I am a traveller. Wanderlust runs constantly through my veins and I feed it at every possible opportunity. When I’m travelling my camera and I are totally in synch. It’s like an extension of my arm (my eye, my heart, my soul). When I’m travelling my eyes see things that seem to call out to be photographed. It’s a rush. It’s my joy. It’s also, unfortunately a feeling that I find terribly elusive in my own city.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the projects that Susannah and Victoria have been working on – writing and shooting books on the cities they call home. Now, Susannah is in London and Victoria is in San Francisco, both cities that I have loved to be set loose in with my camera. I’ve thought more than once how easy it must be to shoot in such target rich environments, compared to lazy old Ottawa (not that I would ever call the process of making a book easy…). Over the winter thoughts like that have turned more to thoughts of what I would do if I were writing a book on Ottawa. Where would I go? What would I shoot? As the winter here comes to an end (hopefully, finally) I’m feeling a new project percolating and I expect that I’ll be sharing some of that here.

Since winter is just beginning to loosen its grip on us here I decided to start my photographic exploration indoors with a visit to the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat. The Delegation houses the Aga Khan Foundation in Canada and was opened in 2008. While I have driven past it many times, I had never really noticed it until it showed up on my friend Jason’s Instagram. That space! Those lines! I was intrigued and then thrilled to learn that the Delegation kindly welcomes visitors and offers tours of this award-winning building.

The Delegation was designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and, under the Aga Khan’s direction, takes inspiration from rock crystal. It is a very modern space but it pays homage to Islamic architectural roots.

The building is a play on transparency and translucency and while the space evokes the kind of calm I associate with perfect symetry, it is in fact “perfectly asymetrical”. It is a photographer’s dream. I visited on a very clear and sunny day, which allowed me to capture the blue of the sky through the glass roof and the shadows cast by the asymetrical beams and the screens, or jaali, which line the inner courtyard.

The high contrast in the space on this sunny day inspired me to try some “architectural abstracts” as well.

“It pleases and confuses the eye by its internal planes running at different angles, creating a sense of visual mystery.The … building in a sense should be somewhat mysterious and visually nearly esoteric. It should not be blatant but ethereal, not obvious but difficult to captivate.”
– His Highness the Aga Khan

Our tour guide provided so much wonderful information on the materials used to build the Delegation and how its design promotes not only the vision that the Aga Khan had for the building but also the values of the Aga Khan Foundation. I’ve enjoyed reading more about it.

Debra