Doors Open Ottawa 2011

This weekend, I went for a long-overdue photoshoot. It's been a while since I've even picked up my camera, but as soon as I saw the list of places open for this year's Doors Open Ottawa event, I knew I had to put aside my homework and make a photo outing. So glad I did! Here are some shots I took at the three churches that I visited...

My first stop was Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church, a small, friendly church located near Chinatown. The church is 'technically' Greek, but the congregation is extremely diverse, so the icons and design embrace a variety of European and North American styles. I loved the simplicity and attention to detail in this church's decor.







After taking some shots and having a great chat with the Reverend Deacon, I visited a stunning Anglican church called Christ Church Cathedral. There were a lot more people at this one (I came to the Orthodox church as soon as it opened so I was the only one there!). I couldn't resist taking some sneaky shots of the other visitors.





The furnishings and light in this one were a photographer's dream...











I then made a quick stop to Knox Presbyterian. It, too, had that fantastic, white "church light" flooding in...



The shot below is from a glass display near the front of the church. It's part of a banner that got presented to the church at some point—I can't for the life of me remember the details; I just remember that the banner said 'Canada' on it (if anyone from Knox knows more, leave a comment!).



All of the churches had some fantastic artistic renderings of the Gospel, whether in picture or stained-glass form. It was a bit of a challenge to put an artistic spin on someone else's art, but I had fun trying! The top two photos below are from Christ the Saviour; the bottom two are taken of the stained glass windows at Christ Church.









I also made a stop at the churches' gardens... here are two shots from the one behind Christ Church Cathedral:





That was fun! I'll have to do more exploring next year. Meanwhile, I have a few other photoshoots waiting for me, so you'll see more posts on this blog soon.

Speaking of blogs, I recently started up a personal blog for my writing, artwork, and general musings about life. If you're interested in reading it, click here.

Oksana { Facebook. Flickr. All images are copyright; please ask before using. }