Leadville Union At Longueuil Ribfest

Once you discover something great, you want to make sure and see it again.  After checking out the musical schedules for the annual Longueuil Ribfest that takes place in the borough of Greenfield Park, I was very happy to notice that Leadville Union would be playing on Friday night.  These Eastern Township Country Rockers were my favourite discovery when I got to see them perform for the first time last year. I enjoy looking at their list of upcoming concerts and seeing all of the towns that I recognize from my youth being represented.  Growing up, I guess I was maybe a little sheltered from these things and I didn't think that anything of note happened in towns like Knowlton, Waterloo or St. Armand.  Obviously, Leadville Union wasn't around back then, but they tour all of these towns and if their shows are anything like their Ribfest performances, they definitely must rock every one of the faces that come out to see them.  Trev Brunton and his gang definitely know how to rock and they got the Ribfest crowd up and moving, even though their bellies may have been loaded with some of the award winning ribs that were being served.  Vocalist Maxyme Bouchard can belt out a solid tune in either of our official languages and doesn't let the guys push her around the stage.  She is front and center, exactly where someone with such a great voice should be.  The rest of the band is incredibly talented as well and who can forget the amazing visuals from Terry Joe Rodrigues, whether he is strumming the banjo or bringing life to his harmonica from the palms of his hands.   The fourth photograph of the set with him looking to the sky while playing is easily among my favourite shots of the weekend.  Speaking of which, all of the photographs were taken a f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO setting and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Leadville Union while they performed at the Longueuil Ribfest.

If you would like to find out more about Leadville Union and their music, you can do so by following the link to their Facebook page.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of The Don Gunn Band, Dawn Tyler Watson with The Roots Band, Dwane Dixon, a second Leadville Union show and Help! - The Beatles Tribute, who also performed during the Longueuil Ribfest, you can do so by following the respective links.  A big thank you to Penny Berrworth and Mark Christiano, as well as everyone at All For The Children, for allowing to me come down and take photographs of the music.  It is very much appreciated. Leadville Union have several shows already scheduled for this summer, including an appearance at Brome Fair.  Check them out for a rockin' good time.

Don Gunn Band At Longueuil Ribfest

The beginning of June saw the return of one of my favourite musical, and I suppose culinary, events of the the year.  The annual Longueuil Ribfest was back in the borough of Greenfield Park.  A great percentage of the people go for the ribs, but I go for the music.  Once again this year, the event organizer and musical director, Penny Berrworth and Mark Christiano respectively, allowed me to attend the event and shoot the shows.  There is something for everyone at this event as the music is pretty much playing non-stop from 1:00PM until around 10:30PM.  I wasn't able to shoot every show as real life got in the way, but I did manage to get into pit for several of the evening shows.  The first set I got to shoot on Friday night was the Don Gunn Band.  They have been rocking the South Shore and beyond with their blues-rock based covers and original songs for such a long time now that they can be considered the official band of Greenfield Park.  I believe that they have been play the Ribfest since the very first edition, but our schedules never seemed to match.  I was happy to find that they had a slot that was compatible with my availability this year.  And I was not disappointed.  They hit the stage as the sun was just beginning to go down and set the tone for the rest of the evening.  Don Gunn's guitar playing is majestic and coupled with Suzanne Johnstone's knee bending voice, they for a duo that dominate the stage and bring life and emotion to their music.  The Don Gunn Band released a new EP of songs last year, which can be streamed from the usual places.  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different ISO shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of The Don Gunn Band while they performed at the Longueuil Ribfest.

If you would like to find out more about The Don Gunn Band and their music, you can do so by following the link to their Facebook page.  If you would like to see the photographs of Leadville Union, Dawn Tyler Watson with The Roots Band, Dwane Dixon, a second Leadville Union show and Help! - The Beatles Tribute, who also performed during the Longueuil Ribfest, you can do so by following the respective links.  A big thank you to Penny Berrworth and Mark Christiano, as well as everyone at All For The Children, for allowing to me come down and take photographs of the music.  It is very much appreciated.  Check out The Don Gunn Band for some great music, and if you happen to find yourself around Greenfield Park, try and catch one of their shows.  A great time is guaranteed.

Hot Wheels

Another Father's Day is upon on us, and despite now being among those who get celebrated on this day, I still prefer to act like a kid and play with my toys.  Mother's Day traditionally gets treated to some kind of flower here on The Old Blog, but since I didn't really feel like photographing ties or bottles of aftershave, I decided that that traditional Father's Day photograph over here would be a toy car.  I originally came to this idea based on an old memory of getting a Hot Wheels car from my Dad and I enjoyed doing this the first time so I just kept on doing it.  This years edition is a 1971 Ford Mustang Funny Car.  I went with this one because it is also Grand Prix Weekend up here.  I've already used my F1 race car for another update a few years ago, but I still wanted to us another race car for this edition.  The colours are also really sharp with the flame design, orange tinted windows and red spoke tires.  I went out to the backyard as the sun was setting which I used for a nice background and also added some flash to make the front of the car really sparkle.  The first photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  The second photograph was also taken at same settings.  I placed the car next to the rusty screw because in my mind it kind of looked like a sewer lid and thus fit the theme of the photograph.  The third photograph was also taken at the same setting, though I shot a little bit under the car by putting it on a banister and then going down one step on the staircase get more of the sunset in to my shot.  Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there.  To my Dad as well, thanks for everything over the years.  I still remember all of the little gifts and moments and I always will.

Memorial Geranium

The hours, days and years continue to go by at lightning speed.  Your Friendly Neighbouhood Photographer has been quite busy so far this year, which is why things are a little backed up on the blog.  Still, that is no excuse for having missed on of the important days on our personal calendar.  June 4th is Geranium day here as we remember two very important people.  My grandmother Mémère and My Lovely Assistant's mother, Belle Mom.  Both were big fans of my photographs and also big fans of geraniums.  With that in mind, I hope that they can forgive my tardiness and know that while my mind may slip every once in a while, it doesn't change the warm memories that remain or the good times that were shared.  The photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Thanks for all the good times, hope you've enjoyed seeing what I shoot.