Bredouille

It just wasn't meant to be.  Saturday night was the third week of the Telus Fire On Ice fireworks display at the Old Port of Montreal.  I decided to change things up and shoot the fireworks from Île Sainte-Hélène, just across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.  I took some pictures from that same location waaaaaay back on Janurary 1st.  You can see those photographs by following this link.  However, a couple of dead batteries brought an early end to my night.  After putting my camera on the tripod, I turned it on, and nothing happened.  Both batteries were dead.  My Lovely Assistant, who doubles as an expert fisher, has a term she likes to use when she doesn't catch anything.  She says that she was 'bredouille'.  It means that she came home empty handed.  Such was the case for me.  So, you all get to see an extra photograph that I took last week, but didn't make the cut for that post.  I took it at f/9, 5sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The dead batteries stopped me from using my camera, but atleast my tripod got put to good use.  Hello Qicheng Sun.  I met him while walking on the island.  He was using a really small tripod, so with my camera knocked out of commission, I offered to let him use mine.  I hope that your pictures turned out okay.

That's One Humble Bumble

I'm forever mystified by my flash.  Some days, it works exactly how I want it to.  Some days it decides that no matter what angle, diffuser or method of bouncing light I try, it refuses to co-operate.  That's one of the reasons why I end up using it so much.  It frustrates me so much, that I need to keep hauling it out of my camera bag and using it to take pictures in the hope that one day I'll understand it perfectly.  The model-du-jour in this case ended up being some little Christmas ornaments in the shape of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and some of his friends.  I don't think I need to explain who Rudolph is.  Thanks to his bright red nose, we've all been fortunate enough to receive plenty of gifts from Santa Claus over the years.  I picked up these little guys a few years ago because the little kid that still exists in me manages to take over my adult mind from time to time.  Every December I'd look forward to seeing the story of Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming To Town and of course, Rudolph.  That same inner child actually led me to buying most of those shows on DVD so I can watch them for the rest of my days, or until DVD's become obsolete and a new format takes over.  Though that rant is for another day.  Included in this set of ornaments was Rudolph, his girlfriend Clarice, Hermie the Elf and The Abominable Snowman.  The Abominable will forever be called 'a Bumble' in my house thanks to the inimitable Yukon Cornelius.  For some reason, Yukon wasn't included in the set even though he was as important a character in the cartoon than any of the others.  I sat down at the table the other day and brought our miniature tree with me.  I pulled out my Macro lens and flash and decided to try my luck with some little portraits.  I think I was having a good flash day because they all seemed to turn our fairly well.  It was only the Bumble that I had to photograph several times, but seeing as he's not exactly known for being very pleasant while having all of his teeth, I guess that was to be expected.  If you take a close look at the little silver ornament in the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph of the Bumble, you just might spy a reflection of yours truly and the blast of light coming off of my flash.  I though about hiding it with my watermark, but I finally figured I'd just leave it there and see if anyone notices.  We'll keep that little secret between us the rest of the internet.  The photograph of the Bumble was taken at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  The photograph of Clarice was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  The photograph of Hermie the Elf was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm, and finally, the photograph of Rudolph was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  For those of you wondering about the different ISO levels, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I try all kinds of different methods while using my flash.  I even tried taking some of the photos withoutflash.  Since there wasn't very much light available, I raised the ISO to 1600 to try some handheld shots.  I didn't like the way they ended up looking so I turned my flash back on and ran smack into my old habit of forgetting to rest my ISO.  As for shooting the Bumble at f/7.1 instead of f/4 like the others, it once again came down to some trial & error.  Shooting at f/4 made some of the needles close to the Bumble stand out way more than I wanted.  I also have to admit to liking my reflection, which is a little clearer at f/7.1 than it was at f/4.

For those of you who have made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this, and all of the other long winded posts that I put up here on the web.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, or however else your family says it.

