Photoblogging

In October 2014, I had a special appointment at the American Embassy in Ottawa. One evening I walked around with my camera and tripod and took a bunch of long exposure photos, most around 30 seconds long. Given what’s happening in Ottawa these days, I thought some of you might appreciate seeing some of these photos.  It’s definitely a very pretty city.

17 Replies to “Photoblogging”

  1. Thanks Robert. I haven’t been, and don’t know if I ever will (my “I’d rather see…” list is quite long), but it’s great to see how a trained eye can capture a moment.

  2. The Parliament buildings are a thing of beauty. Got to spend a couple of evenings one summer counting all the gargoyles….

    Great photos!

    1. Got to spend a couple of evenings one summer counting all the gargoyles….

      aren’t all the politicians gone on holidays in the summer?

    1. At that time, I was using a Nikon D600 and a 28-300mm lens. Night photography is magical. It picks up colours that you wouldn’t normally see during daylight. But waiting ~30 seconds for every shot to complete does require patience. I also generally use an HDR technique where there are 3 photos taken in sequence, with varying exposures.

  3. My Father had the privilege of climbing the stairway to see The Machinations of The Clock on A Company Tour. I would Like a tour. Great Camera magic dude. Train Ride from Sask.

  4. I lived in Ottawa for about four years while in the army. There is a lot I really liked about living there and a lot I hated about working there. I lived just off bank street, a ten minute walk from Parliament Hill.

    1. I agree on the love/hate Ottawa thing. (I’m from Saskatoon) We might have been neighbours. I was posted in Ottawa for 2 years, as a Jr Officer, and lived on Somerset street, about halfway between Elgin and the canal. Great place to live. 7 minute walk to work, even when the lights were against me! Used to walk down to the Hill many evenings to watch the Parliament Hill cats (sadly, they’re gone now); skate on the canal, and so on. The job I was doing? I had convinced myself I would be a computer ludite in the late ’80’s, but then got posted into a couple computer projects. I even loved that job, once it brought out my inner geek! At one point, I had a french-Canadian Air Force Sgt working with me. In his life, he’d never been west of CFB Borden, On. During implementation of one of the projects, we had to go to every CFB Base in Alta-Sask-Man over a period of 5 weeks. I planned a route that would take us through Drumheller, and ended up spending the day at the Tyrell Dinosaur Museum, not leaving until closing. He spent over $100 (1992$s), on souvenirs for his kids. By the end of the trip, he was determined to retire to Alberta. Don’t know if he did though.

  5. Went to Canada in 2006 for the Lacrosse Worlds in London.

    The group of us then had a mini road trip starting at Toronto and doing a 4 night loop before my holiday leave ran out and I had to fly home.

    Did Ottawa. VERY beautiful city (unless you hate giant spiders)

    Really hope you guys can sort all this stuff out

  6. Those photos are great, Robert. They bring back memories. Years ago, I visited Ottawa to see the ceremony of the Trooping of the Colour. Some friends from Montreal were in it. They belonged to the Canadian Grenadier Guards, the reserve infantry regiment in the 34 Canadian Brigade Group, 2nd Canadian Division, of the Canadian Army. They were stationed there for two summers. The regiment is the oldest and second-most-senior infantry regiment in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army.
    https://youtu.be/l1roDkp1AIw

    1. They are great photos, Robert, as Nancy says.
      It brought back memories of when I was a kid in the 1960s in North Bay, and our elementary class drove down highway 17 in a school bus to visit Parliament hill, eat lunch, see a ceremony, then drive back home again.
      In retrospect, I hate to say it, but the newly elected Pierre T. came out in the yard to greet all of us kids. I actually got in line and shook his hand.
      I was just a naive kid, and thought it was cool.
      So it goes.

  7. 369 years ago, cromwell addressed parliament in london, england :

    It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,
    which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.
    Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.
    Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.
    Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?
    Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?
    Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?
    Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.
    Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.
    I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.
    Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.
    In the name of God, go!

  8. Thank-you Robert for posting these wonderful pics. The Cenotaph in particular. As with others here, I was posted to Ottawa (lived near Maclaren and Bank Streets) late in my military career and shared the same love-hate relationship with the city. There were many occasions when I would be downtown on foot while in uniform and found myself passing the cenotaph. At these times I was privileged to offer a salute to our Honoured Dead. The looks I would receive from the passers-by was often hilarious. They had no clue as to what I was doing. Anyway, I have passed that monument many times and I must say, I’ve never seen it captured so wonderfully as in your photo. The shadows and relief almost makes it look as if these men have returned once again to fight for our freedom. You could not have chosen a better time to share these striking pictures. I must tell you that I’ve stolen this one and it now resides as my desktop wallpaper. Hope you don’t mind. November 11th is a special day to be sure, but not one day goes by where my thoughts don’t turn to people like those represented in your picture. I remind myself what our freedoms have cost. Now a new group of men and women have stood up to fight. This time they wear no uniform and bear no arms but their fight is as just as any in history. I wish them fair winds and following seas and thank-you once again for the photos.

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