Sun Sets On 2014

I've been sitting on this photograph for a couple of months now, it was falling into the void of forgotten photographs that I sometimes mention here.  It kept falling down the list because I've kind of already posted a similar photograph earlier this year.  Then it dawned on me, what better time to post a sunset photograph than just before the year comes to an end.  The sun sets on the year.  Kind of poetic, no?  Anyway, this is a view I have from where I live, and often I get some nice sky shots of the sun setting over the Montreal Biosphere.  On this particular day it was very cloudy and as the sun set, they sky began to turn into a kind of bright red carpet.  From past experience, I knew that this would last for no more than two or three minutes, I so grabbed my camera as quick as possible, frightening My Lovely Assistant as she's not used to seeing me move that fast, took the screen out of my window and shot as many photographs as I could before the effect ended.  The first photograph, shot at f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 400 at 300mm, and the second which was shot at f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 400 at 300mm were my favourites.  They were taken two minutes apart, the second photo being the earlier one.  You can see the difference in the sky.  In the second photograph, the sky is a little brighter, while you can see more detail in the sky with the first one.  I only get a sky like this maybe twice a year, but I still enjoy photographing it every time.

As I mentioned way at the beginning, the sun is about to set on 2014.  Photographically, it's been a pretty cool year for me.  I shot my first solo wedding, I grabbed lots of awesome fireworks photographs, I managed to photograph a couple of bands, some openly, some being a little bit sneaky about it.  All of that and some flowers, bugs, buildings, candy and anything and everything that I might have found interesting along the way.  I was thinking about doing a little retrospective of 2014, with links to all of those photographs, but I guess that it's my hopeful nature that tells me that the majority of you who are reading these words have seen all of those photographs.  If you haven't there's a whole archive of photographs to be seen here and a good place to start would be the little links on the right-hand side of this page.  You've got access to the 'popular' photograph, but also access to everything else but simply clicking on the year, month or post title of the blog archives.  Photography is my fun.  You may not like all of the things you see, but maybe you'll find something that speaks to you.  Happy New Year to you all, I hope that 2015 brings you all much happiness.

Unobstructed View

There was a particular weather situation here last week that made it very difficult to get any clear shots of the fireworks down at the Old Port of Montreal.  I still tried, and in my own admittedly biased opinion, came home with some interesting photographs of a very cloudy landscape.  I really liked the location I was shooting in, so I had planned on going back there eventually for another shot.  Eventually ended up happening one week later.  It wasn't my original plan to go back up on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, but the sky was much clearer than the week before and I was unable to control my desire to go back up there again.  Truthfully, I probably should have waited as it was still kind of a cloudy night as rain was in the forecast.  I'll just use that as an excuse to use the location another time, though I think I'll save it for another edition of the yearly fireworks event. 

The experience almost became somewhat expensive before the fireworks even began.  As I was setting up, I tried to pull my remote trigger out of my pocket and then ended up watching rather helplessly as my iPod, which had gotten a little bit tangled in the cord while sharing the same pocket, went crashing to the ground and skidded to a halt just centimeters before going over the edge of the ground rather far below.  I managed to grab my heart out of my throat and slowly bent over to pick up my gadget as I was suddenly reminded why I don't like bridges to begin with as I took a look over the side at the fate that my iPod had just avoided.

Once everything was nice and secure, and you had best make sure I double checked the lock on my tripod after the falling iPod incident, I took a few test shots and waited for the action to begin.  It did end up raining on me a little bit, but I was equipped with my umbrella, though I was kind of wondering what the drivers were thinking as they passed by and saw me up there.  Mostly I was hoping that their minds were on the road.  The first photograph of this batch was taken at f/16, 22sec, ISO 100 at 40mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 14sec, ISO 100 at 40mm and the third photograph was taken at f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 40mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took.

f/16, 18sec, ISO 100 at 40mm

f/16, 7sec, ISO 100 at 40mm

f/16, 22sec, ISO 100 at 40mm

As some of you may have noticed, I've got a couple of different sizes.  I've cropped some at 8"x12", 12"x6" and 12"x4".  Shooting wide allows me that option, and I really like the widescreen style shots as they highlight not only the fireworks, but the skyline of Montreal as well.  Now I just have to make sure that the iPod never ends up in the same pocket as my remote trigger ever again.

