I love taking pictures at night because the low light lets you take long exposures and get some rich colours and other effects that you simply can’t get during the day, so I headed out Saturday evening to see what I could find downtown.

People standing around the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill:

Cars and buses on Wellington:

Hint: Greens are rain, blues are snow, pinks are somewhere in between.

There is some magically crappy weather in store for this afternoon/evening:

TAF CYOW 271754Z 2718/2818 22015G25KT P6SM -RA OVC040 TEMPO 2718/2721 5SM -RA BR OVC020
BECMG 2718/2720 22010KT
FM272100 32010KT 4SM -RA BR BKN008 OVC015 TEMPO 2721/2723 P6SM -RA OVC020
FM272300 33012G22KT P6SM -RAPL OVC012 TEMPO 2723/2802 2SM -SN BKN005 OVC010
FM280300 34012KT P6SM OVC020 BECMG 2804/2806 FEW020 BKN160
FM280600 34010KT P6SM FEW020 BKN160
FM280900 35008KT P6SM SKC
RMK NXT FCST BY 272100Z=

Rain, rain with pellets, and snow. And wind. And with the air temperature hovering just above freezing it wouldn’t take much to add some freezing rain to the mix.

As I mentioned in another post, I recently joined the Camera Club of Ottawa. This has caused me to reflect on my photographic history.

Though I’ve been taking for photos for almost as long as I can remember, starting with a 126 film camera when I was really young. When I was a bit older, I moved on to a twin-lens reflex 120 camera and learned black and white darkroom techniques from my grandfather. I finally got a Nikon N2000 (a 35mm camera) in high school, where I shot a gazillion rolls of black and white film with the camera club and yearbook and printed more black and white photos than I can count. I continued this in university where I joined the camera club, which gave me access to their darkroom facilities.

Once digital cameras hit the market, I bought a Kodak point-and-shoot type of digital camera, but I still shot film, just not as much. At some point, I upgraded to a Canon SD850IS point-and-shoot that had much higher resolution and more features.

Eventually, I bought a Canon digital Rebel DSLR and my days of shooting film were at an end. I’ve shot tens of thousands of photos since going digital. The freedom to shoot and not have to worry about running out of film or the cost of developing and printing is truly liberating. Granted, when I was shooting black and white film, I tended not to be terribly concerned about it because I was mostly shooting bulk film and did my own processing, but it’s still nice to be able to spend 10 or 15 frames (or more!) trying to get everything just perfect.

Currently, I primarily shoot with a Canon 70D, but I have some other specialized cameras, including a GoPro Hero 3 Black and a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+. While all of my cameras can record video, I don’t tend to shoot video with my 70D, mostly because you can hear the autofocus of my Sigma 18-200 chattering on the audio. I still use my Canon SD850IS from time to time and I also shoot a lot of photos with my iPhone 6. It’s amazing what you can do with the camera in your phone.

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me “so, what type of photography do you shoot?”. That’s the topic for another blog entry, I think.

A couple of months ago, I joined the Camera Club of Ottawa. Besides meeting all sorts of nice people who share an interest in photography, I’m finding that it’s challenging me to step up my photography game. Every month or two, they hold judged competitions for photos. The competitions usually have a theme category, such as colourful, and an open category where anything goes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any of my photography judged.

The most recent one saw me enter four photographs, two in the theme category of “colourful” and two in the open category. I’m happy to report that one of my photos was given an Honourable mention, which I’m really proud of, particularly as it’s my first.

I shot this at Les Grands Feux du Casino du Lac Leamy fireworks festival in 2014. The team of Grupo Luso Pirotecnia from Portugal was presenting. I love the colours and clarity of this shot. The wind was cooperating by gently pushing the smoke backwards so that it wasn’t interfering with the fireworks, and the reflections on the river make the shot work.

I’m making a quick trip to Toronto tomorrow, so I thought I’d check the weather forecast. That’s when I noticed a decidedly unpleasant symbol on the current conditions for Ottawa.

A quick check of the current METAR for the airport showed:

METAR CYOW 140300Z 30011G16KT 8SM -SN BKN013 OVC020 02/00 A2964 RMK
SF6SC2 SLP041=

Fortunately, the TAF suggests it’s only going to do this for an hour or so:

TAF CYOW 140241Z 1403/1424 31012G22KT P6SM -RA SCT012 OVC025 TEMPO 1403/1404 21/2SM -SHSNRA OVC012
FM140400 31010G20KT P6SM BKN030 TEMPO 1404/1422 OVC020
FM142200 28015KT P6SM FEW030 SCT120
RMK NXT FCST BY 140600Z=

We stop to remember the brave men and women who have given their lives in the service of their country so that we may have peace, security, and freedom.

Thank you.