Canadian Armageddon

We're half way through this years L’International des Feux Loto-Québec and I've managed to not have to double up on a location just yet.  This past Wednesday it was Canada's turn to light up the skies over the St. Lawrence River.  It was Archangel Fireworks of Winnipeg, Manitoba who had the honour of representing Canada.  For this show, My Lovely Assistant and I returned to a little vacant lot just off of Taschereau Blvd. in the city of Longueuil.  The city has a good little cash grab going with that spot.   For 357 days of the year, the place is an empty lot of land, but for eight nights a year during the fireworks competition, it suddenly becomes a first-come-first-served parking lot which will cost you $8 if you wish to park your car.  Fortunately for my wallet, My Lovely Assistant is able to convince my lazy self to use our bicycles to get to the site or I would probably be of those people spending $8 to park my car, and another $10 in gas while sitting in traffic waiting to leave after the show.  Seeing as how this is a popular location, we decided to pack a picnic supper and arrived at the lot a little after 7:30PM...more than two hours before the show began.  Last year I arrived at the spot about an hour before the show only to find out that the place was already packed.  I didn't want to make that mistake again.  This is always one of my favourite locations to shoot the fireworks.  All in one photograph, you get the fireworks in the sky, the Jacques Cartier Bridge in the background, a few of the rides from La Ronde in silhouette as well as some boats watching the show from the river and the reflection of the fireworks on the water.  That makes of lots of things to look at.  This first photograph was taken at f/16, 11sec, ISO 100 at 38mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 17sec, ISO 100 at 38mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/16, 7sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

f/16, 6sec, ISO 100 at 38mm

f/16, 14sec, ISO 100 at 38mm

f/16, 7sec, ISO 100 at 38mm

The bicycle ride home was much more pleasant than last year as well.  Thank-you to all of those people out there who remembered that a bicycle path is not a meeting place but rather a place where people ride their bikes.