The Original Elf

One of the latest crazes to take off over the last few years has been that of the elf who runs wild in your house while you're asleep.  'Legend' has it that these little elves run around people's homes doing all kinds of odd things while the humans are asleep.  In the morning, or when the lights are turned on, the elves return to their frozen state, often still holding the evidence that links them to whatever naughty little deed they had done the night before.  You've probably seen many photos over on Facebook of what these little elves have been doing at the homes of some of your friends.  It's a fun little idea that I'm sure fills little kids with wonder, but it's hardly new.  In my younger days, there was an elf in my family as well.  Infact, he's still around.  He's not quite the troublemaker that this new generation of elves is.  His name is Jack Frost and he likes to hang out in the Christmas tree.  When he first joined the family, he could always be found in the tree that my Grandparents would put up.  After my Grandparents had sadly passed away, old Jack ended up with my parents.  He's a Country Elf, after all.  Every year it was always an adventure to try and find where Jack was hiding in the tree.  He didn't run around the house spilling flour or putting toilet paper on everything, which is probably a good thing or my Grandfather would have had him sleeping with the cows in very short order.  He just liked to hang out in the tree and hide out amongst all of the decorations.  Jack is still the first thing I look for when I get to my parents house and the tree is up.  These are a couple of photographs that I took of Jack last year after finding him in the tree.  I used a large aperture so that all of the decorations would have a nice blur on on them as I've always felt that those little Christmas lights look better that way.  Same goes with all of the tinsel and other decorations.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/10, ISO 1600 at 25mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/30sec, ISO 1600 at 32mm.  I can't wait to see where Jack will be hiding this year, but in waiting, I'd like to wish all of you out there a Merry Christmas of your own.

Obstructed View

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 52mm

Last night was the second night of the Telus Fireworks On Ice fireworks display down at the Old Port of Montreal.  Being a fan of bright lights and loud explosions, I couldn't help but want to photograph another show from this four weekend activity.  Those of you who have followed my summer adventures with the Loto-Quebec International Fireworks Competition, which you can find all over the rest of this website by clicking on the July & August links on the side of this posting, know that I like to find new locations for shooting the fireworks.  The same can be said for these shows as well.

f/16, 6sec, ISO 100 at 52mm

 

This week I decided that I'd try my luck by shooting the fireworks from the bicycle path of the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  The path is closed for the winter, but it still somewhat accessible by foot.  This location was in the back of my head since November 2013 when I had been up there to take some other photographs that for some reason still haven't found there way here to the blog.  Remember a while back when I mentioned that sometimes I get backed up in my photos and some end up getting pushed back on the docket and then forgotten?  Yep, still guilty of doing that.

f/16, 21sec, ISO 100 at 52mm

 

As I was making my way home from the Day Job, I noticed something a little odd.  There was a huge cloud hanging over Montreal.  It ends up that there was actually a mist warning for the city as a thick cloud hung over the city and pretty much blocked everything from view.  Needless to say, I was pretty sure that this would be a problem, and sure enough, it was.  All of that darkness you see at the top of the photographs, that's not the sky, that's the giant cloud of mist.  A good example of how thick it was can be seen in my third photograph.  If you look at your left-hand corner, you'll notice that only the bottom half of a large explosion can be seen.  The top is completely blocked by the cloud.

f/16, 6 sec, ISO 100 at 52mm

 

I stayed long enough to take a couple of photographs, but didn't even wait for the end of the show to begin packing up my gear and leaving.  I ended up cropping all of the shots to 12" x 4" as the cloud ended up blocking out not only the fireworks, but the buildings of Montreal as well.  No point in showing an 8" x 12" of darkness.  Those photos will probably find their way to these pages as well, if they don't end up getting forgotten on the waiting list.  As for the fireworks, I guess not every outing can be a winner, though I think these shots are still kind of cool.  It's not every day that a giant cloud of mist crosses your path.

