A mindful, analog photographic journey along the Rideau Canal, using pinhole cameras and canal water to explore memory, materiality, and transformation.
Project Overview
Meditations on the Rideau is a long-form analog photography project tracing the waterway from Kingston to Ottawa through mindful, sustainable practice. Created with handmade pinhole cameras, long exposures, and film developed in the canal’s own water, the series honours the intertwined histories of the Rideau Canal and photography itself: two dawns that rose within a generation of one another.
Historical Context & Material Connection
The work aligns with the bicentennials ofconstruction (1826-1832) and opening (1832), bridging two centuries of human ingenuity and image-making. By using period-appropriate photographic techniques within a modern, low-tox workflow, the series echoes photography’s 19th-century origins while aligning with contemporary environmental ethics. Canal water, sediment and all, becomes part of the process, embedding place and materiality into each negative. Each print thus carries both index and story, a physical imprint of place and time.
Personal Transition & Shared Heritage
Building upon Betwixt and Between (2025), this project extends from personal transition toward a broader meditation on shared heritage. As a member of the Friends of the Rideau, I’m inspired by the organization’s goals:
“… enhance and conserve the irreplaceable charm of the Rideau Canal, to increase public awareness and enjoyment of the waterway, and to develop strong public support for its long-term well-being.“
Current Work & Research Pathways
Current work includes field studies along the Canal’s southern reach from Newboro to Kingston, upcoming digitization of historic engineering drawings at Library and Archives Canada’s DigiLab, and experimental cyanotype contact prints referencing 19th-century photographic processes.
Analog Craft & Cyanotype Evolution
Archival materials such as this 1828 plan reveal the precision and foresight that shaped the Rideau Canal’s construction. Each inked line carries the same spirit of craftsmanship and care that this project seeks to translate through analog photography. My choice to work with cyanotype printing – invented in 1842 and the origin of the term “blueprint” – continues this lineage.
The deep Prussian blue tones echo both the engineering drawings of the 19th century and the watery world they describe, while the process itself is environmentally gentle, using simple, low-tox chemistry and sunlight. By digitizing, reprinting, and reinterpreting these historic plans, Meditations on the Rideau brings the Canal’s first images back into light, tracing their resonance across two centuries of art, science, and sustainability.
Expanding Visual Form
The current phase of work introduces a 4×5ʺ pinhole camera, extending the project’s visual scope while maintaining the tactile, slow methodology of earlier 6×6 studies. The larger negative offers increased tonal range and spatial precision for future cyanotype and cyanotone contact prints. A digital cyanotone exemplar below echoes this process; it offers an early visualization of the Prussian blue tonal language that will inform the final hand-printed series.
Purpose & Public Engagement
Meditations on the Rideau reimagines how image-making can foster preservation, education, and renewed connection to place. The project is part of my MA Photography research at Falmouth University (UK) and will culminate in a hand-bound book, public exhibition, and archive contribution timed with the Canal’s bicentennial decade; a living record of water, memory, and light.
Community Invitation
As Meditations on the Rideau evolves, I am eager to connect with others who know the waterway intimately. If you can share local insights or lesser-known scenic viewpoints, or if you are a property owner willing to allow brief access for photography, I would be grateful to hear from you: info@scottmurphyphotographer.com
First published: 20 October 2025 · Last updated: 26 November 2025
Scott Murphy – Photographer 