Fog-bound in Ottawa

It’s been quite a while since I’ve gone out with my camera with no other purpose than to see what I can see. When I pick up the camera these days, it’s almost always because I am working on an exercise or assignment for my course. An added bonus this time was the chance to meet up with another local photographer—we’ve been connected by social media for a number of years but have just never met IRL. We came close to meeting once, when we were both at the same invitation-only event and didn’t know it.

Yet another reason to push myself out the door—as if I needed another—was to use my new Fujifilm X-T3. I had bought it a couple of weeks back and it was time to press the shutter in earnest. I am still happy with my little X-E1 and it has served me very well, but I wanted to be able to take advantage of the new tech available in the Fuji system.

The weather was uncharacteristically foggy for this time of year, so what a great opportunity to see familiar parts of Ottawa in a less-familiar way.

All images taken with my Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujinon 18-55mm zoom.


Life springs forth in monochrome

After a longer- and colder-than-usual winter in the Ottawa Valley, spring has finally been making itself felt over the last week. Although most Canadians get a little misty at the beauty of a fresh blanket of snow, this year's blanket overstayed its welcome and left us itchy for a change of season. Enough!

With the melting of a winter's-worth of snow comes the chance to see a powerful display of nature in rivers and creeks swollen many times their normal size. The creek in our yard is one such place, but I decided to wander a little farther afield to take in the impressive sights of the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers in full spate. The images that appear below were taken on two successive days on the Rideau River at Hog's Back Falls in Ottawa, Ontario and on the Ottawa River near the Deschênes Rapids in Aylmer, Quebec.

Spring is the season of new life and colour that bursts forth from wet soil. And those pictures will come. But the first pictures of spring can ably show in shades of grey the sheer power of water and land as they stretch and shake off the death of the old.

Where there is life, there is hope.