It's On The Wall

This is a bit of a repeat, but since this photograph first appeared on this blog way back in September 2012 and featured the ugly old watermark, so I figured it's not that big of a deal to post it up again.  There's also the very good reason that this is the photograph that is currently hanging on the walls of the Saint-Lambert Library for the rest of the month.  There's not much more to add.  You can find out the original story behind this photograph by visiting the link I provided at the beginning of this update.  It was taken at f/20, 9sec, ISO 100 at 34mm.  If you need a break from your holiday shopping, I can't think of a better idea than stopping in at the Saint-Lambert Library and picking up a good book...after stopping to see my photograph.  It looks much better up on that wall than it does here on the site.

Fire On Ice

Last night was the first Telus Fire On Ice fireworks display down at the Old Port of Montreal.  I took some photographs last year at a few of the Saturday night shows, which you can find by looking though the December 2013 and January 2014 pages of the blog.  There are lots of other pictures you can find on those pages as well.  The theme for the show was music from video games, however since my video game glory days date back to Pac-Man & Mario, I didn't really recognize any of the songs.  I wasn't really sure where I would place myself for this show.  Last year my trip to the Old Port ended in near disaster as the location I chose ended up being a bust.  I had hoped to find a spot where I could not only get the fireworks, but also have some of the buildings of Old Montreal in the background.  It wasn't meant to be be as most of the spots I had hoped to sneak into were chained shut with large signs saying they were closed because of the fireworks display.  So, running short of options and time, I decided to plant myself next to a group of other photographers who were also there to take pictures of the show.  There must have been seven or eight of them, so I figured that they must have known what they were doing and that it was a good spot.  It did turn out pretty well, though I think a wider angled lens would have been helpful.  All of the photographs I took were at 24mm, and I still missed some of the explosions higher in the sky.  With Christmas coming, if any of you kind people would like to contribute to the Buy Eric A Wider Angle Lens Fund, it would be greatly appreciated.  I had thought about moving back a bit, but my area had already gotten pretty congested with people.  I tried to adjust by tilting the head of my tripod so I could shoot vertically, but I preferred what I was seeing on my camera screen from the shots that were taken horizontally.  Once that little bit of adjusting was taken care of, I spent most of the rest of the fifteen minute show taking photographs. My favourite of those photographs taken are now here for you all to see.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 11sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 24mm and the third photograph was taken at f/16, 9 sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  Here are a couple more shots that I took of the Telus fireworks display.

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

The Telus Fire On Ice fireworks displays are scheduled to continue for the next couple of Saturday nights.  If it fits your holiday schedules, you should try and head out there for a little fun in the fresh winter air.

Winter Wonderland

Okay, you've all been looking at my mug on the page long enough, it's time to put up some fresh content.  Over here, we just had about 30cm's of snow get dumped on the city.  That, coupled with a day off from my Day Job meant that there was only one possible thing on my schedule for today.  Sit on my couch and watch television.  Luckily, my conscience kicked in and guilted me into leaving the comforts of home to walk outside in the snow.  Ever since my Boys of Summer photograph, I've kind of had a soft spot for picnic tables.  In the back of my mind, I had planned on trying to find some picnic tables after the first snowfall to try and take some photos.  Luckily, our first snowfall was rather wet and stuck very well to the trees.  I would have liked the sky to be a little more blue, but I guess my emails about that didn't make it to Mother Nature.  It's not always easy to photograph snow as it is so bright that it can easily trick your camera.  To try and make sure that my snow is the right colour, I take test readings by pointing my camera directly down at the snow by my feet.  I then shoot in Manual Mode and play around with the shutter speed.  There was some additional work playing with Levels in Photoshop, but I think that I got the snow to look fairly white here.  The first photograph was taken at f/8, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 24mm, the second one was taken at the same settings.  In the end, I guess that getting off of the couch was a good idea.  Now hopefully next time I have such a good idea I'll remember to wear winter boots as well.  It's not the best time of the year to be walking around with wet socks.