POW, BANG, BRRRR

Those of you out there who were passing by this page over the summer are well aware of the fact that I enjoy taking photographs of fireworks.  Take a minute and check out some of the shots I took this summer by visiting my pages here, here, here, here, and here.  Before you complain about having to click on all of those links, count yourself as being lucky.  There would have been three more links to click had it not been for the fact that I was prevented from going out three times over the summer because of rain.  Getting back on track, in addition to the fireworks competition in the summer, there's also the Telus Fire On Ice, which takes place every Saturday night during the month of December (and the first week of January) down at the Old Port of Montreal.  I was tempted to go last year, but never actually made it down to the site.  This year, the event began last week but we were in the middle of a rather cold spell that saw the temperature drop into the -20's C with the wind.  The temperature was a little bit better this week, though there was still a fairly strong wind and it was very cloudy.  Those weren't my biggest problems.  I was more concerned about where I was going to place myself in order to get a good view of the show.  I headed down to the site early, and along with My Lovely Assistant, we walked around the area in the hopes of finding a good spot.  After a few minutes of being frustrated by obstructed views, unwanted light posts and poorly planted trees, My Lovely Assistant had a flash of brilliance.  She noticed a pile of snow that was sitting just off of the walkway and would, in theory, provide me with a nice elevated vantage point in order to capture the shots I was looking for.  She climbed the mountain rather easily while I followed, behind, a little bit concerned that I would rather quickly sink to the bottom of the snowy hill and find myself buried until Spring.  Lots of people were passing by, and a few were giving us some funny looks, as would be expected when seeing a person like myself standing about six feet off the ground on top of a mountain of snow.  The the show began, and horror of horrors, my location was terrible.  The wind was blowing the fireworks a little bit more to the right than I had thought and so it was time to scramble.  I tried to grab a few shots, and then with about half of the show complete, I scurried down the hill and took up a new location further up the sidewalk and away from the site. For those of you wondering at home, the first and fourth photographs you see here were taken from the hill while the other four were taken on the sidewalk.  The first photograph was taken at f/13, 5sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/13, 9sec, ISO 100 at 24mm and the third photograph was taken at f/13, 7 sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took.

f9, 7sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/13, 6sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/13, 5sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

It was a fun outing.  I'll try and get down to the site one more time before the event comes to an end.  I'd definitely like to find a better spot to shoot from, so if anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know.

Flowery Friend

Yes, the season as passed, but I took so many photographs of flowers in my Mom's garden this year that I probably have enough to play with for the next year.  Part of the fun that I have when taking photos of flowers is to find some with little insects on them.  One of my favourite photos from this past summer can be seen at this link, but this is another one that I really like.  I spotted this little guy while I was taking photos of Daisies, some of which you saw here back in August.  I know it sounds kind of foolish, but I like to consider myself a kind of insect whisperer.  You can read more about that "fascinating" side of my personality by following the first link in this message.  I used a Macro lens to take this shot to make sure that I'd get a good look at my little winged friend.  This shot was taken at f/4, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  I cropped it a little bit afterwards to get rid of some of the empty space in the background.  I really like the detail of not only the insect, but also the center of the Daisy, and I've already mentioned several times here how much I like shooting flowers at large apertures in order to blur out the backgrounds.

Walking In A Frosted Wonderland

As I mentioned in the last update, My Lovely Assistant had made a couple of cakes a few weeks back for two different evenings.  I wanted to try and properly photograph these cakes, but I just couldn't get find the proper angle or lighting to do her work justice.  After a few frustrating minutes, I decided to go back to shooting something I felt much more comfortable with, nice close-ups.  This is a shot from the top of My Lovely Assistant's Black Forest Cake.  I really like the detail in the raspberries, as well as the flakes of chocolate on both the white icing and the cranberries.  I took the photograph at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  I like taking colourful close-up photos of food, as you've all seen the last few weeks.  I think that they're real eye catchers.  I'll try to do a better job of photographing the whole thing next time I get the chance.

