Still Deep, Still Blue

There's a saying about striking while the iron is hot.  A couple of days ago I put up an older photograph I had taken of the St. Lawrence River in the Spring not so long ago.  I was very much taken by how blue the water was at the time, and judging by some of the reactions I received, some of you out there liked them as well.  So, I dug back into the archives because I remembered that I took a few more photographs of the river that day, this time with the Jacques Cartier Bridge in the background.  I decided to crop them the same way as I did with the previous photograph and put them up here as well.

The first photograph was taken at f/10, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm and the second photograph was taken at f/13, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  With the first photograph, I was happy to get some colour from the rides of La Ronde to offset the lack of trees.  With the second photograph, I was happy to add the Molson Brewery and the boats that were docked at the time.  That about does it for that batch of photographs, I'm glad that they found their way out of my hard drive.

Deep Blue Sea

The computer issues of the last few days has allowed me to at least grab a few photographs from out of the archives and posted here on the site.  This is another photograph from a few years ago, but taken pretty near this time of the year.  Spring was upon us, the temperatures were warming and what ice that was left on the river was being taken away by the current. While on a visit to Old Montreal, I was taken with how blue the water was, and I saw this little piece of ice floating away.  Coupled with the the general lack of colour from Île Sainte-Hélène, I thought the blue of the water really stood out.  I decided to crop this photograph in a widescreen style, using some of the Île Sainte-Hélène landmarks as anchors for the final product.  The photograph was taken at f/18, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 34mm.  This would probably be a nice view for a Fall photograph as well.  I might have to try and make my way down there again.

Mid-Parade Break

There were a few moments late last week when I wasn't sure if I would be going to the Saint-Patrick's Day Parade.  In the event that I wouldn't make it, I went digging into the archives to try and find something from previous outings that I could put up here, keeping with the Saint-Patrick's theme.  That's when I came upon this little photograph that I had taken a few years ago.  Several times during the parade, people will cross the street between the floats and the performers.  Saint-Patrick's is also known as an event in which lots of people decide to have an adult beverage or two.  Seeing how the two are connected, I found it rather fun to see this guy crossing the street with his case of beer.  Luckily, I was fast enough to grab this photograph, which wasn't the case this year as I missed some girls drop their cans of beer which proceeded to explode at their feet.  You always need to be ready to fire away.  This photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 70mm.  I was about to toss this photograph back into the archives to save for next year, but I'd already put the watermark on it, and there's still more photographs floating around the archives than will ever see the light of day.  Might as well let this one have it's moment in the internet sun.

2016 Montreal Saint-Patrick's Day Parade

If there's one thing that Montrealers can all agree on, it is that everyone loves a parade.  Especially when that parade is the Saint-Patrick's Day Parade.  This was the 193rd Saint-Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal.  Having been established in 1824, it is easily the longest running parade in North America.  While it's true that everyone enjoys feeling a little bit Irish, another reason for the local popularity of the parade is that it kind of serves as the unofficial arrival of Spring.  Montrealers shake off their Winter blues and go out to celebrate in the warm sunshine.   Except, it's not always all that warm.  Today was a bearable -4 Celsius, but nothing like the 2014 edition that even I declared to be cold.  I've been going to the parade for years, and this is the third time that I take photographs of the parade for my photography blog.  I'll be honest, some of the images are starting to get a little repetitive and some of the faces are getting a little more familiar, but there's still always something new to see and some new photographs to take.  For instance, this year Spider-Man joined the parade, I snapped a very cool photograph or a saxophonist in a marching band and also discovered that several members of the Star Wars universe had gone Irish for the day.  It's also seeing fun little moments like dancing bathtubs, the crowd egging a marching band into playing 'We Will Rock You' by Queen during a little break in the action and after all these years, I'm still a sucker for photographing flags that are flapping in the wind.  With all of that being said, let's get on with the show.  The first photograph was taken at f/11, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 35mm and the second photograph was taken at f/11, 1/125sec, ISO 400 at 42mm.  It also shows the lengths some Montrealers will go to in order to see the parade as you can spot a number of heads peaking out from above the roof of the Boutique Tag.  That's another fun little sport I like to practice while at the parade, trying to see which roofs people will show up on.  Here are some more photographs that I took at the parade.

f/9, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 55mm

f/9, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 63mm

f/9, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 46mm

f/6.3, 1/2500sec, ISO 400 at 40mm

f/6.3, 1/320sec, ISO 300 at 25mm

f/5.6, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 43mm

f/5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 24mm

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 68mm

f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/5.6, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/5.6, 1/320sec, ISO 100 at 35mm

f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 67mm

f/7.1, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/6.3, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

And with that, the cleaning crews came up to pick up the wayward bottles and cans of beverages that I had spotted among the crowd over the course of the morning as parade goers made their way to a wide selection of Irish pubs which opened early for the occasion.  A good time was had by all and I will leave you with a little Irish wisdom I stumbled upon through a friend, "As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction."

