A fun project for an excellent cause

I am so excited about this!

Last week, I read on Harry Nowell’s blog that he is putting together a celebrity photo contest in support of the Ottawa Food Bank. The celebrities won’t be IN the photos, however; they’ll be TAKING the photos, on the theme of “Why I love Ottawa/Gatineau.” The photos will be auctioned off and all proceeds will go to the Ottawa Food Bank. Wonderful idea, eh?

Here’s the list of Ottawa media and celebrity participants:

Sandy Sharkey (co-host, Cub and Company, 839 BOB FM)
Stuntman Stu (Majic 100 Radio Host)
Jim Watson (Ottawa Mayor)
David Chernushenko (Ottawa City Councillor)
Peter Simpson (Arts-editor-at-large for The Ottawa Citizen)
Graham Richardson (CTV News Anchor)
Alan Neal (Host of All In A Day, CBC Radio One)
Ian Black (Climatologist, CBC News Ottawa)
Sarah Brown (Ottawa Magazine Editor)
Jane Corbett (Ottawa Magazine Art Director)
Trevor Greenway (reporter – Low Down to Hull and Back News)
Andrea Tomkins (Blogger)
Peter Tilley (Executive Director – Ottawa Food Bank)

And – me!!!!!

Harry opened the contest to two members of the non-media, non-celebrity public, and I am one of the lucky two! How fun is that? The other is Allison Burnett, who is getting her whole digital marketing class to participate. Doesn’t this just keep getting better and better?

And so if Allison can rally her students, I think it’s totally fair that I rally the bloggy peeps for inspiration. I need your ideas, Ottawa lovers! If you could choose one idea, one subject, one place or one theme that best exemplifies why YOU love Ottawa, what would it be? Would you go for the iconic shot? The Peace Tower, the Canal, the Market? I might have taken a shot or two of the Parliament Buildings in my time!

Okay, so we’re taking photos in the next two weeks, so tulips are out, but how about this for an iconic Ottawa shot?

That’s the ultimate Ottawa postcard, right? But what about something a little further afield – Little Italy, Elgin Street, the Market, Dow’s Lake?

There’s so much more to Ottawa, though. Landsdowne Park, the Experimental Farm, and Mooney’s Bay. Centretown, Hintonburg, the Glebe, Westboro, not to mention the outlying suburbs, everything from Cumberland to Carp (to Manotick!) and all stations in between. And the other side of the river, too – those gorgeous Gatineau mountains full of snowy trails? Or something more subtle? Maybe even something rural, as we actually have more rural than urban land within the city boundaries.

Or a completely different perspective?

What about a portrait of someone? Who would represent Ottawa to you? Or what about a concept, like national pride or healthy living or family? You can see the problem here, right? The picture-taking is the easy part, it’s the choosing the subject that’s going to keep me up nights trying to decide!!

Help me focus (ha, I slay me!), bloggy peeps! If you could take a photo (or suggest a place or a theme) that best captures your love for Ottawa, how would you do it?