October’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Ashley Newall to support his sharing of colourized historical photos of Ottawa.

“I've been colourizing photos and posting them to Twitter for the past two years,” explains Ashley. “A year and a half ago this turned into a regular column for Apartment613.”

“This summer,” Ashley continues, “I purchased high-resolution scans from Library and Archives Canada, colourized them, and printed and framed them to sell at a Byward Market stand – identifying in the process the most popular to feature at a show. While I'm not a good capitalist and my start-up costs somewhat exceeded my profits, I'm happy to report that the colourized prints were a hit!”

Ashley’s photos will be on display at Irene’s Pub, in the Glebe, from December 5-31, 2022. At a launch party on December 5, he’ll be getting on the mic and going in depth on each of the pieces at both 6 PM and 8 PM.

Ashley is a local musician, historian, graphic artist, and writer. He’s hosted open mics for many years all over town, as well as battles of the bands at a number of local venues.