He Wanted Some Rockets

I don't usually do requests, mostly because I don't get any, but last month after I posted a picture of some jelly beans here and on my Facebook Photography Page (go there and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so already) I received a comment from one of my longtime fans.  He's also my cousin, but I'm kind of short in the 'fan' department.  The comment was "I need Rockets"  You need Rockets?  I got your Rockets right here.  I don't think I would have chosen to shoot these candies on my own since I don't really like them.  The only use I've ever had for Rockets in my life is from using them as an extra special ingredient in the snowballs.  They're real cool when they explode.  These Rockets rank third when it comes to my candy photos.  Rockets don't have the shine of Smarties or the brightness of jelly beans, but I kind of like their shape and the little glare of light left by my flash.  I'd been looking for a different way to light food and my friend Marilyn (a former Concordia classmate and pretty good photographer herself) had posted a couple of photographs of some cakes she had taken.  I asked how she lit them, and she told me that she had bounced the flash off the ceiling.  I decided to try it and I really liked the results.  I shot this photo at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  Now I find myself with a bag full of Rockets.  Good thing it snowed here yesterday, might be time to load up a couple of snowballs.

Behind The Scenes

When last we spoke, I was patting myself on the back over an advertisement that featured my photographs.  I also promised a closer look at the photos that were featured and what I was thinking about during the whole process.  I won't spend much time on the first picture you see here at the top of the page.  It was already discussed back in April, but feel free to follow that link and step back in time.  Since the managerial staff was already taken care of, I was asked to take some photographs of a couple of departments in the store.  Specifically, the Meat, Bakery and Fruits & Vegetables departments.  It's important to take a moment to mention the hard work put in by the staff in those departments who went out of their way to make sure that there departments were well stocked for the photographs.  Up first, the Bakery.  I wanted to make sure that the logo for the store would be seen, which was against the far wall.  It was also important for the motto to be in the photograph as well.  Also, what better product to use for a bakery than some fresh croissants.  Luckily, they happened to be the Product of the Day.  Along with the store manager, we removed some price stickers and he did some re-arranging of the tables to make sure that everything would be nice and clean.  For lighting, the only option I had was to use the available lights in the store.  Not the best option, but as I mentioned, it was the only one I had.  I shot the photograph at f/7.1, 1/60sec, ISO 800 at 24mm.  In order to make sure that the logo and motto would be clear, I focused on them, but used a smaller aperture so as not to blur out all of the products at the front of the photo. Up next was the Meat Department.  For this one, the manager only wanted a shot of the service counter, which proved to be an adventure as there was a ceiling light just over the display case which cause all kinds of nasty reflections.  The manager was ready to have the neon bulbs removed from the ceiling, but I asked them to simply raise the glass windows that covered the counter, which proved to do the trick.  Get rid of the glass, get rid of the reflection.  This one was shot at f/7.1, 1/30sec, ISO 400 at 30mm.  I was able to shoot at a lower ISO due to the lights that were in the counter.  The final photograph in the set comes from the Fruits & Vegetables Department. As you can see in the photograph, there were this pillars all over the floor, blocking out the signs in the back.  While the manager was trying to arrange the boxes you see in the front, I was trying to position myself where I would get both the red and green signs with the motto of the company on them in the photograph.  I shot this photograph at f/8, 1/30sec, ISO 800 at 24mm.  Back to the wide open floor, back to a higher ISO so I could use a smaller aperture.  After that, a little bit of cropping was done and the photos were sent off to the magazine.  I next saw them two months later in the pages of the Guide St. Lambert 2014.  So there you have it, a little look into what was going through my mind while I was taking these photographs.  As you can see, it's a little bit more than stand back, point and click.  There are several things that needed to be taken into consideration.  The amount/quality of light that was available to me, making sure that the corporate motto and logo were visible, and the presentation of the food as well.  Everybody seems to be real happy with the photographs, which makes me real happy as a photographer.

