Sun Sets On 2016

It's hard to believe that another year is coming to an end here at the old blog.  It's usually around this time of year that I sit back and look back at the little column on the right hand side of the page where there is a list of all the updates that I've done over the year.  This year it tells me that there have been 126 updates, soon to be 127.  That would make 2016 the second most productive year here.  That's one heck of a lot of photographs.  Sure, some of them come from my dusty archives, but the majority of those updates were taken in this calendar year.  Which cannot be said for this little group of photographs.  These were taken a few years back, but kept getting bumped down the rotation.  I had prepared them for a 2016 unveiling by putting the watermark on them back in the Spring, but they kind of got lost in the shuffle due to all of the sunset photographs I ended up taking back in November.  The sky isn't quite as red as the other photographs, but what I liked best about this set is the bridge.  In darkened silhouette, especially in the second photograph, the pieces of metal that make up the superstructure really stick out.  The first and second photograph were taken at f/7.1, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  That's because the second photograph was actually cropped out of the first one.  With that, things come to a close.  As I was saying, it was a rather productive year.  Highlights for me would be the many concerts I managed to get my camera into, whether it was welcome or not.  Though I hate the heat, the month of July is always a favourite of mine due to the fireworks.  Though my photographs didn't end up being exposed anywhere this year, I did manage to get two of them onto the television thanks to CTV News.  There was some football, hockey and soccer, to go along with some peaceful insects, flowers and classic cars.  I hope I tempted a few taste buds with the tasty creations baked by My Lovely Assistant, and I reached new highs by taking a photograph from the very top of a jam packed Olympic Stadium.  It's all been a blast and hopefully things will continue in the new year.  One in which I'll be having my third photography exposition.  You'll begin to hear much more about that in the coming weeks as March will be upon us very quickly.  I hope that you've all had a good time here in 2016 and that you'll keep coming back in 2017.  Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas Dessert

The holiday season isn't complete without a peek into the kitchen to see what My Lovely Assistant has been up to.  This year, her dessert of choice was an orange and chocolate yule log. As is the norm, it took me almost as long to photograph it as it took her to make it.  I just wasn't satisfied, but after adding some red candy berries and icing sugar to add a little bit of colour, I finally found an angle that satisfied me, though nowhere near as satisfied as my belly was when it was time to eat!  The photograph was taken at f/11, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, with a little flash bounced off of the ceiling for a little added light.  I'd invite you over for a piece, but I'm afraid you'll all have to wait for next year.  Every last tasty piece was quickly devoured.

Not So Silent Night

Well, I have always had the habit of doing things differently than most others.  The 24th of December is usually a night that is spent with family.  Mostly sharing a meal, opening gifts and being with those people who mean the most to us.  That probably properly describes how 95% of you reading this spent your December 24th.  Me?  I was alone in the slush and the snow next to the St. Lawrence River waiting for some fireworks to go off.  After a one year absence, there are once again fireworks in the Old Port, this time sponsored by Natrel, a local milk company.  I ended up missing the first two editions and wouldn't you know it and didn't really want to miss the third.  Only one problem, it was taking place on Christmas Eve. Luckily, My Lovely Assistant gave me the green light to go take some photographs despite her family having a Christmas dinner planned at the same time.  I dropped her off with her family and quickly drove across the river to grab a spot among the snow and slush.  It's a spot that I really like as it gives me a nice view of the fireworks going off over the water, and the buildings of downtown Montreal as well.  This give me the option of cropping my photograph as either a usual 8" x 12" or stretching things out to 12" x 4", or like the photograph at the top of the page, 12" x 5".  Blown up to 24" x 8" or 24" x 10", these make pretty nice photographs, just annoying to find frames for.  This is of course made possible by having a trusty wide-angle lens in your bag of tricks.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 25mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 10sec IS 100 at 25mm and the third was taken at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 25mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took while everyone else was looking for Santa Claus.

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/15, 6sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

I quickly packed up my things and made my way to supper.  While I was out there, I was also keeping my eyes open for a bright red sleight and some tiny reindeer.  I'm not sure, but I think I saw them out there.  Hope they visited you.

