Robert Williams Photography offers landscape and nature photography, with a focus on Canadian landscapes.
Fine art prints and stock nature and urban photographs are available at affordable prices.
August 28, 2010: I have added photographs from the Avalon Peninsula (and St. John's) to my article on Newfoundland.
August 24, 2010: A new front-page photograph from Newfoundland.
I'm going to admit my bias right from the start: I was born and raised in Ottawa, only spending a few years away when I was in University. Ottawa is a great place to live, blending a modern urban setting with incredibly easy access to natural areas. I live in a south-western suburb of the city, one of the furthest from downtown, yet only a thirty minute drive from the Parliament Buildings. Better still, there are farmer's fields just a five-minute walk from my house, and I have the pleasure of hearing Canada geese honking overhead on a regular basis in the spring and fall. I've had close encounters with deer on the local bike paths, and seen fox running across the fields in winter. It's a great place to be, if you like both city and country. This article will describe some of my favourite photographic locations in the Ottawa region.
As you can tell from my portfolio dedicated to the Gatineau Hills, I spend a lot of time in the Hills with my camera. The Gatineau Hills are located in Quebec, just north of Ottawa, only a few minutes from downtown. It is operated by the National Capital Commission (a federal government agency). It's a huge park, with only the southern tip easily accessible by road.
Near Fortune Lake, May 2002
Fortune Lake is a small lake in the southern end of the park, with access both from neighbouring cross-country ski trails, the Camp Fortune Ski Club, and from the Gatineau Parkway (not surprisingly, this part of the parkway is called the Fortune Parkway). The lake was formed by beaver dams, which makes for a swampy shorline and dead trees in the middle of the lake.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Fortune Lake, June 2001
I have been visiting Fortune lake since I was very young, skiing the area's trails with my parents. I enjoy the wild feeling of the lake all year round. In winter, the lake bed is deeply buried with snow, and quite beautiful in its pristine colours. In spring, there are lots of interesting wildflowers, including Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Painted Trillium, which I hope to photograph next year. In the fall, the lake is beautiful, drawing a constant crowd of tourists, hikers and artists who set up by the side of the road to paint. The traffic here, though, is more manageable than some other locations in the park, and the trails around the lake are not very crowded at all.
Pink Lake, October 2001 Birches at Pink Lake, October 2001
Pink Lake is another picturesque lake along the NCC parkway. The lake is a remanent of the Champlain sea that covered this area after the last ice age. There is even a species of fish in this lake descended from a salt water species, that has adapted to the fresh water in the lake. The lake is also meromictic, which means that there is a lack of circulation between different layers of the water, making for a complete lack of oxygen in the lower levels of the lake (13 meters or lower). This kind of lake has a very fragile ecology.
The water in the lake is actually green (not Pink -- the name comes from original settlers of the area), from algae that arrived sometime in the 1960's. Rather that detract from the area, though, the colour makes the lake that much more interesting, and provides for very colourful photographs, especially in fall.
The lake is immensely popular, not only for the beauty of the lake, but also for it's unique geology and relatively easy 2.5 km trail that circumnavigates the lake. It is a relatively crowded trail at any time of the year (to someone who prefers to be alone while taking photographs!), but in fall, it's inundated with people. The parking lot gets full early, with cars overflowing onto the parkway, and NCC staff have to regulate the number of cars arriving. The only solution is to arrive very early in the morning before the crowd, and pack it up when it gets crowded.
There are lots more areas of the Gatineau Hills that I could describe -- stay tuned for a more in depth description of the park.
The marsh from the boardwalk, October 2001
The Mer Bleue Bog is located in the south-eastern end of the city, near where Walkley road meets Highway 417 (the Queensway to Ottawa-area folk). To get there, I take Walkley road east, over the 417 overpass, to where it makes a sharp right turn south. Here, the road becomes Baseline Road, and the bog area begins. From Baseline Road, take the Ridge road east, across Anderson road, and continue until the road ends at the Mer Bleue boardwalk trail. There are other trails off Anderson Road, a kilometer or so north of the Ridge Road/Anderson Road intersection, that go along other ridges in the bog.
Fall colours of the bog, October 2001
The bog and marshes along Anderson Road and the boardwalk trail are an interesting habitat all year round, but my favourite time of year here is in the fall. While masses of people go into the Gatineau Hills to look at the leaves, the Mer Bleue bog puts on an equally brilliant display of colour. This year, the peak colour coincided with the peak leaves in the Hills, on the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend in early October.
