Imagine There's An Image

Sandy, "the kids", and I drove up to Ottawa last Friday morning and had a wonderful weekend with Sandy's family. I was hoping to get some really good photos while there, but other than family pictures, I didn't produce anything that I'd like to post.

Ben and I took a bus downtown to walk around Parliament Hill and the Byward Market area. Ottawa's Parliament Hill must be the most spectacular location for a seat of government in the world. The complex was modeled on the British Parliament, but it sits on a high bluff overlooking the Ottawa River. So you would think that with such a grand setting, I would have brought home the bacon. My mistake was to go in mid-afternoon, and the lighting was just too contrasty to render both the brillant blue sky/white cloud background and the buildings themselves, which were in shadow. I think Ben might have gotten a few good images; as we go through them, I'll post any good ones we find.

Meanwhile, I'm on another assignment with Constellation Energy Group in dowtown Baltimore. I just started yesterday, and now that I have my Walk-Around Canon A620, I've already shot about 60 pictures on my walks to and from the Light Rail station.

The first photo above is U.S. Lightship No. 116, the Chesapeake, which marked the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay for almost 30 years, starting in 1933. It's now moored in Baltimore's Inner Harbor as part of the Maritime Museum. The building in the background is the new Australia Exhibit of the National Aquarium. I took the photo in morning light, about 8:00 AM.

This next picture is the World Trade Center Baltimore reflected in the Hyatt Hotel. I can tell you that it looks much better like this on the wall of the Hyatt than it does in real life. Taken just before sunset from the "skywalk" adjacent to the Pratt Street Pavilion at the Inner Harbor.

This final photo is hot out of the camera from this morning. The heavy rope, wound about the cast iron bollard, is one of the mooring lines for the all-sail warship, the USS Constellation, which is permanently berthed at the Inner Harbor.

The weather the last two days has been just perfect, both for photography and for walking the 3/4 mile from the Light Rail station to the office. I should be at this assignment for at least three months, and with my Canon A620 now with me all the time, I hope to produce a lot of new material these next few months.