City Daily Photo Theme Day: Travel

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. For this month, that theme is Travel. See how others are interpreting this theme right here. 

To begin with, this visitor had traveled a long way. I was downtown one day in July and noticed a car with Colorado plates. I don't recall the last time I've seen one; we're more likely to see New York, Vermont, or New Hampshire plates here.

In mid-August, I spent the day out and about, and dropped in at the main train station, which lies southeast of the core. I exited the LRT station, very close by the train station.

The current train station is in the modernist style, replacing the original train station, which now sees use as the Government Conference Centre. 

The open waiting area within includes some display cases with model trains.

My other part of this theme took me to another travel location- the Macdonald Cartier International Airport, which lies south of the city. I took an LRT train, which goes right to the terminal. En route, it looked like I was in a wilderness. The trees are dense here between roadways, this train track, and the bus-only route. The sun was setting.

The airport has its origins stretching back to the 1920s, and has a history of civilian and military use, as well as regular transformations.

The current main terminal also has a modernist sensibility.

There is an inukshuk here.

It has a very open air sensibility.

It's been awhile since I've done any plane watching.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Purple

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. This month, the theme is Purple. Take a look at how others are interpreting the theme right here. 

I start with these shots taken in Confederation Park during Winterlude. A large screen had been set up for watching Winter Olympics coverage, though this was a night or two before the opening ceremonies. Alongside the screen were LED lights in purple.

At one entrance of the park, shifting lights illuminated evergreen trees that had been placed there. I caught them as the light was shifting into purple.

Lights also shift gradually over the ice sculptures. Blue was turning into purple when I took this shot of a sculpture.

A few blocks away, and on my way home, I noticed a car that had been given an exterior design that looked like something from space. There was purple in the mix, and I concentrated on that.

One night during that month, I was coming back from a walk on the Rideau Canal and was passing by the Canadian Museum of Nature. Some of the streetlights had purple bulbs, which were lighting up the main entrance.

I took these two shots of ice sculptures on Plaza Bridge, part of a set of sculptures that had been set up for Winterlude. Blue coloured lights were gradually shifting into purple.

Later that same evening, I was back in Confederation Park. The place gets decorated for Christmas not with lights in the trees, but coloured shifting spotlights on the trees, and they left them on for Winterlude. 

An underpass beneath the 417 was painted for Canada 150 back in 2017. I'd never photographed it, but this section, with a purple triangle, fit the bill.

And I finish with this toque for the PWHL, the women's professional hockey league, with its lettering in purple.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Water

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for July, that theme is water. Check out how others are interpreting the theme right here.

Twice a month I come out to the Portage Bridge, which crosses the Ottawa River between Gatineau on the left and Ottawa on the right. This is to document the view downstream through the changing seasons for a series of posts that turn up here twice a year. The river is a big one, more than 1200 kilometres in length from its headwaters in central Quebec to its confluence with the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. A good part of its length forms the border between Ontario and Quebec. At this bridge, landmarks include the Alexandra Bridge, Kiweki Point, the National Gallery, Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, and Victoria Island.

This first shot was taken in the second half of January, on a cold day. The waters here do not freeze up in the winter, due to the currents caused by the Chaudiere Falls upstream.

This was taken on the last day of the month, a cold day with falling snow.

When I returned in early February, it was on a sunny day.

Coming back in the second half of the month, this was the view on a cold, mostly cloudy day.

I returned around mid-month in March. The ice downstream was breaking up.

By late month, most of the ice was going.

When I returned in the second half of April, the water was raging.

By month's end, more of the same. The Chaudiere Falls upstream from here was at full torrent.

The water was still turbulent at mid-month in May when I crossed the bridge over into Gatineau to photograph tulips.

When I returned in the last days of May, it was en route to the War Museum late in the afternoon.

I returned on an afternoon in the second half of June. There had been a downpour an hour or so prior. We've had a lot of this kind of days as of late- rain followed by clearing.

This last shot was taken two days ago to round out the month. I'll next have this series of seasonal shots in early January. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.

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.