City Daily Photo Theme Day: Fruit

 The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for May, that theme is Fruit. See how others are interpreting the theme right here.

To begin, fruits can be made into many things. I pick up jam from a vendor at the main farmer's market. Two jars at home- blueberry jam and raspberry jam.

Last December during the Christmas market, I picked up some strudel. This one was blueberry.

From time to time I'll get a pie. Here we have apple-cranberry maple pie.

Taken in April, I came to Lansdowne Park to the farmer's market. Here at the east end of the property, we find a grove of apple trees off to the right on this central island.

The farmer's market is held in the Aberdeen Pavilion in the colder months, and through the winter, produce farmers that are still selling are those who have a good cold storage building on their farm.

One of them is an apple orchard I get cider from. I stopped by. Aside from apples, they have baked goods.

A retail business downtown, Edible Arrangements, does fruit baskets in lieu of flowers, and has been doing this for many years.

I finish with this painting from the archives, taken at the National Gallery of Canada. Eve, The Serpent, And Death is by Hans Baldung Grien, circa 1510-15. It depicts Adam, Eve, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Eve conceals an apple behind her, while Adam, having had become Death after eating from the Tree of Life, reaches for another apple.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Entertainment

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

I start with some Winterlude content from February. I was in Confederation Park one night late in the festival, and on stage, buskers were playing with glow sticks to fiddle music. One was on stage at this point.

His partner joined him.

The following day, a visit to Jacques Cartier Park over in Gatineau was in order. Arriving, I noticed the DJ on this elevated stage. She was doing an activity in which she was playing music, telling the audience to dance- and to freeze in place when the music ended.

Then she started playing Cotton Eye Joe. I moved away as quickly as possible. That song is a crime against humanity.

When I was leaving, I came across this busker getting his act started.

Back in January, I attended a screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at Lansdowne Park. It included a live orchestra and choir doing the music. I took shots as the orchestra was warming up, and then again during the end credits.

These two I take from the archives, originally posted in 2017. The National Arts Centre is very much the heart of culture in the city, a national institution. That year they opened an expansion onto the building for Canada Day, and that day, walking around and exploring was possible. I took this shot from the balconies high above Southam Hall, the largest of the performance spaces within.

This was another one of the performance spaces, Asper Theatre.

This last shot was taken in late October in Southam Hall. I attended a concert of classical music and film score cues, all with a very Hallowe'en vibe. Before things got underway, the musicians were warming up their instruments. And all of them were in costume.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: White

 The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for March, that theme is White. Check out what others are doing with the theme right here.

For me, this theme evokes winter. Snow certainly looks white- strictly speaking, it's translucent, but our brain sees it as white. And there's no shortage of snow in an Ottawa winter. I went out from home one night in January to the corner shop- with that white sign up ahead above the door. White headlights of a car on the road and the falling snow made the rest of the picture. Walking back headlong into the wind was an issue.

Coming back into my apartment, I took a shot outside to the west. The buildings you can see are government buildings. Completely lost in the snow was a condo tower, out beyond the taller building.

The following night was clear as I passed through the Glebe. The building at center is a community center and former church. The moon was bright and white in the sky.

One day while coming back from the Portage Bridge, I photographed textures in the snow, particularly the drifting.

Snow was falling on another winter day, close to home, when I took these shots.

A couple of days later, in late January, I was passing by the War Memorial, which had snow coating it late in the day as more snow fell.

Passing near the Holocaust Monument one afternoon, I took these two shots of the field beside it, concentrating on the white of the snow, and including the shadow of trees, the lines of other trails, and the texture of the snow itself.

One evening while taking shots for Winterlude, I photographed this ice bench outside the Lord Elgin Hotel. The white spotlight behind it did the trick.

Just up the street, a lot of snow. This is a descending walkway, not shoveled in the winter, with a raised flowerbed, covered in snow.

And I finish with this view of the War Memorial in winter conditions, taken in the area on a snowy day while photographing for Winterlude.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Double

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

I start with these shots taken at Lansdowne Park one morning. Two big doors at one end were open for load-in of the flea market, which is here a couple of days a month. A pair of regular doors flank the big ones.

On another side of the building, the doors as they look closed.

Churches commonly have double doors. Passing by Fourth Avenue Baptist Church in the Glebe, I took this shot of the main entrance.

A few blocks away, and a few nights later, I took this shot of the main doors for St. Matthew's Anglican Church.

Double is Two, and this fits the theme. I attended a concert showing of The Lord of The Rings The Two Towers at Lansdowne Park one night. The movie was screened, with an orchestra and choir doing the music live. A handful of orchestra members were already warming up as I took my seat.

Another two, taken at home- two shoes in the Dutch style. The key chain I bought in the last year from a Dutch store here. The porcelain version was passed down from my parents. Both have a place in my roll top desk.

I have a number of beer mugs and tumblers from Thor's Trinkets, an artisan who appears locally at the Christmas market here each year, as well as Comiccon. Among the tumblers is this one, with cinema's greatest secret agent as the motif. 

Double letters also drew my eye. Two eateries are side by side in an office tower downtown, and I stop by either of them on occasion. This double T is part of the signage for Manhattan's, which specializes in burgers and poutine.

Its neighbour is El Toro Pizza, and I'll stop for a couple of slices if I'm passing through. The double Z suits the theme.

Double is also a pair. These two sit outside the main headquarters of Library and Archives Canada.

Another set of double doors. This is one of the secondary entrances for a funeral home in Centretown.

I took this on a snowy afternoon some days ago. The main post office building downtown is at Sparks Street and Elgin. All three of the entrance points are flanked with stone lions. And because of the shape of the roads- particularly Elgin, which here veers sharply towards the northwest to meet Wellington at Parliament Hill, we have the effect of two streets in one shot.

Lastly, this one is from the archives. Back in 2019 I stopped in at the Ottawa Art Gallery, where on the main floor, a table with mirrors was set up. I took a shot with the phone I had at the time, looking thoroughly disreputable. Double the trouble, so to speak. But who's from the Mirror Universe, or is this the Matrix?

"I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson..."