Merry Christmas To All

It's time to shut things down for a few days as Christmas time is here.  Large gatherings have never been my strong point, and though it's nice to see members of the family, I still manage to sneak away from the pack for a little alone time with some Christmas decorations.  In this case, we're going back in time to a jolly fellow who was created by yours truly way back when I was in elementary school.  Every year since, he has found his way onto the family Christmas tree put up by my parents.  He may not be the most attractive member of the family, but he is always a welcome site come Christmas time.  He may look a little sad, but I swear, he's happy to be hanging in our tree,  I used a large aperture to blur out the other decorations and the lights, and also did two different versions.  One horizontal and the other vertical.  The horizontal shot allowed me to get in some of the golden Christmas decoration into the right hand side of the photograph, while shooting vertically allowed me to get some more of the lights, as well as the reddish decoration you see in the bottom left of the photograph.  Just a couple of ways to get a little more colour and variety into the images.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/20sec, ISO 1000 at 48mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/25sec, ISO 1000 at 51mm.  Those with sharp eyes might even be able to spot me in one of the photographs.  While you're all looking, allow me to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Candy

'Tis the season to be jolly, and to eat some appropriately coloured candy! Thus was the case earlier this week when your friendly neighbourhood photographer and his Lovely Assistant raided the snack cupboard.  Inside were some Christmas Holly Berries that I had bought a while back.  For photographic reasons ofcourse.  The bright reds and greens always please the eyes and the white candies had some nice colourful dots on them.  Red, white and green.  Some colours to get you into the moment of the season.  The photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  The best part about photographing candy is that there's always a tasty snack waiting for you when you're done.

Winter Berries

I went out for a walk the other day, hoping to find something in the snow that would grab my interest.  As is usually the case, it was the smallest things I saw that ended up being the most interesting to me.  I found these red winter berries growing next to a school.  There was one that was looking a little bit past date, but the three just behind it had the best looking snow.  In hindsight, I suppose I should have just plucked it off, but it still might make a tasty treat for a hungry bird that might be flying by.  Instead, I chose to use a large aperture and focus on the snow, effectively blurring the offending berry out.  The photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  The red of the berries and the little individual snow crystals resting on top of them really grabbed my eye.

Manoir Sweetsburg

I suppose it might seem a little bit odd that on the day that we have the first big snow storm of the season, I'm posting a photograph that was taken during the Summer months.  What can I say, sometimes I like to go against the grain.  I'm also running out of time to post the photographs that I had already prepared with a 2016 watermark before the year comes to an end, so away we go.  These two photographs are kind of close to me.  That's because my family used to own the house that you're looking at.  This house, located in the city of Cowansville, once belonged to my Great Grandparents.  It is now a very popular bed & breakfast in the area, known as the Manoir Sweetsburg.  I ended up taking a photograph of the building because my parents wanted to offer it as a gift to a cousin who they had stayed with while on vacation a few years back.  I couldn't decide which photograph that I liked more, so they ended up getting both.  The first one, taken at f/9, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 24mm included a little building at the back that used to be a horse barn and is the one I chose to get blown up for a larger print.  The second photograph, taken at f/9, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 30mm,  I also included as a tighter cropped 4x6.  A painting of this house used to be on the wall at my Grandparents house and it's a little nice to know that my photograph will hang on the wall of another member of the family.

Highway To Hell

To those of you who have spent morning or afternoon rush hours stuck in traffic on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, that title is probably a little bit more accurate than it should be.  For me, however, it relates more to a little bit of camera magic that makes the surface of the bridge look a little more red hot than 5:30PM on a work day.  In order to get these photographs, I positioned myself so that the rear red lights of the cars would be closer to me as I felt the red would have been washed out by the headlights of the oncoming cars had I decided to reverse my position.  Going up on the bridge during the week was a no-no because I wanted to get some of the blue from the sky in my shot, but that meant taking the photograph around 5:00PM, when all of those moving cars would have been a little less mobile.  To my concern, there was still some traffic that would back up over the metal superstructure of the bridge, but it would let up from time to time, allowing me to get my shots. In the first shot, taken at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 38mm, the traffic was a little more thick.  The brake lights of the cars caused the light streak to be a little more red than in the second shot, which was taken at f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 38mm.  I couldn't decide which one I liked more, so you the viewer are the big winner as I decided to put them both up here on the blog.  Sure beats sitting in traffic.

The Countdown Begins

As mentioned here previously, I've got another photography exhibition coming up in 2017.  March 23rd to April 23rd to be exact at the library in Greenfield Park. With that in mind, the first promotional material for mine, and the other talented artists who will have shows in the early months of 2017 are out.  To be specific, it is the Winter 2016 Edition of the Espace Culture, put out by the city of Longueuil. My Lovely Assistant was kind enough to raid some of the neighbours to get me a few extra copies as the hoarder inside of me love to have them on hand.  This will be exhibition number three for me, and it is still a thrill to see my name in print next to one of my photographs.  The countdown has begun.  108 Days to be exact so I guess I had better start getting busy. March will end up getting here rather quickly.

Better Luck Next Year

A few weeks back while discussing my photograph that appeared on CTV News, go ahead and take another look, I mentioned how I was hoping to get one more similar sky so that I could get a similar shot of the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  Well, Mother Nature didn't approve of my plans.  The closest I got to similar conditions is the photograph that you see above. which was taken at f/4.5, 1/25sec, ISO 640 at 200mm.  Yeah, there is still some red in the sky, but nothing like the other photograph.  The sun now sets a little bit to far to the west now so I won't be able to grab another one until next Fall.  See you then.

