Do you love Ottawa? If so, why? What about Ottawa do you love the most?
Ottawa photographer Harry Nowell has organized a fundraiser on the theme “Why I Love Ottawa/Gatineau,” and it concludes this Saturday, Feb. 23, with a silent auction of new and original photographs.
Nowell, who will host the auction from noon to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at his Preston Street space, Ottawa Studio Works, has asked a dozen or so “celebrity and media” figures to take photographs that illustrate their personal love for the capital region.
Detail from CBC Radio host Alan Neal’s photograph of the Manx Pub for the fundraising silent auction to be held Feb. 23 at Ottawa Studio Works on Preston Street. The photography theme was “Why I Love Ottawa/Gatineau.” Click on the thumbnail to see the image in full size.
Among the participants are Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, radio hosts Sandy Sharkey and Stuntman Stu, CBC Radio All in A Day host Alan Neal, Ottawa Magazine editor Sarah Brown, and me.
Like the other recruits I was asked to take up to three photographs on the theme and submit them to Nowell’s jury. One photograph by each participant is chosen for the show, then printed and framed by fundraiser sponsors Artopix, Dave Andrews and Patrick Gordon Framing Studio. The funds raised go to the Ottawa Food Bank.
The photographs will be sold at the silent auction on Saturday at Ottawa Studio Works at 160 Preston St. Participants won’t know until then which of their photographs (if they submitted more than one) will be framed and auctioned.
When I considered the question of what I love about this city the first thing that came to mind — not surprisingly, considering that I write about art — was the National Gallery. So I went to the gallery on a Sunday afternoon and took photographs in and around it. You can see my three photos by clicking on the thumbnails below.
Now I can only wait and see which photograph Nowell will choose for the auction, and, ahem, whether anybody will bid on it. (Anybody other than Mrs. Big Beat, that is.)
Detail from “Beneath the Water Court, National Gallery,” by Peter Simpson for the fundraising silent auction to be held Feb. 23 at Ottawa Studio Works on Preston Street. The photography theme was “Why I Love Ottawa/Gatineau.” Click on the thumbnail to see the image in full size.
Detail from “10 Feet of Roxy Paine’s 100 Foot Line, National Gallery,” by Peter Simpson for the fundraising silent auction to be held Feb. 23 at Ottawa Studio Works on Preston Street. The photography theme was “Why I Love Ottawa/Gatineau.” Click on the thumbnail to see the image in full size.
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Detail from “Art Scratch in Frosty Window, National Gallery,” by Peter Simpson for the fundraising silent auction to be held Feb. 23 at Ottawa Studio Works on Preston Street. The photography theme was “Why I Love Ottawa/Gatineau.” Click on the thumbnail to see the image in full size.
