Finding Somewhere To Walk in Ottawa

I was thinking there must be an app that will tell me suggestions for local walks. I think what I am craving is the equivalent of what I would call in England, a long country walk. There are of course loads. The first one on my list was the app for alltrails.com.

The closest suggestion on the list, is called the Ottawa River Pathway Western Section. It is described by the site as "a 35.1 kilometer heavily trafficked out and back trail" and suitable for "scenic driving". Looking on google maps, this does appear to be along a featureless main road. I'm hoping this isn't really what is considered a trail and I'm slightly confused, but I think I can cross this one off the list.

Number two looks more promising, the New Edinburgh Heritage Walking Tour. This is a walk around the older houses in the area. It might be interesting to see the heritage architecture.

Then we have the Rideau River Eastern Pathway.

This sounds like there will be some walking by roads, but we have this picture which looks like I would succeed in surrounding myself at least part of the way.

Taken by "Schvenn Meister" on alltrails.com

Sentier des Voyageurs in Par Mousette.

The description reads "...trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, birding...". Which sounds great, but it is very short and I'm not sure this is worth the distance to get there.

Finally we have Rideau Trail: Deschenes Rapids to Old Richmond Rd. This looks like an actually walk in nature, having been tagged with "forest" and "camping".

Obsessing About Lenses

I have managed to not covet lenses for quite some time. This was mostly in part because I didn't have any money, but also I had a relatively complete kit for my needs. I was using a Nikon D700, 85mm f1.8G, D600 and a 16-35mm f4G VR. Whilst I was camping in the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, I dropped my D600 from about 3 feet. This caused part of the mirror to pop out of place and this is now obstructing the sensor. I am only just getting over the shame. I will soon investigate whether this is worth the money for repairs. When Christmas came around, I was so broke that I ended up selling my 16-35mm on Ebay. So now I am down to one lens and camera combination. This is even more restrictive than I predicted.

My major travel plan for the future is heading to western Canada. I intend to travel in British Columbia and Alberta during June. This is the approximate route:

I am now very aware that I need to update my equipment to make the most of the holiday. I had a certain idea about what I would be working toward. I have found that I have been using shallow depth of field for a long time, making the most of having a full frame DSLR. I have also enjoyed challenging myself to get sharp images in low light and social situations, when it is difficult to get a clear image and most people don't burden themselves with a large camera. I was think of purchasing the super sharp Nikon 24mm f1.8G. I have been very impressed that this tops the charts for my camera for all lenses 35mm or below, for sharpness on DXOMark. It is also one of the cheapest.

I have been using mostly primes for about 7 years. The major lens I was using was a Nikon 50mm f1.4G. I convinced myself that I wanted to focus more on developing my portrait skills and wanted a sharper lens wide open, so I replaced this with an 85mm. It is a very different experience. The working distance is often too long for social situations. I sometimes am almost unable to photograph people in small rooms. My mind is having to adjust when I see something in the street as I am too close. I often start by backing away from my subject, which is pretty much the opposite of what I should be doing. The lens is optically superior, but it also is more specialised. 

I spent a lot of time taking full advantage of the lenses sharpness wide open. With my camera locked in to f1.8 on aperture mode. However I have been noticing whilst editing that the transition from sharp areas to out of focus is particularly noticeable. If I miss focus slightly or have points of interest at multiple distances, the mistake is jarring. I have come to the conclusion that I should improve my estimations of depth of field by varying my technique or work with staging my subjects. This has made me feel that the lens is less suitable for general use and I need more options for lenses.

I often think about why I use a large camera, and what purpose there is for this specialisation. I am aware that the most popular camera is the world is an iphone.

I want to create something that is different to others, otherwise I should not share the result. I need to embrace specialisation and use the advantages that a larger camera gives me.

One clear advantage is extreme viewpoints. The iphone's camera has slowly been getting wider with each generation, starting around 37mm (full frame equivalent) and now it is around 28mm, but with the latest generations they are also including a 56mm portrait lens. So, the majority of the images in the world are currently being taken at 28-56mm focal lengths. With full frame DSLR rectilinear lenses are generally sold with a much larger range. There are a large range of expensive lenses between 200-800mm made by both Canon and Nikon and this is an important reason why they maintain an edge against other manufacturers. Also the Canon 11-24mm f4 was recently released to compete against the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G. I want to increase my photographic vocabulary to include these two extremes.

Intro

I wanted to use this page as a way of exploring my ideas; mostly relating to travel, photography and finding a place to settle in life. I am English, living in Canada, on an IEC traveling work visa.

I have been living in Ottawa for 7 months. I am not sure where I want to go next.

I have limited experience living outside of the UK.

It is February and I have just "survived" my first winter. I was unsure as to whether I would find it an ordeal. I have mostly hidden indoors, where there is heating, food and comfortable furniture.

I have had some experiences of braving the weather, but mostly in the city. I also went to New York City for Christmas, then Quebec City for New Year's Eve, where I was outside a lot of the time.
I like cold weather. The initial onset of winter, fresh snow and frozen rivers, was really exciting. However, now that February is here, it has been replaced by brown slush. I also think I have struggled most with the social changes in winter. Looking back, it felt like nothing happened for over a month. 

The days of a Canadian winter are much brighter and clearer than in England. The season shift could not be more pronounced. In England we have long periods of overcast skies, occasionally punctuated by other mild short lived weather patterns. For me, Ottawa is humid and uncomfortably hot in summer. Fall did have a sudden temperature drop and vivid red, orange, yellow and brown colours appearing everywhere. I also had to get used to the idea that a winter could be a deadly thing. There was even a day with a 30˚C drop in temperature, resulting in a flash freeze. Absolutely amazing.

First of all, I think I could do with some ideas for exploring my area. I cannot drive, which I feel was a big mistake made by my former self. I have to say I find city planning in Ontario, very, very, very bland. It seems like no matter where you walk, it is not your right of way and it takes a long time to cross any roads, even though it is much less busy. The landscape in this province seems very homogeneous. The distance between any points of interest is vast. Also the architecture was all built around the same time, so it is very regular. Even the "historical' or ornate buildings, when you look closer, seem to have the details softened to the point that there really isn't anything there.

What haven't I seen in Ottawa? 

Are there any hidden gems in this city that I don't know about?

Am I having a bad day? Probably.