Print Advertisement

I guess some could say that this has been a good week for getting my name out in print.  On Monday my photograph went on display at the Saint-Lambert Library for a Holiday Art Exhibition and there was a vernissage for the event on Wednesday evening.  Earlier that same day, residents of Saint-Lambert should have gotten the Guide St-Lambert 2014 in their mailbox where those people flipping to Page Five might have spotted a familiar name.  Here's a hint since the print is kind of small, it's mine.  I took the photographs for this advertisement back in October and it's always fun to see your work show up in a printed form.  This is the third time that I had the opportunity to take the photographs for Provigo Richard Gagnon (S.C) and I have fun with it every time.  The first ad was only distributed to local residents in the form of a flyer, but the second ad had a bit of a wider audience as it was distributed in a booklet similiar to the Guide.  Once again, I'd like to thank Provigo and Richard Gagnon for continuing to allow me to take these pictures for them.  It's always fun to be able to put my skills to use and see my work displayed in a printed form.  In an effort to shorten my blog posts, we'll end this message here, but in my next update, I'll show you the pictures I took in what I guess would be a behind-the-scenes look at my shooting of these photographs for the ad.

On Display All Month

The vernissage for the Holiday Art Exhibition was tonight in Saint-Lambert at the Library.  The exhibition will last until the 31st of December.  If you feel like passing by to take a look, my photograph is located just next to the main desk on the first floor and that's where it will remain.  There's also a wide variety of paintings, other photographs and some small sculptures on display.  I'm really happy that it's there, and if any of you are in the area, feel free to drop in and take a look for yourselves.  The library is located at 490 Mercille in Saint-Lambert.  A special thank-you to My Lovely Assistant for the photograph.

What You'll Be Seeing At The Saint-Lambert Library

I'm not really big on running double posts for my photographs, but this one does deserve breaking my rule.  The photo you see on the left of the page is the one that will be on display at the Saint-Lambert Library (490 Mercille) for the rest of the month of December as part of a Holiday Art Exposition.  The show officially began today and the vernissage for the event will be on Wednesday, December 4th.  I chose to submit this photo as it has kind of become the MVP of my portfolio.  The director of the Greenfield Park Library told me that it was based on this photo that I was chosen to have a solo exhibition at their library last year, so I felt it would be a good bet to put my best foot forward.  To read about how I shot the photograph, feel free to step back in time and read the original post.  I hope that some of you who live around the area will be able to take the time to go and see it.  The photo is much nicer at 10" x 15" than the small version you see here on your screen.

Antique Desk Drawer Handle

Those of you who are long time visitors to the site are well aware of the fact that I really like to photographs small things that most people either don't really notice or wouldn't necessarily think to photograph.  It's kind of a personal challenge for me to take something ordinary, in this case, a desk drawer handle and turn it into what I consider to be a nice photograph.  This handle came off of an old desk that belonged to my Great Grandmother.  Sadly, it was bunched in with several pieces of furniture that my parents had to part with when they moved this past autumn.  I was asked to photograph those pieces of furniture and while I was doing so, my eye kept getting drawn back to the handle.  I just really liked it's shape and the way it sat against the wood.  I also liked the wear marks from where the handle had been turned several times, possibly by a younger version of myself, as well as the grain of the wood itself.  I took this photograph at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 67mm.  I also cropped the photo a little bit and added a little colour by mixing some yellow, red and blue while in Photoshop.  I know, I broke the Photoshop Rule, but sometimes rules are meant to be broken.  I shot at ISO 1600 because though there was some sun coming into the room, there was not enough to properly shoot at f/2.8, which I wanted to use in order to put the handle in focus, but blur out everything else.  I probably could have achieved the same effect using a lower ISO number with a tripod, but I didn't have it with me.  What is the lesson to be learned from this?  Always bring your tripod with you as it can be used in many more situations than taking photographs at night.

Freeport Covered Bridge At Night

While I was on vacation a few weeks back, I made the trip down to Cowansville with My Lovely Assistant to visit my parents.  The other reason was to take a few photographs.  What you see here is the Freeport Covered Bridge.  It was built in 1870 and is still in use today.  Since the bridge is covered and on a curve, it is suggested that you honk your horn while inside of the bridge in order to warn oncoming vehicles that are coming from the other side.  I've taken photographs of this bridge before as part of an assignment while at Concordia, but I never took any shots of it at night.  With My Lovely Assistant behind the wheel, of my Mom's car no less (thanks Mom), I positioned myself by one end of the bridge and had My Lovely Assistant drive the car through the bridge so that I could capture the trails of light that the car left behind.  By doing so, not only did I catch the red streaks of light left by the car going by, but the headlights of the car lit up the inside of the bridge so that you could see some of the unique construction inside.  If you look at the far right of the photo, you can also see that the headlights of the car lit up the road sign and the tree on the other side.  This photograph was taken at f/11, 15sec, ISO 100 at 40mm.

