Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Territories

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo: the theme day for January 1st is Photo Of The Year. I will actually be doing two posts for that, one for each side of the Ottawa River, on January 1st and 2nd.

Today I have something that some of you might remember from this post back in January. At this time last year this was standing in Confederation Park. This year this large box-like structure stands across from Parliament Hill, outside the main visitor's centre.


Inside is an art installation called Territories, by Olivier Roberge in collaboration with Vincent Roy and Mathieu Fecteau. Three sets of miniature landscapes contained within capture winter's beauty in Canada- while billboards mounted on those rugged landscapes feature tropical settings. The difference reflects our need to escape winter. Well, most of us anyway- if you ask me, winter is a perfectly good season, and who the hell would want to go to a beach? But I'm silly that way.


The amount of detail on these is incredible. This is the first one.


Here we have the second one.


This one's my favourite, featuring a steep mountain environment.


A close up shows a line of climbers at the left- the one that's most obvious in view is standing in the snow at mid-pic, with his fellow climbers below him. Looking diagonally up to the right from him across the couloir and on higher ground you'll see a horizontal line of brown. It's something that he hasn't noticed but which has noticed him- a mountain lion. There's a second one hidden by the shadows in this shot.


Here we have a look from the outside at night; the exterior is covered with small holes, lit from within, evoking a starry night.

38 comments:

  1. Very neat
    Miniatures are always fascinating in the way they create a day dream atmosphere, like watching a picture book.

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  2. Beach: Me! ;-)
    If you ever get to Hamburg make sure you visit Minuatur Wunderland, it´s amazing.

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  3. Beautiful miniatures of winter landscapes!

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  4. That's very skilfully done. A few more years of global warming and we won't have to go anywhere.

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  5. It’s lucky you like the cold given your winters. We try to escape ours for a few weeks each winter but don’t go to the beach very often.

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  6. Muito interessante estas miniaturas de Inverno.
    Aproveito para desejar um Santo e Feliz Natal.

    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

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  7. That must have been very interesting to see and looks also so beautiful !

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  8. I remember this scenery from earlier this year.
    It is very beautiful made.

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  9. These photos are so fun. The last photo puts it all into perspective.

    Janis
    GDP

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  10. very cool. can you imagine ...working on those tiny details? ... very time consuming. ( ;

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  11. Wow, with the lights. It looks fantastic!

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  12. @Maywyn: that's true.

    @Iris: I hadn't heard of that one. I have heard of one in Denmark.

    @Nancy: it's well done.

    @John: Unfortunately true.

    @Joan: I love the winter. And the beach isn't my idea of a swell vacation!

    @Francisco: thank you!

    @Gattina: I was surprised to see it again, but it's actually part of the larger Christmas lights displays currently underway.

    @Jan: yes, it was a pleasure to see. Thinking back to last year, it makes sense as to why it vanished after early January, as it's more tied to the Christmas lights than to Winterlude as I would have expected given its previous location.

    @Janis: it does indeed.

    @Beth: I imagine first building it would have taken many, many hours.

    @Tom: indeed!

    @Marie: that they are.

    @Shammickite: I'm not sure. The bulk of the material could be plaster poured into molds. That would make sense to me. But a lot of the detail work would probably be other materials.

    @Whisk: it does indeed.

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  13. These are really remarkable. Working in miniature is quite an art and not an easy one. I'm impressed with the talent, skill and patience needed for these to be made.

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  14. Lovely! Thanks for sharing. I gazed for a long while at them, dreaming. :-)

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  15. That must be great fun to look at these for a long time!

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  16. Great to see miniatures in a public display...and a great topic for the art!

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  17. I'm with you. I like winter activities. I've spent many days in mountain snow on skiis or snowshoes. These dioramas bring all the pleasures back.

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  18. Hello William.
    Great series of pictures!
    The miniatures are so beautiful and the snowy landscapes!
    Thank you for sharing! Have a lovely day!
    Dimi...

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  19. Those little scenes are wonderful! That took quite a bit of planning and construction.

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  20. @Jeanie: it is very well done.

    @DJan: you're welcome.

    @RedPat: I've stopped several times now since it was placed there, and I'll stop several more times.

    @Barbara: that it is!

    @Bill: I would agree.

    @Red: I can see that. I'm reminded of model railroads in terms of details- but that's horizontal, while this is much more vertical.

    @Dimi: you're welcome.

    @Sharon: yes it did.

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  21. Ah light! So needed in winter... I am using my SAD treatment box again. Newt winter: HOME! <3

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  22. The miniatures are great but I was struck by your banner photo. Who has the job of raising and lowering that flag? And how does he do it?

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  23. Awesome details to see and appreciate the work that went it to creating the scene. Well done!

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  24. These are awesome and wonderful shots of the scenes ~ ^_^

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  25. This is beautiful. The details are amazing.

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  26. @Cloudia: and this is well lit!

    @Catalyst: someone in operations who doesn't have a problem with heights. I've seen the view from the top on a show here, and it's essentially just room for one person up there. The flag is used for one day, and replaced by another. That day's flag ends up sent to the next person on a list in the country who has requested it, and that list goes on now for years.

    @Peter: definitely!

    @Bill: I agree.

    @Carol: thanks!

    @Marleen: definitely!

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  27. I'd love to see museum or exhibition of miniatures. These ones are wonderful.

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  28. Thank you for sharing this William, your photos are wonderful!

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  29. The detail is amazing. Wonderful miniatures. I don't want to go to the beach either and get sand where I don't want it.
    MB

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  30. Amazing and such a lot of work.
    My husband has an HO train layout he is working on that takes up the whole of our basement and it too has that incredible detail.

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  31. Cleverly done, and it looks beautiful.

    All the best Jan

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  32. When we were in Bells Corners, I noticed you have far more snow.
    I love the snow. The rain is making me weary.

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  33. @Klara: I do like this display.

    @Denise: you're welcome.

    @MB: sun and sand is not my idea of a vacation.

    @Happyone: I've seen such detail in model trains before.

    @Jan: thank you!

    @Jennifer: we've managed to keep the snow around this winter.

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