Assorted photos in February

Here are some photos I took the past several days.

The Rideau Canal Skateway officially closed for the season yesterday and ended the shortest season on record (18 days).  Thankfully I got a chance to spend some time (walking) on the canal last Friday and to test my new lens.

Baltimore and the 100th ESA meeting

After returning back to Ottawa (from Colorado) on August 2nd, I spent most of my days preparing for my presentation at the Ecological Society of America (ESA) centennial meeting in Baltimore (August 9th to 14th).  My labmates and I departed for Baltimore on the morning of the 9th, drove more than eight hours, and arrived at Baltimore just before midnight; and my presentation took place in the following afternoon.

With ESA being the largest ecological society in the world, there was an incredible number of ecologists present, as well as numerous sessions taking place at the Baltimore Convention Center.  Overall, I thought my own presentation went well, and I enjoyed most of the presentations that I attended.  Unfortunately, I was unable to tour Baltimore as much as I would have liked.  Here are some of the photos I took when I was not busy inside the convention center speed-walking from one session to another.

The convention center lobby.  This place is completely packed in the morning, during lunchtime, and at the end of the day.  I snapped this photo when I took a break between sessions.

Assorted photos from the weekend at school

This weekend, I was at school proctoring a final exam and grading lab reports.  Not fun but just something that always had to be done at the end of each semester.  I brought my camera and tried to take some photos when I go outside for a break.

I found a relatively interesting staircase inside the Faculty of Social Sciences Building.

View from the bottom.

Weekend activities - helping a friend & bird-watching

I really should take pictures every single day, otherwise I could not remember what I did each day (unless something really significant happened that day).  For example, I didn't take any photos last weekend and now I couldn't remember most of what I did then.

Well, I did bring my camera with me this weekend to record helping out a friend on Saturday and then bird-watching this morning.

Photograph of a staircase.  I really like patterns and lines when looking up/down stairways, such as these inspiration images (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) captured by one of my favorite photographers.  My image was taken inside one of the biology buildings on campus, but it wasn't very interesting so I replicated and flipped the image next to the original image.  Not too bad.  I need to find more interesting staircases in Ottawa.

Along Rideau Canal

The 11th annual Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology (OCIB) Symposium took place yesterday and today.  I didn't participate in this symposium since I just started, but I did attend to a few presentations.  Most of the presentation were pretty good, although only some were in the field of ecology so my understanding is limited.

On the way to the bus stop, I took out my camera with the OM lens and snapped some photos.  

There was one day when the water on the canal was still and the refelection was perfect (but I didn't bring my camera then).  Today was just a bit too windy.

March Update

Sorry for not posting anything in March until the very last day.  Life is just too hectic at the moment.  I sometimes still bring my camera with me and take photos whenever opportunities arise, but it's hard to dedicate time solely just to go out searching for wildlife and taking photos.  Plus, the freezing temperature dampens my enthusiasm when I stay outside for too long and start to lose feelings in my face and hands.  The weather is getting warmer now though, so hopefully I will get back out photographing again in April.

Here are some of the photos I took this month.

March 3rd - walked along the canal on a nice but cold day (I think).