Hog's Back Locks - Rideau Canal

[Manfred M]

This image is on the low water side of Lock 11 on the Rideau Canal. It is the first lock on the man-made cut of the canal and the Rideau River part ways. The canal was opened in 1832 and is the oldest continuously operating canal in North America.



The sluice gates (the four wheels along the lock doors) and lock doors (one of the winches can be seen on the left) are hand-operated.


This is the gate where Lock 11 and Lock 12 meet.




A couple more winches for the lock (one is used to open the lock and the other is used to close it). This view shows Lock 12, which is a bit unusual as it is not really used, but is called a "guard lock". It can be used to isolate the rest of the canal and protect it from high water during spring runoff; the gates can be seen in this image. The bridge in the background is a swing bridge, that rotates to let boats pass through.

In the background is Mooney's Bay and is where the canal is part of the Rideau River system.





Lock Keeper's Cottage - in former times, this is where the lock keeper lived. There was no lockmaster for this part of the canal and the nearest Lockmaster's house is downstream at the next set of locks (at Hartwell Locks, to the north).






This final image is the view to the north of Lock 11. An Orthodox church with its domes can be seen ahead. The red and green channel marker buoys can be seen in the canal.

[Geoff F]

Looking good all round. Maybe I would have liked to see all of the bollard on the right of #2 but I'm not complaining.

[Manfred M]

Looking good all round. Maybe I would have liked to see all of the bollard on the right of #2 but I'm not complaining.

I thought about cloning it out, but didn't think it mattered too much one way or the other...

[bnnrcn]

Very nice images Manfred My best is the last one with great composition.The white band of clouds in #1 distracts a bit. How about cropping it?

[Manfred M]

Very nice images Manfred My best is the last one with great composition.The white band of clouds in #1 distracts a bit. How about cropping it?

If I crop, I lose the balance I want in the image, so I left it in. In a way it acts as a frame. The clouds were a bit strange this morning while I was out shooting.

[bnnrcn]

I knew you were going to say so , because you are very fond of the balance in a composition Manfred , very technical approach

If I crop, I lose the balance I want in the image, so I left it in. In a way it acts as a frame. The clouds were a bit strange this morning while I was out shooting.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[IzzieK]

I knew you were going to say so , because you are very fond of the balance in a composition Manfred , very technical approach

You must mean, clean-cut approach... remember he is an engineer with an engineer's mind...where everything has to have its place, whether in nature or not.

Anyway...I like the sequence of these images. I particularly prefer the last one for the composition whereas the rest of the shot is more for information, reportage or in a child's terminology, "show and tell". The dome of the orthodox church yonder makes this shot for me. Beautiful...

[Manfred M]

I knew you were going to say so , because you are very fond of the balance in a composition Manfred , very technical approach

Binnur - I've come to the realization that the sense balance is something one sees in a great many "good" images. While achieving balance in an image doesn't necessarily result in a good image, I find that this is a characteristic displayed by many great images.

This has impacted the way I photograph in one significant way; changing or removing a distracting element often has a greater negative impact than leaving it in place. One negative thing I find about "rule based composition" is that we tend to look at specific elements in an image. The effectiveness of an image is more than the sum of its parts.

[Manfred M]

remember he is an engineer with an engineer's mind...

Binnur, is also an engineer. Read her bio.

[John 2]

Nice series Manfred. To me these are all about informative context, not just photographs of pieces of machinery etc.

[tbob]

I must have spent ten minutes looking over the first three images working out the mechanics and admiring the images. Very intriguing. I assume recreational users have to work the locks themselves. How long does it take to get a boat through one set?

[Manfred M]

I must have spent ten minutes looking over the first three images working out the mechanics and admiring the images. Very intriguing. I assume recreational users have to work the locks themselves. How long does it take to get a boat through one set?

Yes, top-notch 19th Century engineering technology; although some of the locks are more automated. I know that the Black Rapids Lock (the next lock station south of this location) has been fit with modern hydraulics and the controls are in a more modern lock station. The locks are manned by Parks Canada staff with one to two people operating the manual lock stations.

I've watched the boats go through often enough, but have never actually timed things. It's in the order of 15 - 20 minutes or so per lock (depends on the number of boats that are queued up and are let through at the same time). It supposedly takes around 90 minutes to go through the 8 Ottawa locks that are right downtown and empty into the Ottawa River.


Lots more info on the whole canal can be found here: http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/rideau-faq.html

[IzzieK]

Binnur, is also an engineer. Read her bio.

I forgot...I've read it before...