On Display

For the second year, one of my photographs will be on display at the Saint-Lambert Library for their Holiday Art Exhibition.  Sadly, there is no vernissage this year due to some scheduling problems, but I'm still happy that my photograph is hanging on the wall of a building I would visit often when I was a kid.  That's your friendly neighbourhood photographer standing next to my work of art.  You know, I feel really odd writing those words because I don't think I've ever seen myself as an 'artist'.  In my mind, I'm just some guy who points a box at people or things, turns a couple of knobs and then pushes a button.  That's probably a mindset that I need to work on.  Psychoanalysis aside, a worker at the library was kind enough to take this photo of my photograph and I, after I snuck my little card onto the frame.  No point in having your photograph on display if people don't know who you are and where they can find more of your photos, right?  If you happen to find yourself at the library, you can find my photo on the wall just behind the new arrivals.  While looking for something new to read, take a look behind and my photograph will be right there.  Take the time to look at the others works of art that are on display as well.

Speed Reading

I tend to be forgetful.  Just ask any number of the friends whose birthdays I've managed to forget over the years.  This also applies to my photographs.  Since I've got such a huge archive of photos, and I'm adding to library all the time, I sometimes forget some of the projects that I've already started.  Over a year ago I put up a photograph similar to the one you see here of an AMC Rambler that actually proved to be more popular than I thought it would be.  So much so that I quickly followed it up one month later with a Plymouth Road Runner, and then the good idea died as I have not done one ever since.  So, I had decided to go back through my collection of old car photos and see if I could create some similar images.  As I explained way back in that original post, I took theses photos back during some Saint-Lambert old car shows.  I love photographing old cars as they have great looks and much more character than the cars of today.  However, the main draw back is that the cars are often parked really close together and there are people walking everywhere.  So, I would try and find little details. On a recent day off from the Day Job, I went back through the archives and found a couple other photographs that I had planned on playing with.  The first photograph, a Pontiac GTO shot at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 48mm, grabbed my eye right away thanks to the bright red colour of the hood and how great the grill and letters stood out against the dark backdrop.  The second photograph,a Dodge GTS shot at f/4, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, grabbed my eye with its colour as well, but I also liked the little shadow below the letters and the lines of the grill that led to the headlight.  For those of you out there who liked those photographs from 2013, sorry I waited so long to put these up.  I forgot.  Sorry for the forgotten birthdays as well.

Looking For Batman

Here's another photograph I took while on a little evening photo walk with my friends Vincent & Renee-Claude back in April.  For a quick little reminder of those other photos, you can follow the following links to the first and second photographs.  While the first two photographs were taken near the rail tracks, this one was taken in good old Saint-Lambert.  I've taken lots of photographs here over the years, so I was looking a different kind of image.  I noticed Renee-Claude had been taking some photos at different angles, and I quickly took note.  I tried a couple of shots and really liked the results.  It reminded me of those old Batman television shows where the action was filmed at an angle.   This photograph was shot at f/22, 34sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  Sadly, the Batmobile didn't make an appearance on Victoria Ave. that night, but a single car managed to pass by in order to give me that little streak of red light.  I've always been a fan of light streaks, I feel it adds an extra something to the shot.  It was a fun evening, hope we all get to do it again soon.