Breaking News!!!

There's nothing like waking up to the sounds of helicopters flying around your building.  Those of you who are aware of Montreal's crumbling infrastructure will understand me when I say that my original thought was that the helicopter was there to record the long lines of traffic caused by the latest crack that was discovered on the Champlain Bridge.  I turned on the radio expecting to hear about there being 10km long lines of traffic trying to get on all three of the local bridges, only to find out that the real drama was taking place just outside of my kitchen window.  Three activists were climbing the side of the Biosphere on Île Ste-Hélène in order to bring attention to the 30 Greenpeace activists who are being held in Russia due to their protest of the Gazprom Prirazlomnaya oil platform.  The 30 Greenpeace activists, known as The Arctic 30 are currently being held in a Murmansk prison.  One of the members of the Arctic 30 is a man by the name of Alexandre Paul, who is from Montreal.  Thus the reason for the activity at the Biosphere this morning.  The protesters have said that they will not come down until The Arctic 30 have been freed. Local police are on the scene but have said that they will not intervene since public safety is not in danger and that the climbers don't pose a danger to themselves as it appears that they "know what they're doing."  Since this was taking place just outside my window, well actually outside my window, across the highway and then the St. Lawrence Seaway, it gave me the chance to take a few pictures from the comfort of my kitchen.  I just took out the screen, opened the window and began snapping away.  Luckily, My Lovely Assistant had already left for work at this point because it was a rather chilly -3 Celsius, not including the wind, and she's not as comfortable with the cold weather as I am.  The first picture you see here is actually the last one that I took.  With there being such a great distance between us, I obviously had to dig out my telephoto lens.  It was take at f/5.6, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 300mm.  It then cropped it real tight so that I had a better view of the banner.  The second photo you see was the first one that I took.  On it you can see the three activists, in the orange jumpsuits, as they were climbing the Biosphere.  This photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 100 at 300mm.  I didn't do as much cropping on this one because I liked how the photograph showed how large the Biosphere is compared to the little orange guys who were climbing it.  As I said at the beginning, there was a helicopter flying around overheard while all of this was going on.  I took that photograph at f/5.6, 1/500sec, ISO 100 at 250mm.  The final picture here is the same as the first, just before I cropped it.  Here's to hoping that this all ends peacefully and that nobody gets hurt.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

***UPDATE***
The banner began to come down around 10:00AM.

Jelly Jelly Beans

It was rather grey outside today, and they're saying that it will remain so for the next couple of days as well.  What better time to inject a little colour into your lives, and what better source for getting that colour than some tasty jelly beans!  A few weeks back I found myself at this wonderful store called Bulk Barn with My Lovely Assistant and her Grandmother.  They were on a mission to find ingredients for a dessert she wanted to make, but I had a different mission in mind.  To get myself some tasty treats!  Then, as happens from time to time, a thought flashed through my head.  Back in April, I put up a photograph of a plate of Smarties and I immediately thought it would be cool if I did the same thing with the jelly beans.  I waited for a nice sunny day, which took a little longer than I thought it would, and put the plate next to my patio door and snapped away.   This photograph was shot at f/9, 1/40sec, ISO 100 at 51mm.  Don't they look so very tasty?  I'd invite you all over to have some, but there was a tragic accident just after the shoot and the jelly beans spontaneously combusted.  It seems that the molecular structure of the jelly bean is such that a prolonged exposure to sunlight causes them to suddenly burst.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Last Thing My UV Filter Saw

To follow up on yesterday's memorial to my UV Filter, I thought it would be a fitting tribute to post the final photograph it helped me take.  I've always been obsessed with traffic lights and have been taking long exposure photographs of them forever.  I personally blame Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood as Mr. Rogers always had one in his playroom.  This photo was taken at f/11, 16sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  What originally drew my eye, other than the traffic light, was the reflection of the lights on the hand rails at the right of the photograph.  I was in the process of trying to reposition myself so I could try to lose the street light you see at the base of the clock when my camera went crashing to the ground.  I suppose that I'll try and redo this photo the next time I get the chance, though you can be sure that I'll be making sure that my camera is locked in tight on the tripod first.

