As we near the end of July, it also means that we're near the end of the annual Montreal International Fireworks Competition. This past Saturday, the skies over Montreal were brightened by Spain, or more specifically, the RICASA Company of Valencia. The family run company have been turning night into day for 135 years, including being featured at various Pan-Am Games, presentations in New York and the Olympics. This was their third appearance in Montreal, earning third place finishes in 1998 and in 2005. With those amazing credentials, it shouldn't be a surprise to say that this has been my favourite show to date this year. Sadly, the elements once again decided to play havoc with things. The skies had opened earlier in the day as a 
couple of downpours left everything rather wet. As we approached show time, the sky had begun to clear, but there was still a chance of rain so I decided to stay a little bit closer to home and returned to the same spot I had shot at two weeks ago. Things started out fairly well as there was only a slight bit of cloud cover which I always feel adds a little bit of texture to these photographs. However, about fifteen minutes into the show the wind once again began to shift and ended up blowing all of the smoke from the fireworks right back into my location. It slowly crept over to where I was as I watched it slowly shroud everything along the way. As the show was near an end, the smoke was everywhere, as you can see in the second photograph. The difference between the first photograph, taken at f/8, 10sec, ISO 100 at 34mm and the second photograph, taken at f/8, 4sec, ISO 100 at 34mm, is quite remarkable. Here are a few more photographs I took before the smoke swallowed everything.
couple of downpours left everything rather wet. As we approached show time, the sky had begun to clear, but there was still a chance of rain so I decided to stay a little bit closer to home and returned to the same spot I had shot at two weeks ago. Things started out fairly well as there was only a slight bit of cloud cover which I always feel adds a little bit of texture to these photographs. However, about fifteen minutes into the show the wind once again began to shift and ended up blowing all of the smoke from the fireworks right back into my location. It slowly crept over to where I was as I watched it slowly shroud everything along the way. As the show was near an end, the smoke was everywhere, as you can see in the second photograph. The difference between the first photograph, taken at f/8, 10sec, ISO 100 at 34mm and the second photograph, taken at f/8, 4sec, ISO 100 at 34mm, is quite remarkable. Here are a few more photographs I took before the smoke swallowed everything.
f/8, 5sec, ISO 100 at 34mm
f/8, 6sec, ISO 100 at 34mm
f/8, 8sec, ISO 100 at 34mm
f/8, 8sec, ISO 100 at 34mm
After these last two shows, I've spent more time in a smoker than certain sandwich meats. I returned to this spot because I wasn't happy with my positioning. Ends up the spot I had used previously has been rendered useless as a large tree has been planted directly in the sight-line to the fireworks. I liked this spot a little better than the previous one, except for that annoying road sign at the bottom center of the frame. Hopefully none of you noticed it, but it bothered me all night, until the smoke became a bigger issue. It's been a kind of unlucky run this year so I'm hoping that the tide will turn for these last two show.
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