Just Across The Street

Back in September I captured a photograph of the Moon passing behind the Montreal Biosphere, and I promised that I would head out the next night to try and take the photograph one more time, using a telephoto lens.  Well, I tried again the next night, and the next few nights as well, but the Moon was on to my plan and never followed that same path.  However, there was this other photograph that I had taken the same night that I kind of liked as much as the one that I posted.  Mostly, it's because of the colour of the buildings that are inside the Biosphere.  I was really hoping that the buildings would be blue while the moon passed through, but it wasn't meant to be as the colour remained green.  Luckily, while I was taking some test shots, I did manage to get the blue that I was looking for, the only difference being that the Moon is free from its cage in this shot.  This photograph was taken at f/16, 19sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  To be perfectly honest, I think I prefer this photograph to the one that I posted back in September.  I'm still planning on trying it again using a telephoto lens whenever the Moon decides to pass along that path again.

Forgotten Leaf

There was one final photograph from the Boucherville walk that I had yet to post, mostly because it wasn't taken in Boucherville, but rather in Cowansville.  This one dates back to Thanksgiving (the Canadian version for those of you who may be celebrating the American version today) and a little walk around town that I took with My Lovely Assistant after having lunch with my family.  Next to a little bridge, there was an evergreen bush lining the property line of a property.  Sitting on the bush were a bunch of freshly fallen red leaves.  I liked the look of the red on green, so I scanned the bush, searching for the best looking leaf and snapped away.  This photograph was taken at f/10, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  I might have cheated a little bit and positioned the leaf in a different manner than it had originally fallen, but that secret will stay with me.

Autumn Colours

A little over a week ago I put up my Boys of Summer photograph, a photo that I had taken while taking a stroll with My Lovely Assistant in the Îles-de-Boucherville.  I took a few other photographs that day and since it's been a while since my last update, I figured I'd them up here for all to see.  These photographs were taken in early October and the colours were still fairly bright in the trees.  I tried to get as many of the different reds, yellows and greens in the photos as possible.  I think that my favourite photograph in this set is the second one.  I played around with several different apertures and shutter speeds until I found the right combination that got me not only the three different colours of the trees, but also the blue of the sky.  My only concern was that there was a family playing on the nearby swing set.  I was hoping that they would disappear while I was setting up, certainly took long enough, but sadly, they didn't get the message I was sending them telepathically.  In the end, I don't really mind them being there. The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/500sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/13, 1/80sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  Here are a few more shot I took over the course of that afternoon.

f/13, 1/50sec, ISO 100 at 59mm

f/5, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 54mm

I like the final photograph as well.  I'm a sucker for blurred backgrounds and seeing all of those coloured leaves behind those dead weeds caught my eye.  Maybe I'm a little bit biased in my opinion, but I think it's awesome that I took a dead weed and turned it into into a pretty cool photograph.  Or maybe I'm just getting a big head as well.  Hope you like them.

Mixed Tastes

A little while back I was chatting with a friend of mine and mentioned how I liked one of his photos.  He seemed kind of surprised that I liked it and told me that it wasn't one of his favourites, but was happy to hear that I liked it.  So I thought to myself, maybe there's a recent photograph that I've taken that I don't really like, but if I put it on display, maybe someone out there will have the same reaction I did with my that other photograph.  So, here's a photograph that has been on my hard drive for a while, but never made it to the page.  It was one I took a few months back of a fruit salad that My Lovely Assistant had made.  I took this photograph at f/9, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  I liked all of the colours, I like the strange line of light that branches out just above the clementine and I liked the detail in the slice of the apple.  It just didn't seem to ever rise higher above the rank of 'that fruit salad photograph', though it sure was tasty.

The Boys Of Summer Have Gone

A few weeks back, My Lovely Assistant and I went for an autumn walk in the
Îles-de-Boucherville.  As is the usual case, I had my camera with me as I was hoping to catch some of the bright autumn colours.  I looked around at the scene, and I immediately felt a sense of emptiness.  The picnic tables that had probably hosted many meals over the summer were lined up and empty.  The trees were losing what was left of their leaves, and the ones they had lost were littering the ground.  Next thing I knew, the Don Henley song, from which I borrowed the title for this photograph, was playing in my head and I knew this was going to be a good shot.  I hope that I was right.  This photograph was taken at f/16, 1/25sec, ISO 100 at 40mm.  The sky is a little bit blown-out, but since it wasn't very blue to begin with, this didn't really bother me.  I felt it was more important to capture the colours in the trees and on the ground and sacrifice a bit of the sky.  I took a few more shots during that little walk, I'll try and get some of them up here eventually.

