Tree Crystals

In an effort to get some of these Winter photographs out before the Summer of 2028, here's a quick return to the results of some crispy Boxing Day weather from a few weeks back.  As previously mentioned, a combination of light snow and some ice fog turned everything into a Crystal Winter Wonderland.  The small tree in the backyard of the Head Office had all kinds of these wonderful little crystal snowflakes.  Even with the naked eye, the details in those snowflakes was amazing.  I had originally started shooting at f/3.2, but while I was satisfied with the background blur, I wasn't getting enough of the snowflakes in focus.  Going down to f/6.3 gave me a little more space to work with, and shooting up close still gave me some nice blur in the background.  The photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Winter is full of these great visual treats.  Get out there and enjoy them.

Frozen Mail

Back on Boxing Day, we went out for a little family walk in order to work off some of that excess Christmas sugar that was in our system.  It had snowed during the night, and some ice fog had left a nice white crystal coating on everything.  On our little path was one of those community mailboxes and framing it was some nice frozen hedges.  At the time, Canada Post was on strike and I thought it kind of clever of myself to take photograph of the frozen box as mail service had essentially been frozen by the strike.  Thankfully, the strike came to an end a few weeks ago, though not before I finally got around to publishing my photograph.  Speaking of which, it was taken at f/6.3, 1/1600sec, ISO 400 at 47mm, and has now been delivered to your electronic devices.  I took quite a few photographs that day, at my current speed, the rest should be ready to be shared by Summer 2028.

Candy At Théâtre Beanfield

It may be a new year, but we have a little bit of catching up to do musically.  Back in November the Théâtre Beanfield in Montreal was home to one of the heaviest concerts of the year as  Exodus came to town.  It was a four bill show, and with a slate of November concerts to cover, our two opening bands fell victim to the quickly passing sands of time.  With a little break in the action, it's time to give them a little bit of a shine.  The second band to perform hailed from Richmond, Virginia, and goes by the name of Candy.   Their sound is described as a vulgar display of modern metal power, and vocalist Zak Quiram definitely unleashed the power of his voice on the crowd.  Being an old guy myself, I’m not sure that I understood the concept with their sampling and pre-recorded sound bites, but once they let loose with their guitars, the place was rocking.  I was definitely in the minority, though, as the fans in the building were cheering on like crazy.  I will definitely try to get more familiar with them.  Candy have three full length albums and three EP's to their name.  They have been rather busy this year, releasing a full length album, 'It's Inside You', in June of 2024 and followed that up with an EP, 'Flipping', in October.  Candy aren't likely to tempt your sweet tooth, in fact they're more apt to kick your teeth in.  However, the rush of adrenaline from their performance is more potent than giving sugar to a two year-old.  The photographs were all taken at 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 Candy while they performed up on the Théâtre Beanfield stage.

If you would like to find out more about Candy 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 Dead Heat, Havok and Exodus, who all performed that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  A Candy show is an intense experience without many equals.  Be sure to check them out when they hit a town near you.

Dead Heat At Théâtre Beanfield

Time to finish up a little bit of musical coverage before we dive back in to the deep end of the pit in the new year.  It's back to the Théâtre Beanfield in Montreal we go to revisit a couple of opening acts who took the stage by storm during a tour headlined by thrash metal legends, Exodus.  Our first band to hit the stage that night, direct from California, was Dead Heat.  They are known for their fast paced songs and full blast live performances.  From the opening notes, singer Chris Ramos was already throwing himself around the stage while unleashing guttural yells deep enough to rattle the speakers.  They definitely got the crowd good, pumped and primed for the heavy metal thrashing they were about to experience.  Dead Heat inspired at least three different circle pits during their short set, getting the collective blood of the crowd nice and loose early in the evening.  Dead Heat are known for their live performances and they certainly gave the Montreal crowd full value for the short amount of time that they had on stage.  The roar of approval at the end of their set certainly reflected the great time they had just experienced.  Dead Heat have released two albums so far, the most recent being 'World At War' from 2021 and their most recent release was an EP, 'Endless Torment', from 2023.  Most of their set came from those two albums, but one would think that they will be releasing some more new music soon.  The photographs were all taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Dead Heat while they performed on the Théâtre Beanfield stage.

 

 

If you would like to find out more about Dead Heat 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 also took of Candy, Havok and Exodus, who all performed that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  Dead Heat gave the crowd a terrific show and with all the extra interaction with the crowd, they certainly made sure that everyone had a great time.  Be sure to check Dead Heat out when they perform near you.

Starting The Year With A Bang

If there is one thing that I miss, it's shooting fireworks.  Before moving the Head Office a few years ago, we were right next to the river and I would easily be able to shoot the annual Les Grands Feux Loto-Québec that takes place every year at La Ronde, the Feux sur Glace Natrel displays from the Old Port of Montreal and the midnight fireworks on New Year's Day.  Yes, there are ample opportunities to see some loud explosions around Montreal.  Our final year at that location, I think I managed to shoot every one of the shows from a different location.  As The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince get older, maybe we'll take them out to a show eventually, but it's still a little bit past their bedtime  While we wait to make a return, there is still a reserve of shots in the archives that have yet to be used.  Such as this one.  It comes from one of the Winter shows down at The Old Port.  I always loved these shows as from my spot on the other side of the river I could frame the fireworks next to the Montreal skyscrapers.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  With that, we take off on another year of photographic adventures together.  This will be lucky Year 13 for The Old Blog, so maybe I should watch out for black cats and ladders.  Let the new year begin!