The "greenbelt" is another Ottawa-area phenomenon designated and maintained by the National Capital Commission. It is a vast green area that surrounds the city, made up of farms that were present before the creation of the greenbelt, forested areas, marshes and bogs. These days, most of the new subdivisions and commercial areas are taking place outside of the greenbelt, which makes the greenbelt a valuable corridor of nature inside the urban and suburban area.
The NCC maintains an impressive array of walking trails through the forested areas. I mostly use the west-end trails, particularly the trails along Moodie Drive (Jack Pine Trail, Stony Swamp trail), Richmond Road, and Hunt Club Road. These also connect to the Trans Canada Trail in the west end.
Ski trails in winter, January 2001
This photograph was taken on Trail #25, near Richmond Road this past winter. There are many other trails, ranging from near the Ottawa River in the west end, through to trail in the south and south east (where Mer Bleue is located), and in the east near the Ottawa River.
The Experimental Farm, a part of the federal Department of Agriculture, is a farm completely within the city of Ottawa. It is located near Dow's Lake, beside the Rideau Canal. The Arboretum is a fascinating area of the farm along Prince of Wales Drive, containing many different species of trees and shrubs, some of them dating back to 1889 when the arboretum was first established.
Flowering Crabs, May 2000
I like visiting the Arboretum in the spring, when the crab trees are in full bloom. The crabs are lined up along both sides of Prince of Wales Drive, making a spectacular display. As with most of the popular spots in Ottawa, when the trees are in bloom, the crowds are incredible. The best bet is to arrive early in the morning, and get your work done before the crowds come.
Tulips at Dow's Lake, May 2002
Ottawa has become famous for it's Tulip Festival in the spring every year. The tradition of tulips started when Ottawa hosted the Dutch Royal Family during World War II. In 1945, Queen Juliana gave the city 100,000 tulips, and the tradition has "grown" ever since. Now, immense beds of tulips are planted throughout the city. For me, the best beds have always been along the Prince of Wales driveway, which runs alongside the Rideau Canal south from the center of the city. The area around Dow's Lake has the largest beds, and of course, attracts the largest crowds. As I've written before, the best time is early in the morning before everyone is out of bed!
The Ottawa area actually has three major rivers -- the Ottawa River, the Rideau River, and the Gatineau River. The Rideau flows roughly north into the Ottawa River from Ontario, while the Gatineau River flows into the Ottawa from Quebec. The confluence of these rivers was one of the reasons that the city of Ottawa exists in this location.
All three river shores provide good photographic locations. It is only in the downtown areas that the rivers take on an urban landscape. Once you get out of the immediate downtown, the shores of the river are more natural.
I don't get down to the Ottawa River very often, but there is a terrific bike and walking path that follows the shore of the river on the Ottawa side from the west end (Andrew Haydon Park) right into downtown. The pathway goes through a well known birding area called Mud Lake, and beside marshy areas where ducks and geese are frequently seen.
Hog's Back Falls in Winter, December 1999
I more often go to the Rideau River shore, because it's closer to home. The falls at Hog's Back are an example of some of the interesting features of this river. Located just south of Carleton University along Colonel By Drive, the falls are located at a fault line that traverses the river. The water flow through this area in the spring is impressive. One of my favourite childhood memories was when my family went to Hog's Back for ice cream cones in the summer! The shore of the Rideau River is very accessible from Hog's Back, going north into the city, through Vincent Massey Park, and continuing through the Billings Bridge area. There are parking lots at Hog's Back, Vincent Massey Park, and near Billings Bridge.
The Shore of Rideau River, at the mouth of the Jock River, October 2001.
Further south, the shores of the Rideau are being threatened by continued suburban developments. Fortunately, a significant amount of shoreline has been preserved as parkland in the area just north of Manotick. I will be spending more time photographing this area in the near future. Some easy access points are further south at the Jock River Landing (it's fairly hidden, but look where Lodge Road meets Highway 16), and just north of Manotick at the new Beryl Gaffney Park.
Wildflowers on the banks of the Jock River, June 1999
As well, there are smaller (much smaller) tributary rivers and creeks that flow into the Rideau, which present great photographic opportunities. I have been spending time photographing the shores of the Jock River, which flows into the Rideau very near to where I live. The Jock River shore is also threatened by development, but much of it's shore will hopefully be protected by future city parkland. The banks of small rivers like this, can be quite spectacular in the spring and summer, when wildflowers bloom. I can only hope that these areas can be preserved as natural areas in the future.
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