Up against the wall!

Babylon nightclub recently decorated their north wall with posters from the various shows they've held. Looks good. I'd decorate my own walls the same way, but hammering nails into the concrete is tricky.


Show posters, Babylon, Ottawa, Nov. 22

The day after

Nov. 12 I went to see Julie Doiron and a few other folks perform at The Rainbow. I passed by the Cenotaph on my way back home and snapped this picture of the grave of the Unknown Soldier, decorated with poppies after Remembrance Day ceremonies.


The Grave of the Unknown Soldier, Confederation Square, Ottawa, Nov. 13, 2 a.m.

The building in the background is the Chateau Laurier.

Hill overspill

I have a few leftovers from my Hill sojourn in May. Here's Lester P. Pearson , just chillin', albeit in statue form.


Statue of Lester B. Pearson, Parliament Hill, May 7


Shrouded West Block and Stormy Sky, May 7


North Side of the Library of Parliament, May 7

Because the night

A photo taken while waiting at the Black Sheep Stage of City Hall and buildings on Elgin St.


Nightime at the Black Sheep Stage, 9 p.m., July 14, 2006

Night and day

On my way over to the Saw Gallery to see Muffler Crunch I snapped a photo of the new construction near the University of Ottawa.


Multidiscpline Building, University of Ottawa, 8 p.m., July 1

On the way to take photographs of fireworks, I took another picture.


Multidiscpline Building, University of Ottawa, 10:05 p.m., July 1

I mean, why not?

Fire in the sky

My aunt loaned me her camera tripod - she never uses it, and thought I might find some use for it in conjunction with my then-new Olympus E-500. It certainly came in handy on Canada Day. After watching Muffler Crunch at the SAW Gallery, I went to the Laurier St. Bridge, stationed myself behind a bunch of folks in chairs and snapped a few dozen pictures of fireworks over their heads. These pictures were mostly taken with a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds, ISO 100, f-stop 5.6 (I meant to shoot at 8, but must have fiddled with it by accident). I don't have a remote release, so I set the two-second delay. That way I didn't have to touch my camera while it was open.


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1


Fireworks over the Chateau Laurier, July 1

It was all good fun (the drunken play-by-play by a guy on my left notwithstanding). That said, I think I find the foreground more interesting. The two guys leaning up against the traffic light post at left, the row of buses ready to haul drunken revellers home, rain speckling the Rideau Canal and the curve of lights are somehow more evocative to me.

Pope and phone

I've been stuck in the house today, feeling rather wretched - something I ate, I think. Anyway, it's a fine time to practice guitar and resize photos for posting. These are a few photos of building that struck my eye en route to the Hill back in early May. The first is my neighbour Pope House, a heritage property that is home to the National Association of Friendship Centres.

The crenelated section over the doorway is a bit of medieval hangover.


Pope House, 275 MacLaren St., Ottawa, May 7

A Hydro Ottawa substation on Slater. I suspect that if they built one today it wouldn't boast such a handsome design - good proportions, and a charming facade even with the grafitti.


Hydro substation, Slater St., Ottawa, On. May 7

A wall of green glass, courtesy of the famously green TD Canada Trust banking empire. (The building on the right is Manulife Place, if memory serves).


TD Canada Trust Building, Albert St. and Metcalfe Ave., Ottawa, May 7

The Bell Canada building. Shrinking this photo created the striped pattern - the larger version has a different appearance. For a psychedelic experience, load the larger JPEG into whatever graphics program you have on your computer and gradually shrink and magnify it.


Bell Building, Elgin St. and Lisgar Ave., Ottawa, May 7

The weather is turning nice - I'll have to try more photography out and about the town.

Get out!

No sooner did I promise in my last post that I would get out to photograph things beside rock shows than I realized that a good time would be right then. So I did what every photography newbie would do - go up to Parliament Hill. Oh, and take a flower macro. There's a rule somewhere that says if you have a macro lens you have to take a picture of a flower with it ... might as well get this out of the way!



Flower outside Hotel Indigo, Laurier St. and O'Connor Ave. , May 7, 2006

I took the requisite photos of buildings and statues - I'll post a few later - but it's touristy stuff. At least I didn't photograph a Mountie. I did photograph a remarkably nonchalant groundhog and this chickadee.



Chickadee, Parliament Hill, May 7, 2006

Flowers are pretty. And you can dispose of your empty bottle of hooch in the bed, too.



Flower planters on Wellington St., May 7, 2006

"We just got a contract to build a Presbyterian church - how did they say they wanted it?"
"Square."



Presbyterian church, Elgin St. and Lisgar Ave., May 7, 2006

I'll throw up some more pictures when I have a moment - which means it could be a while.

By the shore

I keep meaning to get out and snap some of the local sites, but never seem to find the time. This picture was taken after I'd photographed a property my mother listed, on the way to work. I will try to get out of the apartment more often, I promise ... The picture links to a larger version.



Mooney's Bay, Ottawa, May 2, 2006

Booze

Here's a photo I took to test the capabilities of my 50mm macro lens; it has an f-stop of 2, so it is fairly fast. These bottles of booze - located in Barrymore's - were photographed just before The Violet Archers performed.



Bar at Barrymore's, Ottawa, March 17, 2006, 10:15 p.m.

Cream of the crop

I'll be using this blog to post the cream of my photography. Or my worst puns. More early fiddling at The Mayflower, where I was showing Mum the range of my 14mm-45mm lens.



Creamers at the Mayflower, Ottawa, March 18, 10:35 a.m.

There's more

Buy a digital camera, and suddenly you start taking many, many more photos. I already have scads of pictures posted at my other blog, National Capital Rock. I'll be posting the occasional pictures I take that are not related to music here. Here's No. 1, taken just after breakfast with my mother.



Elgin St., Ottawa. Looking south at 11:15 a.m., March 18, 2006