Something Different

I was recently told by My Lovely Assistant that my last five updates had involved sunsets and the sky, to which I responded by saying that they were five awesome updates about sunsets and the sky.  Regardless, I understand that it's good to switch things up every once in a while.  So, here is something different.  To be more specific, it is a Boyce Motometer off the hood of what I believe was an old Model A Ford.  It was used to help the driver know if the temperature of the motor, and for the first time on a car, offered the driver information about their engine from the comfort of the driver seat.  This photograph, taken at f/4, 1/640sec, ISO 100 at 38mm, is one of those little detail shots that I like to take at old car shows.  Using a large aperture helps to blur out the background, really allowing this old piece of automobile history to stand out.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Time continues to fly by and we suddenly find ourselves near the end of November, meaning that another year is almost over.  It's around this time of the year where I begin to try and dig through the excess amount of folders that have been growing in my photography file.  It allows me to find some hidden photographs that I've taken in the past and then forgotten about.  Since we've been going large with sunsets lately, I did some searching and found this photograph that I took last year.  The sky had little bit of red still left in it, but my favourite parts were the red Radio-Canada logo on the top of their building and the airplane that is taking off for an unknown destination in the upper right-hand corner.  This photograph was taken at f/8, 1/60sec, ISO 400 at 190mm.  Who knows what I'll be pulling out of my hard drive next.

Looking At The Sky

I've had my eyes pointed up at the sky over the last couple of weeks.  Mostly due to the terrific sunsets that we've been having since November began.  This was another of the recent photographs I took of the bright red skies we have been having.  I noticed this one while walking around the park, trying to get a good view of Montreal.  I really liked the way that the trees stood out against the red clouds, so I snapped away.  Again, I underexposed the photograph, darkening the trees, but also bringing out a little more red from the sky.  The photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 85mm.  The snow finally arrived in the area the other day, and the forecast has nothing but grey skies for the immediate future, so my bright red skies may have come to an end until next Fall.  It certainly was a colourful few weeks.

Going Back For More

At the end of my update last week about having my photograph on CTV News, which you can view again by following this link, I mentioned how I wanted to return to that spot in order to capture a similar sky while photographing the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  Sadly, the sky never quite got the same again over the last week, but it did still provide some interesting colours over the skyscrapers of Montreal.  Though I try to avoid repeating photographs here on the blog, I thought that these two shots warranted bending that rule.  After all, the photographs are a little different in that the sky is different in both of these photographs, and the one that ended up being broadcast on the news.  For the first shot, which was taken at f/6.3, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 200mm I underexposed the photograph just a little bit in order to make the colour of they sky stand out a little bit more.  This blackened the buildings, which was a plus in my mind as they were kind of dull in the foreground without any lights on.  With the second photograph, taken at f/7.1, 1/60sec, ISO 800 at 200mm, I was walking back home and went by the same spot I had been at earlier.  I thought the sky looked nice so I figured I'd snap another photograph.  I almost wasn't able to get the shot as I didn't have my tripod or monopod with me, so shooting at such a low shutter speed was a bit of a risk as despite my best efforts, I tend to get a little bit shaky when trying to grab these low-light shots  While these shots helped me deal with the disappointment of not getting a shot of the bridge, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't missed my last chance for this year.

Looking For The Man In The Moon

Like most everyone else with a camera, I spent some time the last few days looking up at the most recent Super Moon.  In this instance, the Moon was the closest it has been to the Earth in 68 years, and the closest it will be until 2034.  I had been planning on waiting until Monday night to take a photograph, but I got a call from my younger brother telling me that the Moon was already pretty large.  I took a step outside and noticed he was right.  I was hoping to find a nice spot with either some kind of building or landmark to shoot the Moon against, but it was so high up in the sky that I couldn't get a nice shot of it with anything.  Thinking I'd rather have a nice shot of the surface rather than just a bright spot in the sky, I chose to zoom in on it and shoot away.  This photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  It's a good thing that I ended up going out on Sunday, because the sky on Monday was full of clouds.  There's another Super Moon scheduled for December, maybe I can find a cool location to shoot that one between now and then.

Look Ma, I'm On TV...Again

There was a super sunset the other day, the entire sky turning bright red.  I grabbed my camera and headed out the door to a spot that I knew would give me a good view of the skyscrapers of downtown Montreal.  After loading my shots onto my computer, I felt that one might be nice enough to get my name on the television once again.  I sent it off to CTV News and voila, I'm now three-for-three in getting my photographs on the nightly newscast.  Though it was still light out, it was also dark enough for the building lights to be turned on.  I had tried taking a similar photograph a few days before, but the buildings were dark.  It left me feeling like a large black spot was in the photograph, rather than a silhouette, so I was happy to see the little squares of light.  Another little touch that I'm not sure you can see at this low resolution, is that a flock of geese are flying through the scene, at the very top of the photograph in the clouds.  I didn't actually know they were there while I was taking the photograph, they were a happy surprise that I found later.  The photograph was taken at f/4.5, 1/125sec, ISO 640 at 182mm. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for one more sunset like this as I'd like to take a similar photograph, but of the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  We'll see if Mother Nature approves.

