On a Frosty Saturday Morning

The more this pandemic drags on, the less I want to go outside.

Saturday morning.

It also doesn't help that the temperature in Ottawa's January doesn't entice me to spend a lot of time in the great outdoors. I just don't like being too cold.

Ottawa is the coldest capital city at this time of year, though, according to Google, Ottawa is the seventh coldest capital in the world. But that accounts for the average temperature throughout the year. For years, when Ottawa has plunged into a deep freeze, I've compared temperatures at the same time in other capital cities, and Ottawa always has a colder temperature.

We get colder than Siberia, colder than Moscow, colder than the Scandinavian countries. And this week, we've had a nasty cold snap that has made it downright unpleasant to be outdoors.

You really have to be prepared if you're going to be outside at this time of year.

Despite the frigid temperatures, I decided to suit up, grab some camera and video gear, and head out before sunrise last Saturday. I had an idea for a video and was going to capture some stills at sunrise.

On the night before, I tried to think of some spots that would present a good backdrop. I thought of the Ottawa River but knew that I'd have to cross over to the Québec side of the river to get any decent view of the sunrise, and I immediately thought of the Canadian Museum of History (Museum of Civilization), directly across from Parliament Hill.

I charged up my Insta360 One R and gathered the equipment that I thought I would need: my Nikon D750 with the 24–70mm lens; the 4K lens module on the video camera; two tripods and remote shutter release; spare batteries.

I couldn't find my camera tripod, which I usually keep packed in a storage compartment in the back of our Niro—in a spot that seems made for it. The last time I remembered using it was in Cuba, when I took some long exposures along our resort beach, and later that evening, to record a synchronized swim/dance show. Did I leave it behind? A thorough search of our house turned up nothing, and so I couldn't take it with me for my morning shoot.

Hand-held photography would have to do.

I dug my winter pants out from the basement. I already had my warm winter coat, ski mittens, and toque pulled up, as well as warm winter boots. The only thing I worried about was how my hands might get cold when I needed to take the mitts off to operate my video camera. I'm pretty good at using my Nikon through mitts, especially if I've pre-set the ISO and f-stop for low-light conditions.

One of our cats, Cece, who loves to sleep either against or on top of my legs, at night, woke me up at about 5:00, and while I didn't get up for nearly an hour later, I lay awake, plotting out how I was going to accomplish various shots.

The main plan was to make a slow-motion recording of myself, throwing boiling water over my head. The frigid air would instantly turn the water into snow, which would lightly fall over me. I wanted the morning light to capture the water as it transformed and I wanted to make sure that the Parliament buildings were framed just behind me. With the video camera on a mini-tripod, all I had to do was press the record button and walk to where I would be in the picture, open a small thermos, and move it in an arc that would go over my head.

There was no traffic on the roads and I had the luck of hitting an intersection just as the light would change to green, before I'd even have to slow down. In less than 25 minutes, I was on a side street near the museum. I found a good place to park and listened to the radio as I waited for the last bits of the morning blue hour to come to a close. With about 15 minutes before sunrise, I left the Niro with my gear and made my way to the museum.

A golden line was growing on the horizon, behind Parliament Hill, as plumes of steam climbed into the air from rooftops. With my smartphone, I captured a couple of photos before I made my way down the set of stairs, between the two buildings that comprised the museum, and headed for the river. I passed three men who greeted me, in French, about how crazy we all were to be outside in this deep freeze.

Not expecting to encounter anyone and deep in my own thoughts, I could only reply, "Oui, bonne chance."

I found a spot, not far from where the museum borders the Kruger paper plant, where the Voyageurs Pathway goes from being machine plowed to where pedestrians have cut out their own path through the snow. I was tempted to get closer to the Portage Bridge, where the open water was releasing fog into the air, but I didn't want my cloud of snow to get lost in that kind of background. I set up the tripod for the Insta360 camera but kept the camera, itself, tucked inside my jacket, keeping it warm until I was ready to shoot. In the meantime, I snapped some stills with my Nikon, hoping that the battery wouldn't die from the cold. I had a spare battery for it but replacing it would mean that I'd have to take my hands out of my mittens, and I didn't want to do that.

Luckily, the battery held out.

Sunrise came at about 7:32, but because I was at the river's edge and Parliament Hill stands about 60 or so metres above the river, it took a bit longer for the sun to reach me. Standing in the snow, I jogged on the spot and did jumping jacks to keep warm, but my toes were starting to get cold and I didn't want to wait much longer, so I retrieved my video camera from within my jacket.

I had to take my mittens off and unzip my jacket, and I could feel the cold rush in. With the camera screwed onto the tripod, I pulled out my smartphone and wirelessly connected it to the camera, which was already set to record in slow motion, at 200 fps. The light balance was also set and I had the camera it in vivid mode, all of this done the night before so that I didn't have to make any adjustments outside. Using my smartphone, all I had to do was compose the frame the way I wanted and tap Record.

I carried the thermos and ran into position. The action of throwing the water into the air took no more than five seconds but the camera stretched it out to about 35.

Stills from the video.

With the video shot complete, I packed up my video gear, took a few more stills, and made it back to my car. Mittens off: warm gloves on. My fingers were chilled from the times when I had them exposed to the cold air but they weren't too bad. I had certainly had far worse while out photographing in bitter weather.

On my way home, I stopped at Bate Island, which was shrouded in fog from the river. I took a few more shots there before I called it a morning. I'll share those photos, tomorrow, for Wordless Wednesday.

I don't care for the cold but it does beat extreme heat and humidity. When I'm bundled appropriately, it really isn't that bad.

Maybe, I just might bundle up once more and enjoy the great outdoors.