When Graem and I visited the Rideau River, we walked right across the frozen water at one point. That sort of thing always makes me nervous, even if there are tire tracks on the ice indicating that someone drove a vehicle that was (presumably) much heavier than me across safely... Maybe they just weakened the structural integrity of the ice!

We made it across safely and alive, and I even took time to gingerly crouch and examine this swirled bit of ice. When we lived in Edmonton, there was a glass shop nearby where we would always stop to admire (and occasionally buy) expensive glass bowls and sculptures that we couldn't really afford. This ice reminds me of one of those sculptures.

This is another ice-and-water abstract taken at the Rideau River. I like the contrast between the still ice and the moving water. The chunks of ice had been formed into interesting shapes by the splashing water.

An inhumane work schedule and a sick cat have eaten up my time, and even most of my interest in taking new photos this week. We can always hope for better in the days to come.

Here is one of many ice abstracts taken at Hog's Back Park. I think (hope?) that my composition is improving for landscape shots and for things like flowers that I photograph all the time. Where I've noticed my composition lacking lately is in this type of abstract shot. I always get excited about things that look cool through the macro lens (lichens, rocks, icicles), and I happily snap away expecting masterpieces. When I review my photos later, I'm always disappointed. Yes, the subjects are interesting, but the photos are a visual cacophony with no real focal point. These ice abstracts are decent shots, but I know of some photographers who could have made them far more interesting. In this particular shot, the monochrome conversion really helped bring out the texture in the snow, even though it was essentially a black and white photo to begin with.

I have taken a few photos over the last couple of weeks, but didn't have time to look through them and edit them until today. This is turning into a monthly photo blog, rather than a daily one!

These photos were taken at Hog's Back Park in Ottawa. The park features a small waterfall and some rocky cliffs which are turned into dramatic ice-scapes at this time of year. I thought that "Hog's Back" was an odd name for a park. I guess the name refers to the big rocks jutting out of the Earth. To quote a sign found at the park:

These rocks, sandstones and limestones were formed at the bottom of a shallow sea which covered this region in Ordovician time some 400 million years ago. Note the ripple marks formed by the ancient waves. Later the region was uplifted and the strata here were folded and broken. A major break or fault can be seen here at low water just below the East end of the bridge. The present course of the river over these rocks was established at a still much later date.

That explains the geological features of the Hog's Back. Whoever was responsible for the man-made features did not have photographers in mind. The whole park is surrounded by an ugly black fence. I spent a lot of time trying to keep the fence out of my shots. Most of my wide-angle photos of the waterfall were marred either by the fence itself, or the shadow of the fence creeping into the frame. As a result, the best shots were taken with longer lenses, and I have quite a few closeup abstracts.

With the first photo here, I thought it would be cool to photograph the snow mounds (complete with shadows), crisp in the foreground with the waterfall blurred out in the background. It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted it to, but I still like it.

The little bush in the second shot looks like its branches are dripping with icing. It looks like something that belongs in the front yard of a gingerbread house. If only there were jujubes...

Here is another shot taken on the Calabogie trip. It's not immediately apparent (to me at least) what this is a picture of. It's actually dark water with ice chunks moving rather quickly under a bridge. I was using a longer lens, so the shot loses its wider context. When I was viewing my photos, I got a bit confused and thought this was actually a closeup of a faceted rock... and I couldn't remember taking any photos of rock. It could also be that I'm just losing my mind.

This is the last photo I have saved up to post for a while. Hopefully I'll find some time and some subject matter for evening photography... Otherwise nothing new until the weekend.

I've had this photo sitting on my hard drive for a while waiting to be posted. I have photographed these berries before, earlier this fall. Now they are all wrinkled... I personally consider this photo too blurry and poorly composed for posting, but Graem thought it was 'abstract'. He suggested I post it on Red Bubble and title it 'Raisin'. I haven't had time to take many new photos and I only have a couple of older ones saved up... so today I will post the Raisin.

A couple of days ago, I was trying to photograph a large spider who lives in my laundry room sink. I eventually gave up, concluding that I would have to try again with a better light setup and less help from my feline assistants. Before I went upstairs, I tried taking some self-portraits in an old mirror in our basement. The mirror is cracked, and its surface is marked with amazing fern-like patterns. The self-portraits didn't turn out looking like much. I decided to try taking macro shots of the surface of the mirror. I wasn't expecting to see much besides the reflection of the lens.

I'm actually pretty happy with the way the mirror macros turned out. This one makes me think I'm lying on my back in a field looking up at the branches of winter trees. The background even looks like a winter sky - pale and bleak.