One of my favourite cities to visit and photograph in Ontario is Ottawa, our national capital. This beautiful town is always busy and filled with wonderful buildings to photograph and if you use an odd camera (Like a Hasselblad or my Intrepid 4×5) there’s always an RCMP officer on Parliament Hill wanting to chat with you about your gear and working with film. At least that’s what’s happened to me twice now.
Ottawa’s history can trace itself back to the Anglo-American War of 1812. Following the war a method was needed to securly transport troops and supplies from Halifax onto the Great Lakes without sailing past the American guns on the other side of the St. Lawrence River and in 1826 Colonel By of the Royal Engineers began construction of the Rideau Canal that would connect Lake Ontario at Kingston to the Ottawa River and thus Montreal on the St. Lawrence. Of course the Canal was never used to move troops, and today is a beautiful civilian waterway and skating rink in Ottawa. Bytown grew with the lumbertrade and was renamed Ottawa in 1854 and by the selection of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria selected as the Capital of the Province of Canada 1857.
One of the first things that was done was begin construction of a permanent seat of the new Canadian Government, what would become Parliament Hill already government property (due to the presence of a military outpost) was chosen and construction of three beautiful Gothic Revival buildings. Tragidy struck the Center Block in 1916, when fire destroyed all by the library (saved by the courage of the librarian who shut the fireproof door). The building was rebuilt and was completed in 1927, complete with the Peace Tower the first memorial to Canadian soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War. Ottawa is truely a Canadian treasure with plenty of museums, galleries, and other things to see. It is also home to the Canadian National War Memorial (my second favourite memorial) and the Canadian War Museum (my favourite Museum). Totally worth a visit if you get a chance both for Canadians and Americans!
Hasselblad 500c – Carl Zeiss Distagon 50mm 1:4 (Yellow) – Rollei RPX 25 @ ASA-25
Blazinal (1+50) 11:00 @ 20C
Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
52 rolls 
Lovely stuff – I particularly like how the sky has been rendered in each image. You can almost feel the cold…
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Thanks! It was about -6C when I was out there, the sky is thanks to it being bright blue and using a yellow filter to add contrast!
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Love love love your posts! The photos are beautiful but almost as great is the history and local flavor you add. Many of the posts in this group are so great I feel like I’m getting free tours of the world. Thank you!!
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Thanks! And yes it is like getting a free tour of the world! With spring and summer coming there will be several weeks of mine down in the US, next two actually! Gettysburg, PA and Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio!
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Can’t wait to see photos of Gettysburg – I’ve never been there but as a history buff, always wanted to.
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PS as a Southern California native, the physical representation of what it means to be truly cold is impressive.
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LOL! And it hasn’t even been a bad winter for us, last year it was getting down well below -20C even flirting with -30C it was brutal! The weather in Ottawa when these were taken was around -6 and the photos from Week 11 were taken in 15C weather…so it’s been a wild ride this year.
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Great Alex, I really have to switch to lower ISO film :-). The sky looks really wonderful in your photographs, especially the second from the end…
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Thanks! The sky rendering is thanks to a yellow filter 😀
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