Merry Christmas To All

The snow has finally arrived and as the old song goes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  What better way to celebrate than with a photograph of everyone's favourite red nosed reindeer pulling a sleigh.  This particular shot comes from 2010 and was used on the front page of a December issue of the weekly newspaper L'Action Regionale, which serves the St. Basile Le Grand-Chambly-Carignan-St. Bruno area, though I actually took it in St. Lambert.  I was the unofficial photographer of the newspaper from October 2010 until May 2011 thanks to my knowing the editor-in-chief.  It was a great experience, taking photographs not necessarily to appease my eye, but rather to accompany a story.  It was also my first experience with every photojournalist's worst enemy, the graphic designer.  I once went to a conference given by La Presse photographer Bernard Brault (http://www.bernardbrault.com) and he described how in the beginning of his career it always bothered him how the graphic designers would butcher his photos.  After my experiece at l'Action, I understood the feeling very well.  But, I was still grateful because it was fun to see my name credited besides each of my photos, especially my front page shots.  This photograph was taken at f/4, 1/50 sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  I chose f/4 to put an emphasis on Rudolph leading the sleigh as my selected aperture made the rest of the photo less sharp.  I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and that Rudolph manages to lead that jolly old elf to your homes.