City Daily Photo Theme Day: Sky

The beginning of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for June, that theme is Sky. See how others are interpreting that theme right here.

To begin, I took this one morning in the first half of January before dawn at Lansdowne Park, with light in the east starting to brighten up the day.

In late January, I was passing along the National Gallery of Canada headed towards Major's Hill Park. I noticed this set of evergreens which occupy a portion of the Gallery property, covered in snow, against a slate grey sky, with snow falling. I composed the shot to only include trees and sky.

I moved into the park, where I photographed across the frozen Ottawa River towards Gatineau, with the Museum of History on the far shore, composing the shot to let the sky dominate things.

And did the same here, turning around and photographing towards Notre Dame, with the bare trees a contrast against the sky. There were hints of blue in that sky.

I took this on a night walk of the Rideau Canal during Winterlude in February, with an emphasis on the sky, with a mix of clear and light cloud, and some visible stars.

On two February days, I was around Lansdowne Park, and I took this sunrise shot at the east end of the property.

On the second occasion, I was at the west side of the property. I noticed the crescent moon, and lined up a shot, framing the sky with the office building at right, the stadium north stands at left, and the south stands in the background.

A March morning close to home, with the sun not yet up.

A short bus ride away, and the same morning.

Here we have the same location, but another morning, with contrails being lit by a sun yet to rise above the horizon.

And yet another morning in April, this in the pre-dawn at Lansdowne Park. This is taken from the west side of the stadium. Over at the east side, it's a construction site, with a new event center being built before the north stands are taken down and rebuilt. It'll be a long process.

I took this sky shot for the clouds on another day.

One day in early May, I noticed how dramatic the sunset was getting, lighting up the underside of clouds from the west. With not much time before the light gave out, I took two shots from my apartment windows. It was a cotton candy sunset.

Gardens

 A bit of a coda to the series I have just finished off with. Each season I come back to the Canadian Museum of Nature to photograph the Landscapes of Canada Gardens. The plants, grasses, shrubs, and trees of four distinct ecosystems in the country grow here on the west side of the property. I came earlier this month for a spring visit. I start with Boreal Forest; this covers a vast swath of the country, and trees and various bushes from the region are found here.

This is a relatively recent addition to the Gardens.

I came by a larch tree and decided to experiment. Larch looks like an evergreen, in that the leaves look like needles, but in the fall, they turn a deep gold and drop the leaves. They are just growing back now.

Prairie Grassland is another ecosystem. The long grasses and plants of the Canadian west are replanted here. At this time of year, they are just starting to wake up.

An iceberg sculpture in steel crosses the path. This is the work of the late inventor and artist William Lishman.

Arctic Tundra is the third ecosystem. Among the rocks here, grasses and shrubs of the tundra grow well over the course of an Ottawa summer.

The last ecosystem is Mammoth Steppe. Plants that were around during the time of the mammoths and which still exist are planted here. Grasses have gotten a head start ahead of the chives.

Some of those plants are included behind the family of mammoths at the end of the path, though over here, they're just waking up.

A prelude to things to come- tulips line the way to the main entrance of the Museum. We'll be starting the Tulip Festival series shortly.

Canadian Birds

 Birds that make their living in and around water are focused on here.

There isn't strictly speaking a national bird for the country, but each province and territory has a designated bird. Alberta has the great horned owl, the Northwest Territories chose the gyrfalcon, and New Brunswick has the black-capped chickadee.

The sharp-tailed grouse is the provincial bird of Saskatchewan. The Yukon territory selected the common raven. And British Columbia has the Steller's jay.

The rock ptarmigan is the official bird of Nunavut. Ontario selected the common loon.

The blue jay is the bird of Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia has the osprey. And Quebec has the snowy owl.

Rounding things out, the Atlantic puffin is the bird of Newfoundland and Labrador, while Manitoba selected the great gray owl.

Coming out into the Queens Lantern, I photographed the stained glass at the top of the windows on this level.

This is the dedication plaque, unveiled by Queen Elizabeth. The Queens Lantern is in honour of her and Queen Victoria.

It is a delight to be in.

Back into the central atrium I went, and looked up at Gaia.

History

Rounding out this visit today inside the Earth Gallery.

This large rock is rich in copper and nickel.

It was time to move onto the next gallery space. I headed out into the Queens Lantern, where some of the history of the building is examined. It is officially the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, originally built in honour of the Queen. Aside from the natural world collections, this building has housed other elements of the national museums at one point or another.

The administrative side and the larger collections of this museum are over in Gatineau.

There are stories that the building is haunted. Some suggest it's Wilfrid Laurier, whose body laid in state here before his funeral.

There have been renovations over time, including back in the 1990s.

A larger one was undertaken in the first decade of this century. Improvements were made, including additions to galleries, seismic reinforcements, and the addition of the Queens Lantern, which replaced a stone tower of the original building that had to be removed.

The Queens Lantern is a delight inside, very modern, but fitting well with the older architecture. It was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, and is named both for her and for Victoria.

The Moon overhead is irresistible for the photographer.