My New Former Best Friend

Those of you who know me are well aware of the fact that one of the words that can be used to describe me is 'cheap'.  I prefer the term 'fiscally responsible', but it all means the same thing, and is also something very hard to be when you love taking photographs.  With that in mind,what do you think my reaction would be when told that I should spend an extra $80 to buy a UV filter to go along with my obscenely expensive lens?  Those of you who think I would pass on the option, you'd be right in just about every other instance except for this one.  One of the lessons drilled into my head by professors Anber and Teoli was the importance of a good UV filter.  It doesn't really do all that much in terms of photography, it was originally used to protect film from the UV rays.  However, it acts as a great protective barrier for your lens.  Something I learned first hand this past weekend.  I was out in Cowansville taking some night shots when my camera came crashing down from my tripod.  It fell a good three feet to the concrete steps below.  Once my heart rate and breathing came back to normal, My Lovely Assistant picked up the camera as I was still frozen in place with images of a shattered lens going through my mind, and my wallet.  Upon first inspection, the glass looked intact and no cracks were to be seen, but I did notice two nice sized dents on the UV filter.  The filter was stuck in place, I needed a good pair of pliers to get it off, but there was no damage to the lens at all.  Sure, I had to replace the UV filter, but when you consider the price of a good lens, buying the new UV filter was the happiest I've even been to spend $80 in a long time.  So allow me to pass this wisdom along, always, ALWAYS, make sure to equip your lens with a UV filter.  It might end up being the most important piece of equipment in your camera bag.

Remembrance Day 2013

I'm a firm believer that Remembrance Day should be a National Holiday.  There are very few things more important than taking a moment of our time every November 11th to remember all of the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy the freedom we have today.  Until that day comes, I try to book one of my weeks of vacation to coincide with Remembrance Day every year so that I can either go in to Montreal for the service there, or at least attend one of the many ceremonies that take place closer to where I live.  I skipped the Montreal service last year, so I decided to hop into a Metro car and make the trip downtown.  The ceremony used to be held at the Place du Canada in downtown Montreal, but was moved to the lawns of the campus of McGill University a few years back due to renovations.  It seems that McGill has become the new home of the ceremony, though I preferred the former location as it was easier for me to move around.  As a result, I was stuck near the back of the ceremony and missed seeing the laying of the wreaths.  In the middle of the ceremony, I decided it was in my best photographic interest to move around.  The first order of business was to go to where the canons were being fired.  I got some good pictures of that, which you'll be seeing in a future blog post here on the site.  Afterwards, I knew that I had to find a better position than the one I had been in before if I was going to get some shots of the parade as the Veterans and others made their way from the site.  I managed to find a good spot just outside of the gates, right behind a police utility vehicle.  This provided to be a great spot for two reasons.  One, how could I find a more secure spot than right behind a police car?  Secondly, it was kind of chilly outside, so the feeling of the warm exhaust against my leg was kind of comforting.  After everyone had left the site, I returned to the make-shift cenotaph and took a few pictures of the wreaths that had been left behind.  I really wanted to take a picture of a balloon that someone had left behind.  Written on the balloon was "Thank you our brave heroes, we remember" in English.  I felt that it best summed up the what the day should have been all about.  The first photograph was taken at f/4.5, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 42mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 24mm and the third photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 35mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took, with the settings I used written underneath.

