Top Photographs of 2010

When I had my first meeting with my Photography Instructor Harry, I had to provide 10 to 15 of my favourite pictures but I had some troubles and I think I had it narrowed down to about 25. Driving around the past week, I've been hearing all the Top Music Countdowns for 2010 and I thought it would be a good idea to try this with photographs I've taken during 2010. 

I'm going to break this into 4 categories; The Great Outdoors, Buildings/Monuments, Animals and Just For Fun and I’ll place my top 3 photos for each group.  I’ll then have to make my top pick of #1 Photo of 2010.

Top Three Photographs - Animals

This is my mom's cat Dempster.  She was enjoying the winter sun in our backyard.

This beautiful swan was in the Toronto Harbor.

This little fella was charging me because he thought I had food. Sorry.....

 

 Top Three Photographs - Buildings and Monuments

Mozart statue in Vienna, Austria.

Our beautiful Parliament Buildings decorated for the holidays.

Kaiser Franz Joseph....it just sums up the sadness of the Old Emperor...his sons suicide pact,the murder of his wife and the assassination of his heir and then the destruction of the Dual Monarchy and all the miseries that followed from that... (thanks to my Uncle for the back ground on the Old Emperor

Top Three Photographs - The Great Outdoors

 

A simple Daisy at the end of my driveway.

Kayaker and 2 Geese taken this fall at Hog's Back in Ottawa.

Upper Canada Village at Night.

Top Three Photographs - Just For Fun

Taken in Vienna, Austria.  These bikes were everywhere in the city.

DARTH!!!  What more can I say.  I've been a Star Wars fan from the very beginning. Am I showing my age?

My Lego Stormtropper.  There is a Photographer named Mike Stimpton who does the most amazing photographs with Lego.  He has inspired me to try my hand with Lego.  I had fun.

 My Number One Photograph of 2010........

I took a Photography Workshop that took place at the Experimental Park in Ottawa.  It was pouring when we showed up at 6:30 AM and then it just stopped.  I got some amazing photos but his was my favorite of the Workshop.  This photo and my Darth Vader were running neck and neck as my favorite.  It was a tough choice.

I hope you enjoy my pictures.  I can't wait to start working on my favorites of 2011.

Happy New Year!!!!

Upper Canada Village at Night

Looking for something to do over the Christmas Holidays?  Take the short drive to Morrisburg, Ontario and visit Upper Canada Village at Night.  http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/UCV/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=629
The park is covered with 250,000 lights which takes 6 weeks to get put up and on Saturday Nights, they have been getting 3,000 people visiting.  You can walk through the park or take a horse drawn carriage ride.  They also have a skating area. 

The church is the most amazing location in the park. 

I'm still learning alot about Night Photography and it was so much fun playing with a few different techniques.  I was great some great tips from my photography buddy Andre.  Looking forward to trying some more techniques but I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I took on my little adventure to Upper Canada Village.

Upper Canada Village 2010.  The house on the corner of Church Street.

A simple picture but I love it.

A shot overlooking the pond.

Love this picture with the snow covered lights

Candles in the small church window.

Ottawa At Night

I often forget how beautiful my City of Ottawa is especially at night.  Since I got my Nikon D3000 for Christmas I've been wanting to make it downtown to photograph the city.  After doing some night photography on my vacation to Munich, Prague, Vienna and Budapest this fall I realized I was in desperate need of some assistance with taking pictures as night. 

Thanks to a workshop with Ottawa Photo Safari and instructor Ray Pilon my night photography skills have gotten better over night.  I've got a long way to go, but it was a huge step forward for me.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the lights a glow in the background.

We are so lucky to be able to get up on the hill and take photos of this great building.  It looks so amazing all done up in lights.

 

 

Now I know where the secret photo spot is at Parliament Hill

Our War Memorial at Night.  I love the shadows.

One of my favorite shots.  You can see the amazing light show happening all over the building and the flame.

Back To Nature...or Close To It

I spent a great weekend away with my girlfriends in Cambridge and the weather was so gorgeous I was able to get out and take a few photos in the local park then went to Wings of Paradise a Butterfly Conservatory to take some pictures of butterflies and birds.  I did the same thing here in Ottawa back in October but Wings of Paradise had a lot more….not so crowded.   I was having some issues with my camera as it wouldn’t work at times.  I think it might have been because of the humidity in the conservatory so I didn’t get many photographs but I do love the ones I took.

 Since I was having problems taking photos in the conservatory, for some reason this picture was very blue so I turned this little fella into a black and white photo.  He looks much better black and white than blue.

 This guy was very focused on his dinner and snapped at some of the other birds who got too close.

We were in a local park and this black squirrel was chasing a grey squirrel up the tree.  They were so funny to watch.

 And last but not least...a butterfly.  They would come and land on you while you walked around.  Some of them were so beautiful.

Welcome To Barbara McKenzie Photography

This is my first posting to my blog and it's going to take me a bit to get into the swing of how thing works so please keep with me while I work out all the kinks.

I've decided to start this blog so I can start to showcase some of my photography as I begin my Professional Photography training later this year with Harry Nowell.  I've got a Photography at Night workshop scheduled on December 6th with Ottawa Photo Safari (Ray Pilon) and a live action workshop scheduled in February with Harry where we photograph our local hockey team the Ottawa 67's.  Looking forward to both workshops as I've never had alot of exposure to either technique.

Right now, I'm practicing as much as I can with my camera.  I've got a couple of friends that do photography as well and both are inspirations to me because of the amazing talent they have.  When I grow up, I want to take pictures like them!!

I hope you enjoy my blog.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome.  This picture was one of the very first I took with my new DSLR Nikon D3000.  I think I've come a long way in a year.  Below is a picture I recently took in the fall here in Ottawa at Beechwood Cemetary.