Tuesday, January 1, 2019

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Best Of The Year

Happy New Year! The first day of the year is a chance for members of City Daily Photo to look back at their favourite photos of the year. You can see how others have chosen their favourites at this link. I have decided to do this over two days, with both sides of the Ottawa River. Today it's the Ontario side, and tomorrow I'll be doing the Quebec side.

This was one of my first shots of 2018, taken on New Year's Day outside the National Gallery of Canada.


One day in mid-January I happened to go into the Ottawa Convention Centre, aka the Shaw Centre, to photograph the glass wall from inside. There was a wedding show going on inside; one of the vendors gave me a ticket, and I went in. It was an oddity- I'm single, not getting married, and I've never been to one of these. Which meant that unlike the impending brides, grooms, wedding party members, and those offering their business services inside, I wasn't under any pressures. Among the many photographs I took was a fashion show of models walking the runways in wedding attire. This was the first time I've done a proper runway shoot, and this shot taken after it was done, with the models chatting with audience members, particularly stood out to me.


Winterlude is a big festival held in February on both sides of the Ottawa River. Ice sculptures are found at more than one site, but especially in Confederation Park. They look vivid lit up at night.


On the Easter weekend, I paid a visit to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, one of the national museums here in the national capital region. Based on the Experimental Farm, a government research farm southwest of the downtown core, it is a working farm where animals are housed in a series of barns the visitor goes in and out of (in warmer weather they spend at least part of their time outdoors). This is the Dairy Barn, the largest of the barns on the grounds. The Museum is an ideal way for city kids to learn where their food comes from.


Inside the Dairy Barn, the herd is housed over the winter. The rest of the year they're out in pastures, only coming in at milking time. I liked the expressions of these two cows.


The Canadian Tulip Festival is another big festival held here in May, dating back to the aftermath of World War Two. I get in a lot of photographs on both sides of the Ottawa River over the course of the event, and particularly go for a view of the tulips with the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill as a backdrop.


The tulip beds at Commissioners Park is the biggest site of the many tulips planted here.


During the summer, the Canadian War Museum housed a temporary exhibit on Armour. This happened to include a contemporary one- one of the Iron Man armours from the Marvel cinematic universe, all lit up. You can imagine this was a draw for photo ops like this one.


Buskerfest is held here each year at the beginning of August. This was one of my favourite acts of the event, a man and woman operating as two thirds of the acrobatic troupe Les Dudes. At this point in their routine, Senja had red-flagged Philippe, and he responded by taking a dive and faking an injury that professional soccer players would be proud of.


The National Gallery held a special exhibit over the summer called Impressionist Treasures: The Ordrupgaard Collection, consisting of French and Danish paintings. I paid a visit on the Labour Day weekend. The Ordrupgaard, a Copenhagen gallery, has been under renovations at present, and sent their collection off on tour. Part of it was here, including this 1865 Claude Monet work, The Chailly Road Through The Forest of Fontainbleu.


On the 21st of September, a set of tornadoes swept through the National Capital Region, causing damage on both sides of the river. For my own part, I didn't know it had been a tornado until the following day. All I knew was a particularly heavy rainfall happened that knocked out the power around dinner time (my home would not see power restored for just over twenty four hours). When the rain ended I went for a walk and crossed the Rideau Canal during the last light of day. This view looking south from the Laurier Avenue Bridge shows the retreating edge of part of the storm.


Late in November I took a tour of Centre Block on Parliament Hill, as the building is due to close up for several years for rehabilitation work. Among my many photographs that day is this one inside the Library of Parliament, which I consider the most beautiful room in the capital. A statue of Queen Victoria is at its heart. Tomorrow I show you my favourites from the Quebec side of the river.

39 comments:

  1. Your photos are always a joy to see.
    The Peace Tower is a favorite.
    Happy It Is Now 2019!

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  2. A lot of good things happened in 2018. Happy New Year William!

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  3. ...a wonderful year in review, the blue sky was a great way to start the new year. My bet to you in 2019, William.