A Moment To Remember

Remembrance Day is a rather important day to me.  Those of you who have been coming here for a while have already heard how my Grandfather served in World War II, so I try to support the cause by buying several Poppies every year and wearing them proudly.  I also try and get them up here on the website in creative ways that I hope please the eye of you, the viewers.  This particular Poppy I photographed during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Montreal.  I kind of got this photograph in an strange way.  Rather than using a large aperture to blur out the background, I actually used a small aperture, but put myself right next to the Poppy, focusing on it, which resulted in blurring the background for me.  Just a little experimentation, it seemed to work out.  This photograph was taken at f/10, 1/200sec, ISO 400 at 52mm.  I hope you like it, and I hope you all take a moment to remember those who served all those many years ago.

Have A Seat

The changing seasons from Summer to Fall are one of my favourite times to take photographs.  The weather is comfortable, there are lots of colours and regular scenes just seem to have a little more character.  Take this photograph for example.  The leaves on the ground, the empty trees and the shadows seem to speak.  Though I must admit to a bit of trickery with this photograph.  I added a bit of colour to it using Photoshop.  I liked the way it looked originally, but I was a little bored one day and thought maybe playing with the colour balance might do something.  So that's what I did.  I added a little bit of red to the Midtones and really liked the final result.  It seemed to add a little more warmth to the image.  This photograph was shot at f/4.5, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 51mm.  For those of you wondering at home, here is what the photograph looked like before make-up.

For fun, I also added a black and white version of the same photograph.  There's this thing going around the internet called the Black & White challenge and I thought I'd give this photo the B&W treatment as well.  Hopefully there will be one of the three that some of you out there like.

Gone Fishin'

This past July during a quick little cottage visit up North, a feathered friend decided to visit and show off his fishing skills.  Oddly enough, this happened just a little bit after My Lovely Assistant, a skilled fisher in her own right, had just shoved off in a peddle boat to see if she could catch anything on the lake.  There's a bit of a running joke about fish in that lake, mostly because she never seems to find any.  The lake is called Lac Désert, roughly translated to English it becomes Empty Lake.  I always thought it was a rather apt name, but the Heron proved me wrong in about five minutes.  He swooped in and landed on a rock, just across from the dock I was sitting on.  I was trying to take pictures of a dragonfly that was buzzing around so I already had my camera handy.  The bird watched me for a little bit while I took a few photographs while he was perched on a rock.  I tried not to make any quick movements, which isn't really that difficult of a task for me.  After a few moments, he began to slowly walk along the shore, going over and under some branches and past a beaver dam.  Then suddenly, BANG!  He spiked his head into the water and when he came back up I saw that he had speared a fish with his beak.  It was the first time in three years that I had actually seen a fish come out of that lake.  Ever the showman, the Heron took his time to show off his trophy, making sure that I would get a good shot.  He then seemed to play with it in his mouth a little bit before gulping it down, and flying away.  I feel like I got some pretty nice shots of the whole thing, so here they are for you all to see.  The first photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 300mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 300mm.  Here are the rest of the photographs from the fishing session.

f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 300mm

f/6.3, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 300mm

f/6.3, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 300mm

f/6.3, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 300mm

I was a little bit disappointed with the final photo.  The head is a little bit blurry.  I probably should have shot with a smaller aperture, but ht bird took off kind of abruptly and I didn't have time to switch.  It was a pretty cool experience, and I got to see a fish come of the Empty Lake.

