Day 12 of 365

Charley plays the Carleton Tavern

A mulligan for this day

Went to a charity fund raiser last night at the Carleton Tavern put on by some of the folks from Ottawa Inner City Health.

This organization looks to provide support and services to the chronically homeless to help maintain and improve their health. The fundraiser was to raise enough money to provide Christmas for these souls.

Unfortunately, I managed to download the images to my backup drive which, when it ran the backup this morning, deleted the files as they were not mirrored on the C: drive. Oh the vagaries of automated software. Since I formatted the memory card before going out today, I have to find a recovery program to retrieve the images.

The only saving grace is that I sent this one image to Charley before setting out this morning and managed to recover it from my e-mail “sent” folder.

Anyway, the music was varied and all great with several artists contributing their talents to this cause.

Dec. 16: Recovered the lost images. Taking a mulligan on this entry. I like the mood this evokes, it gets to share space with Charley.  😉

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Day 11 of 365

Trail Rd. sandpit

Off to the dump to unload the last of the summer’s detritus. The recent snow gives some texture to these mini mountains at a nearby sand pit.

Day 10 of 365

James Hall – CCO president 2012 – 2013

Stopped at the fuel storage depot on Hunt Club Rd. to shoot the tanks in late afternoon sun. Some interesting patterns & stains. Was politely asked to not post the photos as there is concern about potential fallout. Scrapped that idea.

Word is getting out that some of the camera club members have already, are just now and/or are thinking of taking on the 365 challenge. Andre G has 5 weeks to go and has about exhausted his bag of tricks. An impromptu 365 SIG met at the Tuesday night beer SIG at Whisper’s to share ideas.

I’m already running short of ideas after 1 week. Mostly, I’ve been shooting on the fly & getting lucky with weather & opportunities. Talking shop over beer is a great way to work things out.

Since my earlier attempt for the shot of the day went awry, I took the opportunity to shoot James, the Camera Club of Ottawa (CCO) president, with a little help from my friends.

Lighting using cell phones – main light to the right and positioned to minimize interference from the shadow from the glasses, fill light pointed at back wall to provide separation. Even got catch lights. Hand held, f4.2, 1/15 sec. spot metered on the right cheek ISO 6400.

Only as we were leaving did I notice that the polarizing filter was still on the lens from shooting the tanks, cutting available light and possibly glare (from cell phone lights?). Interesting what you learn as you go along – especially what works in spite of potential glitches.

Day 9 of 365

First snow 2012

Waking up to the first snow – huh, wha?
A dusting, fully covering the ground, but a surprise anyway.

Funny how you can prepare for something like the first snow, then get surprised when it comes. The
lulling effect of a balmy November, maybe. Oh well, the wake up call has been made. Snow brush, snow blower, winter gear, a store of whiskey – check.

A quick coffee & off to the woods before the sun gets too high to see what mother nature has in store.

Day 8 of 365

At the Tank Museum

Thanks to a last minute invite from Dinh, a short trip down the road brought me to a “tank museum”.
These grounds have army jeeps, tanks, carriers, etc. all rusting away in an open field. Rust and old paint make great subjects.

The owner is quite free with allowing photographers to roam his realm and receives an entrance fee whenever we can find him.

There are working vehicles as well which he brings back to life in his hangar style workshop.

Day 7 of 365

The Dance

Rounding out the first week.
Another cold, grey, lifeless November day. The worst part of winter is the lack of sunshine.

Almost didn’t make today’s pic. Decided to experiment a little. For this image, a glass of water & food coloring.

Setup was a learning experience. First attempt was to light the glass directly, assuming that the light would go through the glass and just light up the colour. Hmmm. A quick visit to google to search out tips on lighting glass fixed the reflection problem.

A white background (not black as with the first try), light directed at the background, barn doors to stop light leak onto the lens, black matt board under the glass and opposite the light. Macro lens on tripod, swirl, drop the colour and shoot.

The image is a bit fuzzy due to inaccurate focus. What I saw through the lens was sharp. Some more experimenting needed – maybe more light to allow better & quicker focus.
Of the 200 images snapped, this one came out on top. A graceful dance.

Nardin used the analogy of water mixing to explain her theory of life to our daughter. Basically, that we are part of the eternal (force?). This existence is a separation from the whole and we eventually return to the mix. The food colouring represents the experiences that we bring back to the mix. End of philosophy 101 for today.

Day 6 of 365

Sunset over LeBreton Flats

Weather is a great metaphor for life — sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad,
and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~Terri Guillemets

Today started out an overcast, white kind of a day. Neutral light seems to inspire neutral energy.
Nothing happening, everything in neutral. Folks meandering about just drifting.
Got some rain but not enough to relieve weather related malaise.
Most days evoke an emotional response just from the way the sun shines, snow falls, or whatever, but not today.

Heading home on the Johnnie Mac, the clouds broke up a bit as we passed the war museum. Just a fine end to the day.

Day 5 of 365

Elmdale Tavern, Ottawa

Another beautiful November day in Ottawa. Getting repetitious. Sun, high of 13C. Not hard to take. Pretty sure I’ve said this already. Oh well.

Tomorrow promises to be a nasty, seasonable November day, so things are about to change.

Weather changes in the pictures won’t show up right away. I’m actually 1 day behind in posting. That means that tomorrow’s post was done today and reported tomorrow. Pics and are taken and comments added daily but heck, I’m retired. No point in stressing. When I get lost, I just go for a beer and wait it out.

Which brings me to today’s image.

The Elmdale Tavern, a venerable landmark of 78 years and home to the odd late night revelry, is about to change hands on January 1. Plans for the future are still up in the air, but the new owners say it will continue as before, but with fewer musical soirees.

So, the disappearing model in the image represents the demise of a favorite haunt of many music fans who also happen to like beer. Since it was dark & a long exposure was called for, I volunteered to step in front of the camera for a cameo appearance.

Day 4 of 365

Detailing the mural

Another beautiful November day in Ottawa. Getting repetitious. Sun, high of 10C. Not hard to take.

I just noticed that the date stamp on this entry is wrong – well, it’s right for the default time zone. Reset to EST.

Today was productive image-wise. I got 5 winners – and as I’m the judge, they all get top marks. Picking one was the hard part. 😉 The interesting thing is that I was having fun and the shooting was somewhat effortless. I’m sure there is some psychological connection, however …

Foster’s Sports on Bank St. at McLaren wears a new mural on the South facing wall. The design has quirky characters on bikes and a bold set of lettering.

Design and execution is by local artistic entrepreneurs and partners Cassandra and Mike operating under the moniker: Style Over Status

Here Cassandra puts some finishing touches on the mural as the waning rays of the late November sun light up her work.

For some of their work: http://www.styleoverstatus.com/murals1.html

btw, you can click on any image to view the full size version.

Day 3 of 365

Another beautiful November day in Ottawa. Great time to be starting a challenge – easy goin’. Today, a leisurely cruise down Fallowfield Road heading west with somewhat overcast skies. Open country and, now that this challenge has me actively looking, lots of interesting things going on around me.

Trucks carrying harvested corn and/or grain dump their loads into a conveyor belt built into the ground. The product is fed into giant dryers, then sent to a storage silo waiting pick up for further distribution.

This is one of the towers that feeds the storage silos on the property. The mist is being generated from the dryers.