A Vantage Point

Two figures feature into this work by a Polish and French team, one the large head at the base, the other the full figure on top. I thought of photographing this from the front, but that would omit the dramatic pattern rising behind it. Choosing to photograph from a side view brings it out.

Russian Folklore

I didn't get a chance this year to photograph any of the carvers at work, but check out this post from last year to see some of them at work and get an idea of the variety of their tools in carving these masterpieces.

This particular work, by two Russian carvers, won first place in the pairs competition among ice carvers at Confederation Park. It certainly feels Russian, particularly the old man at the right.

Smooth As Glass

I stepped as far back as I could to get this shot, and even so I couldn't quite get all of the sculpture in. The tree is flanked by these two walls. The blocks of ice are put through a process in an ice facility before being brought in; I've heard of how it's done once, but it's been awhile. The result is perfectly clear ice. It just can't be done naturally. An American team put this work together.

Wait... No Girls Allowed?

This peculiar carving is by a Canadian pair of carvers, featuring an improvised rocket cart (Wile E. Coyote's go-to logistics supplier and arms dealer ACME apparently had a part in it) with flame at the back. No Girls Allowed is etched into the side, so this must be the Little Rascals world view. Boys, to borrow a phrase from Peter Falk in The Princess Bride: someday you might not mind so much. 

A Welcome To Winterlude

Winterlude is once again underway here in Ottawa and Gatineau, our annual celebration of winter. It began last weekend, and runs through to next weekend. And so it is time to start showing some of the ice carvings in Confederation Park. This one is done by a pair of carvers from Iraq and the Indian Ocean island republic of Mauritius (I had to look up where that was- I had no idea, but the place is quite out at sea, east of Africa). One would not think of such places as ideal for ice carvers, but as I recall last year there was a carver from the Persian Gulf area.

An Angel Within A Tombstone

Victoria Daily Photo has been showing cemetery photographs over the last few days. It reminded me of this beautiful tombstone in Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph.

The Windmill In Riverside Park

For those who might have wondered about my absence at certain Facebook groups like City Daily Photo or City Photographers, or why I haven't acknowledged your birthday wishes the other day, let's just say I'm quite annoyed with Facebook right now, and as of last evening, I was still under an unwarranted suspension that was supposed to end last Friday. I'm on a bit of a rant about the matter in my writer's blog today, so the details can be found there.

I have something else from Guelph that some of my long term readers might remember, but newcomers haven't seen before. This windmill is set in Riverside Park along the Speed River, which you can make out at the left. There is a large Dutch population in southern Ontario, many of them having had immigrated after the Second World War. You can see their markers in windmills like this, or Dutch stores to be found in many towns and cities. Guelph has one of those shops downtown. My grandparents shopped there when they lived near this park. My father, now living in the same retirement home as they did, sees this windmill often, and drops by the shop for, among other things, those awful black licorices that for some strange reason seem very popular among Dutch Canadians. 

I'm perfectly content with the spiced Gouda cheese. I've tasted one of those licorices, and one was too many.

Open Waters On The Speed River

This is a forgotten photo from December 2013. The Speed River flows through the city of Guelph in southern Ontario, and here in the vicinity of Riverside Park, the water remains open through the winter. Ducks and a number of Canada geese (they don't all bolt south for the winter, it seems) swim about in the shallow waters, feeding off whatever vegetation happens to be there, and swindling passersby into perhaps sharing something tasty.

I Believe There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Winter

This ice fall can be found in Little Italy, down in the rock cut ravine through which the O-Train runs. It's at the Carling station, a stop I know quite well, seeing as how I'm up in the area most days getting a bite to eat up at Di Rienzo's.

There's a water source behind this wall of ice, runoff water coming through the rock that you can see the rest of the year. Ice builds up over it during the winter.

This being Groundhog Day, hopefully the prognosticating rodent sees his shadow and we have sixteen (yes, sixteen) more weeks of winter. Have a look at my writer's blog today for my annual look at the day.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: What Would You Miss?

The first of each month is a theme day for City Daily Photo bloggers. For the first of February, the question was posed: what would you miss if you left forever the city you live in? Other interpretations of this theme can be found at this link.

I decided that this view would be what I would miss the most. The Alexandria Bridge crosses the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Gatineau, and it is this view and this bridge that does it for me. The river, the Chateau Laurier, the Rideau Canal, the Bytown Museum, and Parliament Hill are all contained in this one shot. 

Seeing this view is always coming home for me.