Every once and awhile, on my commutes to and from work, I would make a few detours, stopping not too far from my regular route, between Barrhaven and Gatineau. But it was seldom that I strayed far to capture images.
I took a couple of trips over the year, the biggest ones took me to the Mayan Riviera and back to South Korea. I took plenty of photos then, but other trips, to Toronto, to the Eastern Townships of Québec, and to Prince Edward County, had me using my camera sparingly or not at all.
So when I went through the photos of 2019, there weren't a lot to choose from. Thankfully, that made preparing this post rather easy, compared with my end-of-year posts of years gone by. I was also quite brutal in paring down the number of photos to share, so that I didn't have something like the 28 photos that I shared last year.
Then again, I tried to limit it to my top 10, but that was nearly impossible. So here I have my top 12 photos of 2019. And as a heads up, a couple of the photos are not safe for viewing at the office.
At least once each season, I make a stop at Rideau Falls. This popular spot, where the Rideau River drastically meets the Ottawa River, offers spectacular views into Québec and toward the downtown core of Ottawa and Gatineau. One of my favourite seasons to photograph the falls is during the winter months, when the water turns to ice and creates a wall that looks strong enough to climb.
Don't try to attempt it.
The day after I edited this photo, taken just before sunset, Google decided to enhance the image by saturating the sunlight in the sky and reflected on the falls. I liked their enhancement and decided to keep it.
Because of my reconstructive foot surgery, I didn't get out too often in the snow. But when I learned that some snowy owls had been frequenting a farmer's field not too far from my neighbourhood, I had to venture out.
I'm glad I did.
When my foot had healed and I was able to walk on it again, my wife and I joined a Jane's Walk of the Parliamentary Precinct. The walk started at the old train station, now the home of the Canadian senate, and ended at the supreme court building. I snapped photos throughout the walk but my absolute favourite shot was one of the last photos that I took, after the walk had ended and people had gone their separate ways.
The shot shows one edge of the supreme court building, with one of its statues, the Peace Tower of parliament's Centre Block, and the West Block, which is now the House of Commons. I just like the lines of the West Block building with the angle that catches all three of these buildings.
Though my trip to Korea, last May, only lasted eight days, it is the one time where I captured the most amount of photographs (and video). And so I think it's fair that four of my 12 favourite photos of 2019 come from this trip.
I have two photos from Seoul: one, a candid shot along Cheonggyecheong, the canal that runs through the heart of the old downtown core; the other, from Baek In-je House, a large, traditional home in the Bukchon Hanok Village.
The other photos were taken in Chŏnju, where I lived from 1997 to 1999. The first photo is of the 1,000-year-old gate, Pungnammun; the other is of the imperial palace of Gyeonggijeon.
I still belong to a photography group that photographs models. The group meets several times each month but I can only find the time to meet with them a couple of times a year. This year, I met with the group for two of my favourite models to work with, Jay Ban and Olivia Preston.
This is where my photos become NSFW, by the way.
Because my work with flash photography is my weakest, I prefer to work in studios where flash is a must. I like working with high-key lighting and low-key, the latter fast becoming my favourite.
A couple of times this year, I made it out for the Sound of Light fireworks displays along the Ottawa River. With fireworks, I never stand in the same spot twice, and this year, my favourite vantage was on the Mackenzie Bridge, over the canal. From it, I find our city so beautiful.
Of course, I also took many random shots around the city, and I'll wrap up this post with a couple of those.
Last week, I moved up to a full-frame D-SLR and have been spending the holidays getting to know this new camera (the final photo was shot with my Nikon D750). Next year, I hope to pick it up more frequently than I did, this year, with my D7200.
I hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as I do. Thank you for continuing to read The Brown Knowser and I wish you all a Happy 2020.
Cheers!
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