Temperance Movement at The Corona

We're currently going through some technical difficulties over at Blog Central.  In the language of my Grandparents, my laptop has decided to give up the ghost.  I'm currently in full-blown shopping mode, trying to find a replacement that fits my photographic needs while also not emptying my iron-clad wallet.  Sadly, the two don't always go well together.  So, we bow our head for a moment of silence in respect to our fallen PC brother.    With that over with, it's time for a little rock and roll.  These photographs are of a band called The Temperance Movement.  They were second on the bill of a concert at the Corona Theatre that I was lucky enough to get my camera into.  For those with short memories, making a first visit or viewing after a long period of time, my photographs of Les Deuxluxes and my photographs of Monster Truck can be found by following the respective links.  The Temperance Movement are a British blues/rock band that I stumbled upon through reading magazine articles a few years back and this was my first chance to see them live.  Photographically, the lighting was better than it was for the opening act, but not quite bright enough to capture all of the movements of the singer, who is quite animated while up on stage.  I still managed to grab a few shots by again trying to capture the group in less animated moments and by trying to time the lighting in my mind so that that I could figure out when they'd be at their brightest so I could get some better speeds.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the third photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show, beginning with another one of those "I can't decide if I like it in colour or black & white" moments.  I suppose it would seems a little more classy if I did like the music industry and labeled it as a 'bonus photograph' instead.

f/4.5, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

The same, but in B&W

f/5, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/5, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/5, 1/40sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

And that brings an end to my latest trip for some live music to the Corona Theatre.  All three bands were great and the added bonus of being able to get my camera in the door just added to the fun.  Hopefully some more bands that I like will be performing there this year.

Happy Saint-Patrick's Day

Since my quest to find a four-leaf clover has come up short for another year, and because I was digging through the archives this morning, here's an old photograph taken very early in my blog days.  It was taken at the 2013 Saint-Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal.  With today being Saint-Patrick's Day, I thought it would be a fun little update.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 100 at 52mm.  If you'd like to find out a little more about the parade, or are interested in seeing it in person, you can follow this link to the United Irish Societies of Montreal.  We'll finish up with a little bit of Irish advice: "Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or an idiot from any direction."  Happy Saint-Patrick's Day.

Les Deuxluxes At The Corona

As previously mentioned, last week I attended a concert by the group Monster Truck at the Corona Theatre in Montreal.  Feel free to take a few minutes of your time to re-visit the photographs I took during their set right at this link.  There were two other bands performing that night.  We'll get to the second act a little but later, but today we'll talk about the opening act, a band I had never heard before called Les Deuxluxes.  They're a local duo from here in Montreal and they play some cool old-style rock and roll.  The fact that there are only two of them in the band is all the more impressive when you consider that the guitarist also doubles as the drummer.  He had his hands full on this night as not only did he have to play both instruments, and provide some backing vocals, but also had to deal with a broken string that kept coming back to haunt him on the guitar.  The singer was full of energy and was moving all over the stage while playing a mean guitar as well.  Sadly, as is the case with most opening bands, they suffered from very little lighting.  It was fine from a show standpoint, but for little old me trying to take some photographs from the crowd, it made things very difficult.  Fast moving object and low light conditions don't usually mix very well with photography.  Lots of blurring is usually the result.  So, I tried to keep my shooting limited to some of the slower moments of their set, but still took some chances with some of the faster moments, and was rewarded with a hairy shot which you'll all see a little lower.  I would have liked to shoot with a smaller aperture in order to ensure more clarity, but you play the hand that you're dealt and try to make the best of the circumstances.  I think I managed to squeeze out a couple of cool photographs from their short set.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during their set.

f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/3.2, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/6.3, 1/60sec,ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/5,1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

This last photograph caused something of a little internal debate.  I couldn't decide whether I liked it better in colour or in black and white.  I was leaning more towards the black and white version because I felt that it made certain elements of the photograph stand out, also because I felt it gave a little more detail to the singers face.  My Lovely Assistant preferred the colour version because she liked the purple that was on the drums as well as the colour in the singers outfit.  I was trying to decide which one that I should include in this update when I finally came to the realization that this is my page and there is no real limit to the number of photographs that I can include with these blog posts.  There might even be an equal number of you out there who like the black and white as well as the colour version.  So, here are both versions.  It was taken at f/5, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  They were only on the stage for about half an hour, but they more than took advantage of their time by capturing the audience with their energy and music.  I'm sure there were people like me at the show who had never heard them before, and I think that like me, they probably left with a very good impression of the band.

