They Are The Champions

I think I'll just admit right off the bat, I may have been a little bit trigger happy with this game.  Though in my defense, I did end up shooting three intense periods of action, a heart stopping period of overtime and then a stressful shoot-out before Les Félines du Saint-Laurent were finally able to put away Les Rapides de Champlain and win the Midget A Regional Championship.  A victory that will send the team off to Quebec to do battle with other regional champions as they battle for the Dodge Cup.  While I probably wasn't as nervous as any of the players, I was asking myself beforehand if it was a good idea to attend.  I've been to six other games over the course of the past few season, and every time I end up attending, Florence's team always seems to end up on the wrong side of the score.  My overall record of 1-4-1 is not something to be proud of  But, after the letdown of Friday night, I had told Florence that there would be a third game in the series that would enable both of us to put aside our Good Friday Blues and replace them with a proper Easter Sunday Celebration. Les Félines opened the scoring early with a goal just 28 seconds into the match by Maïka Lefrancois.  Anabel Labrecque tied the game seven minutes later and that is the way that the score stayed.  A scoreless second period, led to a scoreless third and a additional overtime period did nothing to change things, except to maybe raise the blood pressure of the several parents, and your friendly neighbourhood photographer.  The only goal scored in the shootout was by Audrey Bisaillon on the first shot and then Florence Bouchard-Maynard closed the door, stopping all three shooters that Les Rapides sent on the ice.  After the final save, sticks, gloves and helmets went flying in all directions as the players piled onto the ice, and onto each other, in celebration.  One thing I'm going to have to learn before next season is to find out to cut down on my photographs.  I don't know how the folks who photograph the pro games feel about only one, or maybe two, of their photographs appearing in the paper.  Sure, the amount of photographs in this update borders on overkill, but all of them show different aspects of the game, and I also couldn't cut the celebration photographs at the end because those are the ones that are full of emotion.  With the fireworks in the summer, I usually try to limit myself to only using a maximum of 10 photographs per update, so that might be a rule that I'll have to start using with hockey as well.  In the meantime, grab yourself another bowl of popcorn and a cold beverage because the slideshow is about to start.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 105mm.  The third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 130mm.  The fourth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 115mm and the fifth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took during the game and of the celebrations that took place afterwards. 

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 140mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 160mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 130mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 120mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 140mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 120mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 115m

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 120mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 110mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 150mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 180mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 180mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 168mm

f/3.2, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 105mm

f/3.2, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 115mm

f/3.2, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 130mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 130mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 95mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 95mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 90mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 90mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 175mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 165mm

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 ate 130mm

After typing all that, it becomes pretty clear that I stayed around f/2.8, 1/2000sec for most of the games.  In the future, I'd probably try to alter those a little bit, but after the Friday night experience, I wanted to make sure that I'd have a fast enough shutter speed to avoid missing the big moments.  Some experimentation is called for, but in the meantime, congratulations to Florence and the rest of Les Félines.  You played a great game and I wish you lots of success at the Dodge Cup.  Hopefully we'll be able to meet again next season.  Now, my batteries, and those in my camera, need a break to recuperate from all of this action.

Regional Champions - Les Félines de Saint-Laurent

Congratulations to my friend Florence and the rest of Les Félines du Saint-Laurent on their victory over Les Rapides de Champlain 2-1 in a Shoot-out!  As a result they are now the 2017-2018 Midget A Female Regional Champions and are on their way to Quebec to compete for the Dodge Cup.  I'm just putting up a quick photograph of the celebration, taken at f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 130mm, because I have lots of photographs to go through from this great game.  They'll be up here a little later this week, but until then, way to go Les Félines!  Best of luck to you at the Dodge Cup! 

An Unfortunate Performance

You often hear athletes saying something along the lines that they had an off night when things don't end up going their way.  Well, I can tell you that photographers can have an off night as well.  I've been photographing hockey games for a little while now, but never have I had a more frustrating experience than I did Friday night during Game One of the Regional Championship Final between Les Rapides de Champlain and Les Félines du St-Laurent.  My favourite goaltender, Florence, was in the nets and there was excitement in the air as the winner of this Best Of Three Series would advance to the Dodge Cup which will be played in Quebec City area in mid-April.  Things got off to a good start for Les Félines as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but I was already having my problems.  I couldn't seem to properly follow the play, my shots were out of focus and the ones that were in focus seemed to get ruined by having either a referee or another player blocking the view of the action, or the puck at important moments. Sadly, Les Félines ended up having as rough a night as I did, losing the game 3-2 in Overtime and giving Les Rapides a 1-0 lead in the series.  Though there are lots of photographs in this series, I still feel like I came home a little empty handed as there is only one 'save' photograph in here.  I did manage to grab a few action shots, and some of the other players as well, but I'm missing the big saves that really grab my attention.  The first photograph here, of Les Félines in their prematch huddle was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 102mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 140mm and the third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec ISO 1600 at 200mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the action that took place at the Aréna Jean-Rougeau in St. Basil-le-Grand.

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 155mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 155mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 182mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 170mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 150mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 110mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 95mm

Needless to say, spirits were low after the match.  The girls were obviously saddened to have lost the game and I felt that my performance was less than stellar as well.  All isn't lost.  If the Félines can win a game on Saturday night, it will force a third game in the series to be played on Sunday, and maybe we'll all get the chance to redeem ourselves.