f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 62mm

f/7.1, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 27mm

f/7.1, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 24mm

f/7.1, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 59mm

f/7.1, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 40mm

I know what those long-term readers of this site might be thinking.  "Eric," you're thinking to yourselves, "all of your pictures were taken at ISO 400.  Did you forget to reset your setting again?"  Fair question, especially since I have been guilty of doing so in the past.  Nope, I was shooting at ISO 400 on purpose because it was really cloudy outside and I need to raise the ISO in order to have enough shutter speed to capture the movements of the people marching in the parade.  Taking a few moments out of  my day to pay my respects was the least I could do on this day.  I hope that most of you out there did so as well.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly 
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

That, ofcourse, was the poem In Flander's Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.  The story behind the poem tells us that Lt. McCrae composed it after the death of a close friend in Belgium while near a field of poppies, thus why the Poppy is used today as a symbol of remembering those brave men and women who gave their lives in battle so that we may enjoy the freedom that we live in today.  I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for our Veteran's, partially because of the several members of my family who served in World War II, most notably my Grandfather, Frederick Paul Mahannah.  We were fortunate in that everyone in our family came home, but the same cannot be said for so many others.  So these poppies, photographed in my Mom`s garden, are dedicated to all of the war veterans out there.  Do them all a favour and buy a Poppy for all of the sacrifices that they made for us.  I photographed these poppies with my Macro lens, the details follow in the order they are presented.  f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 400 at 60mm and finally, f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  These particular poppies are Oriental Poppies and I really like the detail that the Macro lens brings out in them.

 

Au champ d'honneur, les coquelicots

Sont parsemés de lot en lot

Auprès des croix; et dans l'espace

Les alouettes devenues lasses

Mêlent leurs chants au sifflement

Des obusiers.

Nous sommes morts

Nous qui songions la veille encore

À nos parents, à nos amis,

C'est nous qui reposons ici

Au champ d'honneur.

À vous jeunes désabusés

À vous de porter l'oriflamme

Et de garder au fond de l'âme

Le goût de vivre en liberté.

Acceptez le défi, sinon

Les coquelicots se faneront

Au champ d'honneur.

Merci Beaucoup

It's the unexpected surprises that are the best.  I was at the library with my Lovely Assistant the other day and looking at the various brochures and leaflets that lined the hallway, looking if there were any opportunities that an amateur photographer like myself can take advantage of to get his work seen.  As I was scanning the brochures, something caught my eye.  It took about a second before I suddenly said, "that's my photograph!"  I pulled out the brochure and discovered that it was from my old friends at the Troupe de théâtre musical Choeur Vives Voix.  And even better, there was another one of my photographs on the inside.  The smile on my face on grew larger when I saw my name in black print just underneath my photograph.  Just like that, my week was made.  They're getting ready for their big 2014 production, Facade, and hopefully I'll be able to work with them once again.  If you'd like to see the full version of the photos that were presented in the brochure, you're kind of in luck.  The photograph from the front cover can be seen right here and the photograph from inside the brochure hasn't been on my blog, but other photographs from the same show can be seen here and a few more right here.  Un gros merci, encore une fois, au Choeur Vives Voix.

Election Results Are In

We had municipal elections last night in this part of the world.  Various mayors, city counsellors and other municipal titles were decided all in the name of democracy. I had the honour of winning a prestigious position as well.  I was elected Best Photographer in my Condo unit.  Sure, only one vote was cast, but I'm sure that if My Lovely Assistant had been aware of the election, she would have voted for me as well.  Sadly, my victory won't get me a nice corner office in Montreal City Hall, which you see in my photograph here of Old Montreal.  It took a while for me to get this photograph as you see it.  I arrived a little earlier at the location and was annoyed to see that a tour bus was parked on the street.  True, not the end of the world, but I needed for that bus to be gone in order to properly capture the light trails of the cars that were passing by.  I walked off and took some photos around the area and made a quick trip back to this spot just in time to see that the bus had gone.  I set up my camera and shot away.  This photograph was taken at f/9, 19sec, ISO 100 at 38mm and was one of the chosen 25 that was on display at my photography exhibit last year.  There's several things I like about this photograph.  The already mentioned light streaks, the red in the building on the old Hotel Nelson, the clouds in the sky behind the statue and how clear the guy sitting on the corner appear.  Not bad considering with the long exposure time, it means that the guy didn't move very much over the 19 seconds that the photograph was being taken.