 

Chocolate Sausage

They say that times flies when you're having fun, and one year ago today was a very fun time indeed.  It was the vernissage of my 'Very Colourful' photography exhibition at the bibliothèque Claude-Henri-Grignon in Longueuil.  One of the stars of the evening, other than my photographs, were the snacks prepared by My Lovely Assistant.  As I spent most of the rest of that month advertising the event, I never got around to posting some photographs of her creations here on the blog.  This chocolate sausage was a very popular snack with those in attendance.  Seeing as how I'm always in the process of trying to figure out the mystery that is food photography, I couldn't resist but try my hand at photographing this treat.  Besides, what better way to get ready for a photography exhibition than by taking some photographs.  I went online to try and find a little bit of inspiration on how best to photograph what my Lovely Assistant had created.  I was trying to find different lighting angles, backgrounds, even extra little accessories, anything to try and make my job a little more clear.  As usual, I ended up spending much more time than I had planned playing with my camera.  There's nothing worse than being late for your own party, so My Lovely Assistant had to step in and make sure that we had enough time to get everything packed up and hit the road.  The snack itself was made of a mixture of dark chocolate and crushed nuts, all rolled together, chilled in the fridge and then covered with some icing sugar before being cut into little slices.  I asked My Lovely Assistant for more details, but she said that she did it all with magic.  Seeing as how the kitchen is a complete mystery to me, I believe her.  The first photograph was taken at f/9, 1/60sec, ISO 800 at 35mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/13, 1/60sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm and the third was taken at f/13, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm.  They were very popular that night, luckily My Lovely Assistant had made a second batch so I had some more for a little while afterwards.

Monster Truck at The Corona

It's been a while since I've been able to get my camera into a rock show.  I've been thinking about going to see Monster Truck at the Corona Theatre for a couple of weeks now for a couple of reasons.  One, they're a really good Canadian band from Hamilton who I had previously seen a few years back at an edition of Heavy Montreal, and I enjoy both of their albums.  The second reason was the location.  I have been very fortunate in not having any problems getting my camera into the Corona Theatre.  Well, a compact version of my camera and only my 50mm lens, but pickers can't be choosers, as the old saying goes, and I'm happy to at least get those through the door as opposed to nothing at all.  I managed to position myself in a corner of the theatre against a wall, and waited for the show to begin.  Monster Truck was the headliner of a three group concert, some photographs from the other two bands will hopefully find their way to this site soon enough as well. I tried to mix things up a little bit while I was taking some photographs by trying to get a few specific shots.  I wanted to get a shot of the drummer with his sticks in the air.  I think I captured a pretty cool photograph of that with the second photograph that you see here on the page.  There is also a lot of headbanging that goes on at these shows, and I was hoping to get a shot of singer/bassist Jon Harvey with his hair flying.  The third photograph on the page is where I got just the right moment where his hair is flying, but you can still see his smiling face behind the flowing locks.  Another fun little photograph that I came upon by chance happened when someone in front of me pulled out their cell phone to record some of the concert.  I focused on the cellphone, which threw the rest of the image out of focus.  It might not be something that everybody thinks of, but I think seeing the action through the eyes of another camera is kind of cool.  I've done this kind of photograph a few times now and I really like the final result.  With the rest of the photographs, I pretty much just tried to capture the band rocking out.  It was an evening of good fun.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/40sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the third photograph was taken at f/4, 1/50sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/2.2, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/3.2, 1/30sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/7.1, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

It was a great show, made all the more fun by my being able to get some photographs of the event as well.  Hopefully my luck getting my camera into these show will continue.

Reserved Seats

We're turning the corner from Winter into Spring, but Mother Nature still had a couple of late-season blasts of snow for us.  I like the peaceful feeling that things have when they are covered with snow.  Kind of like looking into a snow globe after everything has settled after having been shaken.  This photograph was of a rather popular park, but it was deserted in the aftermath of the storm.  The trees, monuments and plants covered in a blanket of snow.  The benches, usually taken up by people, now reserved for Mother Nature.  This photograph was taken at f/13, 1/160sec, ISO 400 at 35mm and is probably destined to be repeated some time this summer when it is terribly hot to remind me how much nicer and cooler it looks now.