Bonsecours by night

I'm really pleased with this picture, for a few reasons. First, it was taken during a rare weekend that my wife and I could get away to Montreal without the wee guy in tow. We both love the architecture in Vieux Montréal and are happy to spend hours walking around, visiting museums and galleries, and trying out new places to eat. I took this shot after we'd been out for a terrific meal in a restaurant that features live jazz (and tasty dead meat).

Second, I think it's a beautiful image. I haven't done a lot of night photography and this was largely the product of chance. It had rained earlier in the evening, leaving the streets wet and the sky cloudy. So far, so good. I didn't have a tripod with me, however, so I needed somewhere stable to sit the camera that would be above the level of the fence in the foreground. As luck would have it, there was a metal service box at just the right height. As even better luck would have it, the top of the box was also wet and giving off vivid reflections of the night sky.

Finally, this was the first weekend with my new toy, a Canon G9. I'd been reading about this high-end point-and-shot for a while and thought that it might be just the thing for those times when I don't feel like dragging around a backpack containing my Nikon D70s and lenses. I love my D70s, but the G9 is a little dream. Yes, it's as noisy as heck much above ISO 200 to 400, but I'll leave it set at ISO 80 as much as possible and will learn to work with the noise when I have to (when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, etc.). I'm extremely impressed with the quality of the 12.1 MP RAW images, the accuracy of the metering, the choice of shooting modes, the zoom range, and the sheer convenience of toting around such a capable little package on a belt loop.

It's a definite keeper: a picture's worth a thousand words.

Perth pano

Another panoramic shot, this one composed of four shots taken a couple of weekends ago at Stewart Park in Perth. Perth is a beautiful town on the Tay River in Eastern Ontario, about an hour's drive from Ottawa.

Perth's Scottish heritage can be seen in a lot of the architecture in the town, as well as in many of the building and place names. It would be tempting to live there, but I think the hour-long commute along Highway 7 would soon lose it's charm, especially in winter. Still... how long until retirement?

Thrice thwarted

This is a shot I took last summer at Dow's Lake in Ottawa during the annual Canadian Tulip Festival. I got a bit tired of looking at tulips, so I decided to turn my camera on something cooler and calmer for a break.

As I was walking by the pavilion, I saw this scene of a tethered boat right away as an abstract. It happens sometimes that you can visualize an image as you want it to appear, even before you lift the viewfinder to your eye. This was one of those times.

It may be cheating to go back to the archives, but I think I can get away with it because this image has just been selected for publication in the third issue of Photosho, a magazine highlighting the work of Canadian photographers. I'm pleased that the shot was chosen to help illustrate the theme of "Water" -- and it was an extra kick to see that it appears in the preview for the issue.

Coulonge panorama

This panorama of three stitched images gives a good view of the main drop of the Coulonge Falls during the spring runoff. This is my first attempt at a stitched image and, while I'm fairly happy with it, there are a number of things I will do differently for the next one.

For example, I can see how a panoramic head, or at least a spirit level, would be very helpful. I took the component shots on a tripod with a ball head and estimated by eye how to line up the images. I didn't do too badly, but it could have been better (as you can see from the edges of the image that I've left in place).

What else did I learn? Umm... always remember to wipe the spray off the lens between shots.

All that said, I think I may be developing a taste to do some more panoramas. Stay tuned.