Westwood Park In Autumn, Ottawa, Ontario

Westwood Park in Autumn.

Westwood Park is in the Carlingwood area in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario. It is at the intersection of Saville Row and Sherbourne Avenue. For a number of years I have remarked to myself on the beautiful fall colours and compositions that are available at the back end of the park. Finally this year I chose to ‘not’ drive past as I have done many times in previous years. These images were shot on November 1, 2011. This is late in the year for fall colour in our area. For the past few years autumn has seemed to last relatively long. No complaints. Nice weather, great colour and less winter.

Westwood Park is in the Carlingwood area in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario. It is at the intersection of Saville Row and Sherbourne Avenue.

Autumn colour in Westwood Park, Ottawa.

Reds and yellows. Fall colours in Westwood Park.

Click on any image to go to the same image on my website to view larger or purchase.

You can see additional pictures from this session included as part of my Trees and Leaves Nature Gallery.

© Rob Huntley

autumn reflections photographs greeting cards for sale / autumn reflections photographs canvas prints for sale / autumn reflections photographs framed prints for sale / autumn reflections photographs metal prints for sale / autumn reflections photographs acrylic prints for sale / autumn reflections photographs prints for sale / autumn reflections photographs posters for sale

PAP 2011-1 – Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA

I set myself up with Pole Aerial Photography equipment about 2 years ago but prefer to do kite aerial photography so rarely to I bring out the pole. This week it came in handy as I did my first PAP session of 2011.

I’ve been a member at the Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA on Lockhart Avenue for over 20 years, primarily in the Masters Swimming Program. I have also had the pleasure of working at the membership desk for about 18 months. Regrettably the property has been sold and at the end of next summer (2012) the doors will close with the expectation that the building will be flattened and a retirement residence will be built in its place.

I’ve been thinking for some time that I would like to do aerial shots of the building before it is gone using Kite Aerial Photography. However, the criteria I was seeking to do this have been a bit restrictive due to circumstances. I’ve been planning for the fall when the trees concealing the front of the building have lost their leaves but there is still some colour around. At this time of year morning light between 10:00 and 11:00 am is required to illuminate the front so that the sun clears the apartments across the road but has not slipped too far westward to leave the front in shadow. A SW wind would be required to fly my kite from the neighbouring schoolyard towards the front of the building. This would have to be on a weekend so that I could avoid children in the schoolyard.

So over a 4 week period there would be 8 days when I need 15 to 20 KM winds from the SW between 10:00-11:00 am on a sunny day. This was just not happening. So one weekday this week I just went with a 20′ pole and did Pole Aerial Photography instead.

I was spotted by former work colleagues during the course of shooting and was commandeered into trying a group shot of a small portion of staff and children.

Here’s the results. A number of the building shots have been stitched to produce a panoramic view.

The images in this gallery were taken with a remote controlled camera atop a 20 foot pole. (Pole Aerial Photography – PAP)

Aerial photograph of the Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA on Lockhart Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario. Several images have been stitched to provide a larger, panorama-style view.

Aerial photograph of the Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA on Lockhart Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario.

Aerial view of a few of the staff and members of the Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA on Lockhart Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario.

You can see additional pictures in the Pole Aerial Photography Gallery – Carlingwood YMCA – November 2, 2011.

© Rob Huntley

December show at the Carlingwood Y

Upcoming Show – I’ll be displaying images at the Carlingwood YMCA-YWCA in conjunction with photographer Bruce Amos – two weeks in December, 2010 – stay tuned for more details.

Carlingwood Shopping Centre from the Air

This kite aerial photography (KAP) session took place on Easter Sunday (Apr 4, 2010). I chose this day since there are very few days in the year when one can fly a kite in the parking lot of a commercial mall. I actually did the flying from the parking lot of the mall on the other side of Carling Avenue, Fairlawn Plaza. This was in order to get enough distance from the Carlingwood Mall to try to get most of it inside one frame.

I experimented with the use of panning scripts for the first time. These are scripts which operate the pan and tilt functions of the Dunecam remote system I am now using on many KAP flights. The goal is to eventually make panorama series from the air. On this day, the equipment worked well but the wind failed to keep the camera rig steady enough to make good panorama series. I might construct a few small panos from the session and post them later. I also experimented with both horizontal and vertical formats having adapted my rig with an adjustable platform. Most of my KAP previous to this has been with the camera in landscape format.

Here are a few of the individual frames from the session.

Aerial view of Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa's West end showing Carling Avenue in the foreground and the Ottawa River in the background.

Carling Avenue intersection where the parking lots connect from Carlingwood Mall on the north and Fairlawn Plaza (out of the picture bottom) to the south. I was standing in the Fairlawn Plaza parking lot.

The Sears Store at Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa from a low-level aerial perspective. I was standing in the parking lot of Fairlawn Plaza shooting across Carling Avenue. This was Easter Sunday when the parking lots were empty.

Rob Huntley