Changing Viewpoints Upon The Ottawa River

It has been my tradition for some time now to go out to the Portage Bridge as it crosses the Ottawa River from Ontario into Quebec, from Ottawa into Gatineau. I do this twice a month to document the view downstream from the bridge as conditions change during seasons. Landmarks seen in this frame include the Alexandra Bridge, Nepean Point, the National Gallery, Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court of Canada, and Victoria Island at the extreme right. Today I show how things have unfolded over the last few months.

To begin, here's a view of how things were in the first half of March, with ice still downstream from the bridge on a cold day.

A few days later, in the middle of March, the skies were different, but the ice was starting to break up too.

In early April much of the ice was clearing out, with some still visible below the Hill and around the Alexandra Bridge.

Late in April things looked different on a brooding day.

I crossed the river around the middle of May to head into Gatineau to photograph tulips over there, and this was how things looked on what had been, until then, a rainy day.

A few days later, this was how things stood.

In the first half of June I returned.

Near the end of June I took another shot.

Early in July I returned.

Late in July, it was a brooding kind of day when I came back.

A very different day in the first half of August.

Finally, this last one was taken earlier this week, in the last days of August. The blue sky to the east was deceptive; there were storm clouds to the north and to the west.

A rarity for these posts, looking in a different direction on this bridge, but here are some of those storm clouds to the north as the bridge heads into Gatineau. Cirque de Soleil has one of their traveling shows happening, hence all the white tents.