Happy New Year

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Or, something like that.  Those of you who have been around since last year, or at least since the last update, remember that last year for New Year's Eve I ended up dragging My Lovely Assistant and myself through shin-deep snow, high winds and somewhat wet conditions to get some photographs of the annual New Year's fireworks display, down at the Old Port of Montreal.  This year, I decided that rather than watch from across the river, we'd actually go to the Old Port itself for the show.  There was live music provided by The Lost Fingers, a group we both enjoy, so we figured we'd brave the cold and celebrate the New Year with a bunch of strangers, rather than alone on a snowy island.  I was a little bit unsure about where to place my tripod in order to best capture the fireworks as I had never shot them from this location before.  I kind of had an idea where the blasts would go off, but until the explosions actually happen, you're never 100% certain.  The countdown to midnight began and I had one hand on my remote trigger and the other on my tripod, ready to move if necessary.  Much to my happiness, I was exactly where I needed to be and I spent the first twenty minutes of 2014 snapping off photographs of the fireworks over some of the beautiful buildings of Old Montreal.  Afterwards, I was even able to have a little bit of a conversation about art with one of the 'characters' that you find around the Old Port.  I hope he was able to enjoy some of this frozen champagne.  In the meantime, here are a few of the photographs that I took.  The first shot was taken at f/11, 5sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The second shot was taken at f/11, 6sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  Here are a few more.

f/11, 6sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/11, 8sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/11, 9sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/11, 8sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

That's six of the several that I ended up taking.  As you probably noticed, I shot all of the photographs at 24mm.  I like to shoot fireworks as wide as possible so that I can later decide if I want my final image to be vertical or horizontal.  You see a little mix of that here.  I like the vertical shots as they are nice and tight, really making the explosion the star of the photo.  I also like the horizontal shots as they give a wider view of the entire scene.  You see more of the buildings, as well as the crowd that was watching the show.  If you look real close, you may even be able to see a few faces of people who were being photographed by others in my shots.  They remained still enough to be seen during my long exposure times.  It was a great way to bring in the New Year and I was glad that even the -23C weather didn't keep us away.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to visit in 2013 and I hope you continue to do so during the year to come.  Happy New Year to you all.