The Sun Sets On 2024

Another year is in the books, and it has been another good one for Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer and The Old Blog.  We finished the year with 135 updates, and a large majority of those were of the musical variety.  I was able to shoot 39 concerts this year, during which I shot 88 bands.  A huge jump up from the 27 shows that  I shot last year.  A big reason for that was my joining up with V13 Media, who offered me a home for my concert photography.  With them backing me, I ended up getting into more shows, and bigger shows.  They seem very happy with my work, and I am happy with the arrangement so we'll keep working together in the new year.  A new year which will hopefully see me cover more and even bigger shows.  A highlight once again was the Summer concert series put on by the Ville de Longueuil.  We once again had some weather issues this year as a few shows got rained out, but at least we didn't get caught in any thunderstorms this year.  The Heir Apparent continues to be a big hit at these shows.  Both with the musical groups and our fellow citizens.  As usual, a big thanks goes out to My Lovely Assistant for guarding the fort.  I used to say that I would 'play' the role of concert photographer, but I guess that I officially am one now.  I kept my streak of appearing on CTV News intact as well.  Back on Saint-Patrick's Day I submitted a photograph of the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge which was all lit up in green for the event.  Shortly afterwards, CTV Weather Specialist Lori Graham announced her retirement from the station, and as she was generally in charge of the Weatherpix segment which regularly featured my photos, I didn't send any more in.  To be honest, the segment may still exist, but with all of the added concert coverage, I had less time to shoot other things as I chose to stay home at other times to make up for the time I was away for shows.  By the way, happy retirement, Lori.  Thanks for having aired so many of my photographs over the years.  It was always fun to see them on the big screen.  Once past that, we had our usual collection of insects, flowers, frozen scenes, some food, toys and a couple of odd things that I found to be interesting.  Lots of visitors passed through these pages this year, so thanks to everyone who took a few moments out of their day to visit.  You remain a very silent group, but I see that you visit, and I thank you for doing so.  Which bring us to our latest update.  There is a big patch of wild feather grass that grows near the Head Office, so I headed out there one evening in the Fall to catch the sun as it went down behind the blades and branches.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/2500sec, ISO 400 ay 70mm.  Underexposing the photograph really brought the colour out of the sky and gave some nice sharp silhouettes.  With that, we close our 2024 folder and get our new 2025 folder ready to be filled.  Thanks for sticking around, and lets see what will develop in the new year.

Down With Webster At Théâtre Beanfield

Everybody loves a good comeback story.  After having taken a 10 year break, and an even longer 12 years since their last visit to Montreal, Down With Webster have returned.  The Canadian rap/rock band burst onto the scene in 2009 and rocketed to fame immediately.  They earned Juno nominations for their first two albums as well as New Group of the Year and Group of the Year in 2010.  They were also a mainstay on MuchMusic, back when the station played music videos, often performing live from the iconic MuchMusic Building on Queen Street.  But, as we are told, all good things must come to an end, and Down With Webster decided to take a break.  Their triumphant return began with an announcement on April 1^st which was followed with a Summer Tour.  That extended out to the current WinTOUR, which arrived in Montreal on December 18th.  It was their first visit to the city since an appearance at Osheaga in 2012, and their fans gathered early in the cold with a gently falling snow at the legendary Théâtre Beanfield.  Down With Webster hit the stage with an energy equal to their performances of a decade ago.  The buzzing crowd, made up of long time followers and some younger fans getting their first Down With Webster experience, immediately sprung to life.  Singing the songs back to the band and bouncing with every beat, the old building came to life with energy.  Everyone collectively, the fans and the band, wore huge smiles and were enjoying this long awaited reunion. Opening with ‘One In A Million’ and following up with ‘Time to Win’ and then ‘Go Time’, this  little nibbling from each of their albums was all it took to get everyone worked up for the rest of the show.  Each of their three albums was well represented and the fans in attendance got to hear every one of their favourite hits.  In the end, it’s true what Tom Petty once said.  The waiting is the hardest part, especially if you’ve been doing so for more than a decade.  However, if you were to ask those in attendance if the wait had been worth it, you would have certainly got a positive response.  Along with the hope that wouldn’t have to wait another 10 years to see their rape/rock heroes again.  All of the photographs were taken at 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 Down With Webster while they performed on the Théâte Beanfield stage.

If you would like to find out more about Down With Webster and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Sunsetto, who performed later that night, you can do so by following the link.  Much thanks goes out to Down With Webster and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to shoot the show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.  Down With Webster’s WinTOUR 2024, which by the way featured one of my favourite tour posters of the year, was short, sweet and already over by the time you read these words.  However, the band appears to be back in the swing of things after all of their reunion shows this past year.  Down With Webster will likely be back on the road in 2025, so head out and see them for a night of energetic fun.