Halloween Beans

There's two things that I really like about jelly beans.  One, they're real colourful.  I took another photograph of some jelly beans last year, mostly because I really liked all of the different colours mixed together.  The last time My Lovely Assistant and I made a little visit to Bulk Barn, they had these special Halloween jelly beans on sale.  I say 'special', but it's really just a bunch of orange and black jelly beans.  The colours of Halloween.  I grabbed a small bag knowing that some candy might make a little Halloween treat for those of you who visit the blog.  My original plan was to wait for a sunny day and put a plate of the beans next to a window for lighting, but I figured I'd use these beans to play around with my flash a little bit.  In the first photograph you see, I bounced the flash off of the ceiling and onto the beans. For the second photograph I used the bounce card that comes with the flash to reflect the light down on my plate.  As you can see, the results are different.  In the first photograph, the beans look a little more solid than in the second, but the beans in the second photo have more of a glow to them.  This is due to the different amounts of light hitting them.  It made for a fun little time playing with my flash and different apertures.  The first photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/9, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  At the beginning I mentioned how there were two things I like about jelly beans.  The colours are nice, but they sure are tasty as well!

Airbourne - Live

It's been a little bit over a week since my first photograph from the Airbourne concert I attended at the Corona Theatre made an appearance on these pages.  In the days since, I've tried to repeat my concert going experience and published photographs that I took of each of the bands.  Those of you who have been following at home probably don't need the reminder, but in keeping future viewers in mind, the first band to hit the stage was One Bad Son (Official Site) and the second group out were The Glorious Sons (Official Site).  I've pretty much discussed the entire experience with you all over the last three posts, so I don't really have much more to add here.  There were two specific moments that I wanted to try and capture while Airbourne was on the stage.  The first was to capture a beer arc.  During the show, singer  Joel O'Keeffe smashes a beer can and swings it around.  My friend Pierre Bourgault got such a photo last time they were in town and I really liked it.  Sadly, the lighting wasn't as colourful this time out as it was for their previous concert.  I did manage to get a beer arc, but it isn't as spectacular as his.  The other thing I was keeping my eyes peeled for was that at one point Joel O'Keeffe climbs onto the shoulders of a security guard and plays out into the crowd.  I knew that they'd be passing by directly where I was standing, so I was hoping to get a good shot of that.  In any event, it was a great night and I guess the only drawback to the fun that I was having taking all of my photographs was that I kind of wasn't paying as much attention to the actual show.  I tried not be be a camera junkie and have my camera in my hands at all times, but as I said way back in the first post of this series, I came home with 477 photographs, so I obviously didn't do as good of a job watching the show as opposed to photographing it.  Still, it was a great show and I ended up coming home with several cool photographs as well.  I consider that to be a pretty good night out.  The first photograph you saw here on the page was shot at f/6.3, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The fourth photograph was taken at f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.  Though the light wasn't very colourful, it was bright enough to allow me to finally try out Pierre's tip by using a smaller aperture than f/2.8.  I think these shots ended up turning out pretty well.  Here are some more shots of Airbourne in action.

 f/4.5, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Caught in mid-headbang

f/4.5, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Going through the crowd with some well placed hand.

f/7.1, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Rocking on the stage while Joel was going through the crowd...look where the others aren't

f/4.5, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Beer arc!

f/5.6, 1/50sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

My friend Louie kept wanting me to get a shot of the Marshall stacks

f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

I hoped to get a shot of the dummer as well, but he wasn't in my sight line.

f/5, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

Thank-you Airbourne.

I had a great time photographing all three bands and I hope that you all get a feel for what a great show it was through my photos.  It was a great experience to roll through the aperture and ISO settings of my camera, trying to get the best combination possible to get my shots while not missing the action.  The only drawback was the very stubborn auto-focus button on my little 50mm lens.  I actually had a small blister on my finger from trying to switch it on and off so often.  A small price to pay.  It was great fun, I hope I get to do it again.