Two Go Up The Mountain...Will Two Come Down?

As I've mentioned here, my parents moved back at the end of August.  It's a rather complicated situation that saw them spend a month living in a pretty cool cottage at the foot of Mt. Sutton.  My Mom thought it would be a good idea if I were to come down one day and take a little trip up the mountain as it would be sure to result in several good photographs.  I thought it seemed like a good idea and I invited My Lovely Assistant along for the trip as walking around a mountain is the kind of thing she enjoys.  Little did I know, my Mom's good idea would almost spell my doom!  The first sign of trouble came when I discovered that the ski lift wasn't available the day that I went to visit.  That meant it would be time to climb.  We decided to go to the Round Top, a spot that the guide told us would provide all kinds of nice views.  The board at the base of the mountain said that it would only be a two hour hike to where we wanted to go, but despite spending a good five hours on the mountain, we still never got closer than 1hr 30 minutes, according to the signs along the path, from where we wanted to go.  Not being the most fleet of foot, I managed to slip on a rock and knowing that I had a camera in my right hand, I decided it best to use my left arms to cushion my fall.  We finally found ourselves at this lake you see here in the photograph, despite my being sweaty, bloodied and sore.  I wasn't coming down without at least one photo, so I put the camera into Manual mode and tried to find a way to capture the image you see here while preserving the blue sky and the reflection in the water.  I ended up taking this photograph at f/11, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  I really like the reflection in the water and how it, along with the treeline in the sky seem to lead you towards the center of the photograph.  I was also happy to keep the blue in both the sky and the water without either being blown out.  Another of the features I like are the three trees in the right hand side of the photo that managed to have some sunlight fall on them, despite the rest of that side being in shadows.  We then decided to head back down the mountain despite never reaching our destination, which is probably a good idea since my Mom was on the verge of calling the police since we had been gone so long.  Guess she had a feeling that My Lovely Assistant was trying to kill me, as well.  Or maybe they were in on it together.  Hmm.  Better luck next time

Happy Halloween

 People getting dressed up in spooky costumes and then getting free candy.  What's not to like about Halloween.  It's easily one of my favourite days of the year despite the fact that my Trick or Treating days ended over 25 years ago.  The spirit has lived on though, as at the day job they allow us to dress up for the day and I've been known to walk the floor with my trusty little skull and leave a trail of blood or two on the floor.  The classic Halloween image is the Jack-O-Lantern and this is one that you can probably find on the lawn of your neighbour.  I had to play around a bit with different exposure times in order to get the orange to be just how I liked while keeping the star effect from the light in the big pumpkin's hat.  This photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1sec, ISO 400 at 52mm.  So keep your eyes open on the night of the 31st as there are bound to be a countless number of spooks out there, all looking for some chips and chocolate.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

I had a week of vacation back in August and I had the great opportunity to visit Ottawa and also spend some time at a cottage near Mt. Tremblant.  I spent most of that week with my camera in my hand and as a result, it's been almost two months since my week off and I'm still nowhere near finished with processing all of those photographs.  While going through some of the photos I have yet to display, I stumbled upon some that I had taken of this little flower.  Despite the fact that it was stuck right in the middle of several large rocks, it had managed to grow into an eye-catching beauty.  I noticed it while eating lunch and decided to later take a couple of photographs.  I guess I was impressed by the fact that despite it's surroundings, the flower had managed to persevere and grow. The first photograph was taken at f/5, 1/400sec. ISO 100 at 80mm.  With this photo I wanted to show the harsh surroundings that the flower was growing in.  The second photograph was taken at f/5, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 140mm.  I felt that this photo better shows off the flower, but still has enough of the rocks to describe where it was.  I also liked the little shadow that the flower has cast against the rock.  One difference between these photographs and others that I have taken is that these were taken with a telephoto lens.  I took these photos while trying to track a dragonfly.  You'll see him here soon as well, but I was rather impressed with how well the lens captured the details in the rocks and the flower.