Shirley's Bay

An outing was suggested to Shirley's Bay, which is part of the National Capital Commission greenbelt in Ottawa. I was especially interested to go because I've driven past this area literally hundreds of times (I used to work nearby), but had never seen this particular parkland area. It turned out to be an overcast and rainy day, but my two friends and I persevered. For my part, I found myself looking mostly for moody and abstract shots, although this area is also frequented by those looking for birds and wildlife. I found the shoreline the most interesting area and actually arrived a bit early so that I could spend more time there. Despite the on and off rain showers, we ended up spending more time photographing than we originally planned, and then went together for a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

I wanted to express a tranquil mood in this shot, so the sky and the water are both very smooth and I've chosen to work with soft pastel colours.

Odd numbers, and particularly threes, are very aesthetically pleasing, and here I've arranged three rocks along a diagonal in an otherwise empty scene to give them additional strength.

Water ripples are a favourite photographic subject because of their abstract quality. Here, I've also made use of the blue/gold colour contrast to add additional impact.

Knowing that the sky was overcast and featureless, I felt sure that this dead tree could make for a very graphic composition. I rotated the shot so that the tree leans to the right and gives it additional power.

As soon as I saw this tree, I knew that it lent itself to a strong graphical composition. While there is a trace of colour, it is almost black and white.

In truth, the rock was more grey than red, but who wants to look at grey rocks? I intended this as an abstract.

I took several shots like this, but I find this one the most interesting. It's basically a study in lines and circles.

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