In Flanders Field

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.

This photograph is of the war memorial cenotaph in Saint-Lambert.  A place I have visited for several Remembrance Day ceremonies over the years.  This year, the celebration was held on a grey Sunday afternoon, though I continue to believe that the day should be a national holiday in order to properly remember and pay respect.  Maybe one day.  In the meantime, this photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 50mm

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.

Halestorm At The Metropolis

Maybe this is why I don't work well on a deadline.  Add some tasty cookies and a little bit of football together and the end result is photographs I took of a concert a week and a half ago ending up on the blog...a week and a half later.  It's not like this is the first time something like this has happened.  My 'Photography' file on the computer continues to grow at a pace faster than I get stuff onto the site, and that's not likely to change.  Getting back to the topic at hand, these photographs are of the band Halestorm, who were here recently at the Metropolis.  They were headlining a show that saw the bands Dorothy (see photographs here) and Lita Ford (see photographs here) open for them.  The band were touring in support of their album 'Into The Wild Life' which was released back in April 2015.  It was their second visit to Montreal over the last two years, and the first time I saw them since they appeared at Heavy Montreal back in 2013.  They've really gotten a boost in popularity since the release of 'Into The Wild Life' with lead singer Lzzy Hale (no, that's not a typo) claiming her place as one of the most powerful voice in rock and roll.  Those with astute eyes may have noticed that the second photograph in this set comes from the set of Lita Ford photographs.  I included it here because it's Hale who was singing at the time the shot was taken, and those shots of the two of them together on stage were probably my favourite that I took on the night.  Though the lighting was much better once Halestorm hit the stage, I ran into another problem.  Overly excited fans.  I suppose that I should't hold it against them, but as I mentioned before, shooting photographs in between outstretched arms and swaying bodies isn't always that easy.  It does, however, make the end result that much sweeter when you do manage to get home with a terrific shot.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 50 mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the third photograph was taken at f/4.5, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during their set.

f/4.5, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/80sec ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4.5, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 1000 at 50mm

f/4, 1/800sec ISO 1000 at 50mm

I always try and make an effort to get as many members in the band as possible, which is not always popular since I need to pick and spot and then end up stuck there for the entire show.  I tried really hard to get drummer Arejay Hale into several shots as he was just full of energy.  Was happy to catch him with his sticks in the air a couple of times.  And so ends that trifecta of concert shots.  As usual, a little bit of photography and some rock'n'roll make for a great time.

Ready For Some Football

Mother Nature has been keeping me away from the football field this season as there has been rain in the forecast for the most recent games by the local Champlain Cavaliers.  In my absence, they've managed to put together an undefeated season and had already won their first play-off game.  The match on Saturday, against the Rimouski Pionniers, was for a spot in the RSEQ Championship Game.  I was a little torn about going because I have this terrible record when it comes to the success of the teams I end up photographing and I didn't want to be responsible for ending the Cavaliers perfect season.  That thought quickly left me as I reminded myself that I didn't actually know anybody on the team.  I figured my lack of a personal connection would be enough to keep my curse at bay, but I was getting a little bit nervous when the first half of the game ended with the Pionniers leading 6-1.  The home team came to life in the second half, scoring two quick touchdowns before putting the game out of reach with another in the fourth quarter and a quick defensive touchdown off of an interception moments after that.  The final score was Champlain 29 - Rimouski 12.  As for the photographs, I managed to put myself in the end zone that had a nice background of tree so that there would be a little bit of colour in some of the photographs.  I also found that my zooming and focusing was a little bit behind the speed of the game as I had two nice touchdown throws end essentially right beside me and the receiver ended up being out of focus in all of my photographs.  I also failed to follow the most important rule of sport photography, that being that if you're watching the action in the viewfinder, the odds are not very good that you'll be capturing the action on your camera.  I did manage to capture some of the action while I wasn't just watching.  The first photograph was taken at f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 115mm and the third photograph was taken at f/5, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  Here are a few more photographs taken during the game.

f/5, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 142mm

f4, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 102mm

f/4, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO 800 at 182mm

f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 168mm

f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 70mm

f/4, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 90mm

Quite a lot of photographs, but it was the only game I was going to see this year, so my camera got a good workout.  Best of the luck to the Cavaliers who will be playing for the championship next weekend against Jonquiere.