecon, Havana’s sea wall drive that runs from Old Havana to Vedado and Miramar. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A man bicycles home as the setting sun casts its glow on a ruined church in the Cuban colonial city of Trinidad. The city was built with fortunes from the sugar industry, and is now a tourist centre. (Richard McGuire Photo)

After sunset, you can look down from El Pipila statue over the lights of Guanajuato, Mexico. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Lake Atitlán in central Guatemala is ringed in volcanoes. I got up early one morning to take a bus to a lookout point above the lake to watch the sunrise. (Richard McGuire Photo)

I went out with several guys from the Osoyoos Photography Club to photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower. I was too early for the best meteor show, but as a photographer, I found the combination of moonlight and expressive clouds to be more interesting. (Richard McGuire Photo)

As night falls on Osoyoos, B.C., a thick fog still blankets the town, the result of a thermal inversion. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Cow Bay in Prince Rupert, B.C. used to be a somewhat ramshackle fishing port. Now it’s a harbour for boat tours and private recreational boats as well as more upscale bars, coffee shops and boutiques. (Richard McGuire Photo)

On a warm, summer-like evening in early spring, Montreal’s Latin Quarter comes alive. This area along rue Saint-Denis is near UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). (Richard McGuire Photo)

The Parliament Buildings are lit up at night in downtown Ottawa. Below them are the Supreme Court of Canada (in green light) and the Canadian War Museum. This shot was taken from my former apartment balcony with a long lens. (Richard McGuire Photo)

This image looking down from a pedestrian bridge onto Highway 417 in Ottawa was a 20-second exposure at f/20. The long exposure shows the trails of headlights and taillights and the small aperture causes the starburst effect on the lights and it keeps the chain link fence almost in focus as the background is sharp. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Ottawa’s Rideau Street is a bit rough around the edges. It’s a haven for panhandlers and addicts of various substances, and it’s a major truck route. Still, lights reflected on the rainy pavement give it a certain beauty on an autumn night. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Lights come on as darkness descends in Ottawa’s Chinatown. (Richard McGuire Photo)

From my apartment balcony at night I see the eerie green lights along the roadway to the Lemieux Island water treatment plants reflected like green candles in the Ottawa River. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Several members of the Ottawa Street Exploration Flickr group did a photo walk at Carleton University on a mild November evening. Years ago, I spent many, many hours at the MacOdrum Library shown here. Carleton’s architecture has a 1950s Stalinesque quality and the library’s windows remind me of cell blocks. (Richard McGuire Photo)

A couple shares a moment under the steam clock in Vancouver’s Gastown. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Vancouver’s Granville Street is lit up in lights. The city’s abundant rain intensifies the colours of the light as it is reflected on the pavement. (Richard McGuire Photo)