Tournament Action

Though our local National Hockey League team is having a rough season and won't be seeing any playoff action this season, one of my other favourite teams is currently playing in a tournament in the hopes of playing in Quebec for the Dodge Cup.  I am of course talking about Les Félines du St-Laurent and my favourite young goaltender, Florence Bouchard-Maynard.  I made the short drive out to Saint-Basile-Le-Grand after hearing from her father, my good friend Emmanuel, to watch the team in their tournament opening match against Les Rapdies de Champlain.  Both teams were heated rivals over the course of the season and this match was no different as it ended up in a scoreless tie.  Just because there were no goals that doesn't mean that there wasn't any action.  Both teams had scoring chances and the final few minutes saw both teams get power-play opportunities, but neither were able to capitalize on the opportunities. Since there were fewer scoring chances, I tried to practice photographing some of the action that was taking place at other places in the rink.  My priority while at these games is usually to focus on the play of Florence since she's the daughter of a friend.  As such, I usually place myself in a corner of the arena where I get a clear view of the net.  I generally like to place myself either just behind the glass near the goal line of the net she is defending, or higher up in the stands near the blue line of the zone she is in.  However, this means that there are another 2/3rds of the rink that are out of my reach.  I decided to give my zoom lens a little bit of the workout and tried to follow the action in the other zones a little more than usual.  Rather than going through my photographs and doing a little on-the-spot triage of what I had, I tried to snap a little bit more.  As a result, I ended up coming up with more photographs that usual, but I also got some decent action shots from the rest of the game as well.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 88mm.  The third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 120mm.  Luckily, I had a day off from the Day Job, so I was able to go through all of my shots and present a little update here today.  And what an update it is.  There are lots of photographs, so get yourself some popcorn and a cola because it is time for the action to start.

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 1600 at 110mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 90mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 170mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 80mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at125mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 123mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 102mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm

The lighting in the arena wasn't that great.  They appeared to be some new led light banks in the place where neon lights would have been.  The aluminum roof didn't add much to the lighting either, so I had to shoot at a very high ISO in order to get the shutter speeds necessary to freeze the action.  I was still able to get some frozen pucks in my shots, but they're a bit more grainy that I would have liked.  It was still a fun night at the rink, and hopefully there will be a few more as Les Félines continue on their road to the Dodge Cup.

Chocolate Nut Cookies

I guess you could say that I have saved the best for last.  Of all the different varieties of cookies that My Lovely Assistant made recently, these were my favourite.  This cookie was made out of a mixture of date paste, apple sauce, assorted nuts and chocolate, with a little slice of almond placed on the top.  To create the photograph, I grabbed a small plate from the cupboard, placed it on our cutting board and added a few of the tasty treats, making sure that I had one facing towards me at an angle to get a nice look at the texture and the almond on top.  The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 42mm with some flash bounced off of the ceiling.  I've always been a little intimidated with photographing food items, but I really liked the way these recent cookie photographs turned out.  It was great fun, and the results tasted great.

Dad's Birthday Cake

For many of you reading out there, March 20th is the first day of Spring.  A day that I know many of you out there have been waiting for to arrive. March 20th has a different meaning for me though, as it's my Dad's birthday.  We had a little birthday party for him this weekend and My Lovely Assistant made one of her delicious cakes for the occasion.  Of course, I took advantage of her cooking to continue playing in the kitchen with my camera.  This was a chocolate cake with pear halves baked into the crust.  She added some sparkles and chocolate shavings onto the chocolate mousse topping to make a surefire hit for any chocolate lovers out there, but still something light and fruity that doesn't feel overly heavy to eat.  In order to get my photographs, I had to be a little more creative with certain things as the cake was wider than the white background that I usually use.  It came in handy for the first photograph, which was taken at f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 40mm.  I tried to follow the line of the plate with this shot, while also showing the toppings.  For the second photograph, taken at f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 43mm, I listened to a suggestion from My Lovely Assistant, who lived up to her title, who suggested that I use the kitchen wall as a background. This allowed me to get the entire cake into a shot.  I used a simple cloth for dish drying to cover the table and add a little colour and texture to the bottom of the frame.  The third photograph, taken at f/16, 1/25sec, ISO 800 at 60mm was a fun close-up of the sparkler and chocolate toppings.  My Lovely Assistant did a great job with the chocolate shavings, melting some dark chocolate into a fine layer before chipping at it with a knife.  I wanted to capture her handy work and my little Macro lens did the job almost as well as she did.  As with most of her creations, this one didn't last very long after being served.  As for my Dad, I think that he had a good evening surrounded by family.  Happy Birthday Dad, I hope that there are many more of My Lovely Assistant's desserts waiting for you in the future.

Dessert Is Served

We take a little break from cookies for this update, to take a look at another of My Lovely Assistant's creations.  When I asked her how to describe this dessert, she said that it was a kind of yogurt/pudding treat.  It's made with almond milk and a selection of fruits and nuts.  In this case, My Lovely Assistant used a diced pear, flaked almonds, chia seeds and some honey.  It then passes the night in the fridge and is ready to be eaten, or in this case photographed, the next day.  For this series, I had initially wanted to photograph the dessert on a shiny platter to get a reflection of the service dishes.  I couldn't find anything shiny enough in the house so I improvised and went in the other direction of finding a colourful patterned dish towel on the table while putting the desserts on a fancy plate and adding some spoons to complete the image.  I also shot the dessert from different angles as the straight-on shot failed to properly show the texture of the dessert toppings in the first photograph.  Everybody likes a good two-for-one deal, so you get two photographs for the price of one with this update.  Both photographs were taken at f/3.5, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The dessert dishes were actually quite small, so a Macro lens helped make everything look a little larger and a little bit of bounced flash brought out some added colour and texture in the finished product.  As an alternative, the almond milk could be replaced with chocolate milk.  A nice, cool little light dessert.