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.