Articles in Snapshots
Sunset on Mackenzie King Bridge
Last Saturday, sunset came to me. After a drink in the Byward, I was crossing Mackenzie King Bridge to go for sushi in Chinatown when I noticed the tall buildings in the downtown core were set against light pink hues. I started shooting (the friend I was with was patient!) and a few minutes later, when I turned around, the Parliament’s dark silhouette stood out against the orange and yellow background.
Fall Colours at the Park
This Thanksgiving weekend was amazingly hot, with temperatures in the mid-20°C. Our street was just empty: I bet a lot of people went to the cottage or to Ottawa golf club! It’s hard to believe …
Watson's Mill
When I first came to Canada, I used to laugh at what locals considered “historic”. These stores boasting to have been in business for a mere twenty years and these “old” buildings dating back to the 1950s didn’t exactly impress me. The apartment I grew up in in France was at least a century older!
This is not to say that there aren’t interesting pieces of history in the region—Watson’s Mill is one example, and it’s actually pretty old, dating back to 1860.
Night Owls
During summer, days are long and sunset is late, so I’m rarely downtown Ottawa after night falls. But as days are becoming shorter, I decided to go hunt for night shots while the weather is still nice.
Last Saturday was one of these days. It was in the mid-twenties and I left home around 7 p.m. to roam the downtown core with my camera. Half of the city had the same idea—by September, we are all clutching at the last bits of summer.
Entertainment Week — WWE and Pearl Jam
Last week was entertainment week for us: we had tickets for two shows in Ottawa, Monday Night RAW and Pearl Jam.
When I first saw wrestling on TV in Canada, I dismissed it right away: “it looks fake and I bet it’s fixed!” I was later informed that indeed, the fight followed a specific “choreography” and that the outcome was determined in advance. This is not the point of WWE anyway. It has to be watched as theater: characters challenge each other, adopt gimmicks and portray roles.
Summer is Over
Standing on the lakeshore, wind blowing in my hair and producing whitecaps on the lake, the horizon just a flat line in the distance, I felt like I was at the seaside. Only the heady iodine smell of seaweeds was missing.
Barrie and Balm Beach
Balm Beach, the first beach we stopped at, seemed to be stuck somewhere in the 1980s with a few old-fashioned beach toys stores along the sand. Feng and I bought an ice-cream and a drink and the total came to $1.75—not quite Toronto prices! On the beach, people played volley-ball or were reading and not a single person had a cell phone in hand. Canadian take the outdoors seriously and most cars in the parking lot either had a canoe strapped to the roof or a boat in tow.
Toronto, Here We Are Again
Labour Day in North America always takes me by surprise, mostly because it is months after the rest of the world celebrates International Workers’ Day on May 1st. But in a country where holidays are given sparingly, a three-day long weekend always calls for a short trip.
