Twilight Descends Again Upon Another Year

For New Year's Eve, it has been my tradition to close out the year with a post of twilight shots. I start out with three shots taken one evening in early September. I went up to the Portage Bridge, crossing the Ottawa River, for a shot looking east towards Parliament. Then I crossed to the other side and photographed west at the setting sun. The river goes through a series of channels around islands here. The next bridge upstream, the Chaudiere Bridge, is visible in this shot, at the heart of the main channel.

Upstream from that bridge is the source of its name. The Chaudiere Falls has been opened up to the public after a century plus of industrial use on these islands. They make for an ideal photo subject at the end of the day.

Finished with my visit at the falls, I photographed the western sky over one of the other channels between islands here.

This October view looks towards the Bank Street Bridge from the stadium at Lansdowne Park.

Another view from October, I took this one from the pathway behind Centre Block on Parliament Hill, looking up the river towards the islands where the Chaudiere Falls can be found.

Here we have a view from mid-November looking west from the Bank Street Bridge. I cross this bridge most days, and it's ideal for sunset views over the Rideau Canal. As you can see, the waterway was already in early stages of freezing up.

A few days later walking through the Glebe, I took note of the setting sun in the western sky, while snow was falling. It created an eerie effect in the western sky. This street view includes the familiar St. Matthew's Anglican Church at left.

Here we had another view west from the Bank Street Bridge in early December. The setting sun is just visible to the left of the Canal in a gap amid the trees.

I finish at Parliament Hill, with shots taken late one afternoon a few days before Christmas. The sun was setting in the west, giving a soft highlight to some of the stonework on Centre Block.

This is the arch to the main entrance beneath the tower. The late sunlight was casting shadows on the carvings, including a beaver at the top of the arch.

And this carved owl, bathed in sunlight, also caught my eye.

I went around Centre Block to the pathway overlooking the river and photographed the Library of Parliament and the Peace Tower in the late light.

And I photographed west from the same general spot as my October view from here, looking west over the Ottawa River as the water is in the process of freezing up. It seems a fitting way to close out the year with this shot.