Working With Snow And Ice

Today I'm starting my Winterlude series, which is probably going to take me into March. I'm starting with this work at City Hall. A team of carvers were just starting on erecting an ice sculpture when I stopped by. I'll show you the finished sculpture tomorrow.

Spread through various spots in the Glebe are snow sculptures, in the theme of snowmen. This one is outside Fifth Avenue Court; I showed you the crate at this scene a few days back. This one looks rather irritated, and oddly familiar.

This one's up the street, and looks rather abstract.

This one is outside Fourth Avenue Baptist Church. 

This one is further down the street.

And this last one, being worked on and showing the final version, is at Lansdowne.

Black, White, And Panoramic

Before getting into Winterlude, I have something different today. Looking at my Google notifications a few days back, I found a number of my shots from different times had been given a number of different treatments. I liked them, so decided to use them to give myself an extra day before my Winterlude series starts. We start with two different seasons at the National War Memorial.

And then we have panoramic shots; two shots from my trip in late December to the Museum of History in Gatineau combine to include the exhibition wing and a look across to Parliament Hill.

The second panoramic shot is from last winter, combining images of the Rideau Falls and the Ottawa River.

The Falls from that same time looks quite different rendered in black and white.

Black and white also gives a different tone to the Rideau Canal and skaters, seen from a perspective on the Pretoria Bridge.

And I finish with this different take on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. Tomorrow we get ourselves started with Winterlude. I've already taken a lot of pics, and it's only been the first weekend.

That Is One Really Big Window

A few days back when I was taking shots for my last National Arts Centre update, I photographed the Ottawa Convention Centre across the Rideau Canal, and decided to head across the bridge to pay a visit.

Coming down the stairs towards the main entrance gives a view of Parliament Hill on one side of the Canal, and on the other, the current work site of the Government Conference Centre, which will be serving as a temporary base of operations for the Canadian Senate in coming years while work is done on Centre Block. The triangles that make up the glass wall of the Convention Centre once served as material for a theme day we had on triangles. The building is a few years old, having had replaced the old Congress Centre that stood at this location. Its four levels inside provide plenty of space, large and small, for conferences, receptions, and meetings, and its promenades provide great views out over the city. These days the building is named for a Canadian communications company that got a ten year contract for the branding rights, but since I despise corporate branding on public buildings, it's always going to be the Ottawa Convention Centre to me. The building itself, though? I love it.

Coming inside, I noticed this glider hanging overhead. It's an ultralight that was flown by Canadian artist and inventor Bill Lishman, whose more recent work includes the iceberg sculpture outside the Canadian Museum of Nature. In 1993, he flew with Canada geese from Ontario to Virginia as a test study to determine the viability of introducing new migration routes to bird species who were endangered. He repeated the flight the following year with more birds and more distance, to the Carolinas. You've probably seen the movie Fly Away Home, which is based on his story.

The promenades outside the meeting spaces are wonderful, used sometimes for trade shows, and when  trade shows are not on here, they're open for anyone to come up and have a look. The views are well worth it. There was even a photo shoot going on while I was here; I got a shot for a theme day later in the year.

I took this shot to give you a sense of the amount of space in the third level promenade. The largest meeting space, which is off to my right, is the size of an aircraft hanger- rising two levels high- and can be subdivided into smaller spaces. When it's fully open, six thousand people can be seated in that space. There are plenty of other rooms on the first and second levels- from large conference spaces to rooms just big enough for a small wedding reception of around thirty people. The fourth floor is taken up with a ballroom promenade with this same view looking out.

The Convention Centre is linked by passages to the Westin Hotel and the Rideau Centre mall. Leaving to go to the mall, I took one more shot of the glider.

Feline Mistress Of The Universe

Felix is the name of this cat, who despite the name is a girl. One of the neighbours in my building has her and another one, who tends to be very shy. Felix has liked to come visit me for an hour or so in the evenings. They're now out of the building and moved into new quarters; I'm looking for a new place myself.

Street Art In The National Capital

This mural is in the Glebe, on the side wall of a building that features a coffee shop.

Another one from the Glebe, this adorns the wall of Octopus Books, and appears to require a bit of freshening up.

This is a new one, painted last year on a wall beside offices downtown.

This unusual one can be found outside a convenience store a short walk away.

And this last one is nearby; it's a long one, so I've broken it down into three photographs, from right to left.

Scooby Dooby Doo, Where Are You?

First, the prognosticating rodent is no doubt predicting ten more weeks of winter. Which would please me greatly. Have a peek over at my writer's blog where I took on Groundhog Day yesterday.

I have some murals for today and tomorrow. This first one is on the side wall of a dry cleaner in Old Ottawa South.

This one is in Centretown, on a building that's being turned into a new cafe. It appears to feature birds, one of whom seems to be throwing up a city. It's a relatively new mural, painted last year.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a mural, but it's painted on the side of the Glebe Meat Market.

The Glebe neighbourhood seems to have a lot of murals. This one is on the side of a bakery.

In an alley up the street, both sides feature murals.

Close to these is another one that belongs to a jewelry shop.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Loving Life

The first day of the month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for February, the theme is Loving Life. You can take a look at other interpretations here.  I decided early on that the ideal subject for this theme would be something many people love to do here in Ottawa during the winter- skating on the Rideau Canal as it winds through the city core. This view from earlier this month looks east from the Bank Street Bridge.

This view, later that same day, looks south from the Mackenzie King Bridge downtown.

There is a skating rink at Ottawa City Hall, near the Canal, that has skaters to be found most times of the day. It has the backdrop of the Hall and the provincial courthouse- as well as a handy Beavertails hut right off the rink if you're feeling peckish. I took these on a more typical grey day.

These shots are from the Canal again, taken yesterday, at the Pretoria Bridge. The couple walking hand in hand along the ice surface seemed to fit the theme.

I finish, admittedly, on a more somber note, but perhaps a reminder to love life, because you never know when your time is up. I also took this shot yesterday, on Parliament Hill; this flagpole stands to the east of Centre Block. Flags are now flying at half mast in the city after six men were killed and others were injured by a lone gunman while praying at a mosque in Quebec City on Sunday.