Fall Colors with 360 ArtZone

The most beautiful and magnificent time in Canada has arrived. Every year, from the end of September to mid of October, Ottawa and Gatineau areas are painted by red, orange, yellow, green and blue. If you have never been to Canada before (like myself about 10 years), you can never imagine what it looks like and how magically all these color meet each others to form a painting made by mother nature. I feel very fortunate to be in the middle of this every year.

Recently, I joined a photography club, 360 ArtZone, a group of passionate individuals who share the same interest. Sunday morning, we had our first field trip to Gatineau Park for sunrise. The following is a group shot at Pink Lake. You can probably tell from the picture, the team was well equipped with uniforms. To be honest, I never thought I would look so cool in the picture. And strange enough, our clothes were color coordinated. Maybe that's because we all appreciate colors in an elegant manner ? or simply to match the colors of our equipment :-)

Take another close look at the picture. There are 2 generates. The ones who were born before 70s and the ones after 80s. I thought I would never say this, but I am the elderly now. Looking at young people jumping up and down with lots of energy, you will realize what is the most precious and what is something you will never find again...

Let's get back to the fall colors. We gathered at Pink Lake parking lot around 6:30am, setting up equipment and waiting for the sunrise. It's freezing cold but things looked better and better by the minutes. Around 7:00am, the sunrise is right on time. Although, there were different moments, to me, the magic moment only last for about 10 minutes, which was from the time the sun just started to be visible until the time it's completed visible in the sky. The following pictures show what exactly I meant.

Right after the sunset, (and the group shot,) we decided to stay a bit longer at other spots for the fall colors. 

Our first field trip was ended at a Chinese restaurant on Somerset. A typical Chinese ending. It was quite great experience.

Wait, my day didn't end yet, after Bo came back from Church, we decided to take a walk at one of our favorite places, Pinhey's Point at Dunrobin, ON. While we were stroking along Ottawa river, a large area of purple wild flowers and milk weeds caught my attention. This could be something really special. Without hesitation, I took the following shot. It is quite unique!

Thanks for reading. The end...

Volunteer at McKellar Park Fall Festival

Never being asked to be a photographer as a volunteer before, McKellar Park fall festival was my first experience. Nominated by fellow colleagues, not knowing what the festival was about, I brought the Nikon 24-70 (for group shot) and 70-200 (for portraits) with me on the way. 

The weather wasn't idea for a community gathering. Actually, the weather was pretty bad, rainy and very cold. I arrived at 11:00am Sunday morning, the activity has already started. There were a performing stage under a tent, a beverage and food dispensing centre, face painting, bloom arts, video games, carriage ride, fire trucks (with real fire fighters), maze and those bloom like facility where kids can jump as hard as they and won't get hurt. (I always wanted to try that. I never had such things when I was young and now I am too old...)

The above was one of the performers in the tent. While I was wandering around to catch moments, I was always listening to her singing, very sweet voice.

Face painting was always with long line up from the beginning. In addition to having a vivid face, the process itself was quite enjoyable... At least I think so.

As it was quite chilly in the morning, the coffee lady was very busy. Volunteers have their own privileges, i.e. tickets for lunch. I am not a coffee person, but this was the only way to warm me up. I used 2 tickets for coffee and the rest 3 for a slice of Pizza. 

  
Those lovely girls are Emma Scott's daughters. Emma was one of my clients at work. She invited me to be the volunteer. I was told the event had collected about $2500 and it's enough to keep this community event going. I am happy to hear that and I am happy to be a party of it.