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  4. Great selection !
    Happy New Year 2019, William !

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  5. Happy New Year, William.
    Wonderful serie for the start of 2019, I can remember most of these photos.

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  6. It was especially nice to see the tulip pics.

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  7. i prefer the more springy, flower view ...but Iron Man ... so cool!! love it! ( ;

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  8. The retrospective of the year is great, and I enjoyed remembering the tulips! :-)

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  9. Happy New Year, William. You are a great CDP contributor and commenter. Love the retrospective

    Janis
    GDP

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  10. Lovely series for 2018. Looking forward to more in the new year. Happy New Year to you, William!

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  11. @Lady Fi: thanks!

    @Maywyn: I love showing the Tower.

    @Marleen: thanks!

    @Tom: by contrast this New Year's Day is overcast.

    @Karl: thanks!

    @Jan: thank you.

    @Anvilcloud: I lool forward to them in May.

    @Beth: Stark seemed mad at me.

    @Francisco: thank you.

    @DJan: tulips are a delight.

    @Janis: I enjoyed showing it.

    @Nancy: thanks!

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  12. Happy New Year William - is it snowy in Ottawa this New Year too?

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  13. Happy New year, William! Thanks for the wonderful tours of Ottawa this year!

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  14. Very nice shots of all these events !

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  15. This is an entire series of wonderful photos. l'd say you were lucky to get away from the modes unscathed and sans wedding ring! ;)

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  16. Great selection of photos, William. Happy New Year!

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  17. I really love ice sculptures and tulips!
    Happy new year!

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  18. Now that was a great pictorial tour.
    Happy New Year
    MB

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  19. Those ice photos are especially nice. Happy New Year William.

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  20. The ice sculptures were definitely worth looking at again. Happy New Year. Oh, yes, Tweeted.

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  21. What an interesting year you've had! My favorite of these photos was the one taken from the Laurier Avenue Bridge. My second favorites were both of the ones starring tulips. I wish you many more wonderful photos ops this year.

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  22. Lovely photography series of 2018 in Canada ~

    Wishing you a Happy New Year ^_^

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  23. @Rosemary: yes, we have snow on the ground.

    @RedPat: you're welcome.

    @Gattina: thank you.

    @Lowell: hah!

    @Bill: thanks!

    @Tamago: I love them too.

    @MB: a pleasure to present it.

    @Sharon: I look forward to this year and the ice sculptures.

    @Mari: thank you.

    @Barbara: I can never get enough tulips.

    @Carol: thank you.

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  24. I can see why you chose these for best of the year. My favorite is the one of the tulips with the Parliament tower in the background. It's such a wonderful angle, the light and color are perfection! Happy New Year, William. I look forward to more of your beautiful shots!

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  25. So many wonderful photos. I remember most of them a few slipped by.
    By the way do you want a Scotty for winter ? I am having the hardest time getting him in the house. All he wants to do is sleep and play outside. Sleeping in the snow. What a little jerk !

    cheers, parsnip

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  26. You certainly stayed busy in 2018, William. Your Parliament and tulips shot, of course, is a classic. And I'm impressed you were able to choose favorites from the Winterlude. Happy New Year and all the best in 2019.

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  27. Lovely shots especially the one with the the lights along the canal:)

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  28. That's hilarious, a wedding show! Come one, come all!

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  29. @Jeanie: I often wonder how many times in a given year people will photograph the Tower from that angle with tulips.

    @Parsnip: your Winston might get buried by the snow of an Ottawa winter!

    @Kay: for me the ice sculptures lit up at night are a particular favourite part of Winterlude.

    @Rosie: thank you!

    @Jennifer: that was a first for me, attending that kind of event.

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  30. A great year for taking photos and how lucky we are you share them with us. Thanks William and Happy New Year!

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  31. 'Cows' picture is my favourite.

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  32. All the tulip photos were another fave subject!

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  33. I always enjoy seeing your photographs.
    Hope the New Year has started well for you.
    My good wishes.

    All the best Jan

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